Iran cracks down on its guerrillas

Press, 26 July 1976, Page 16

Iran cracks down on its guerrillas

From RALPH JOSEPH in Teheran

In a fierce crackdown over the last three months, Iranian police have killed 45 Left-wing urban guerrillas in a series of gun battles in Teheran and other northern Iranian cities, from Mashad to Tabriz. This summer’s police-guer-rilla battles have been the fiercest since the urban guerrillas began their activities in this country in 1970. The known toll of guerrillas killed in gun battles with security agents over the last six years is about 180, but more than 90 of these have been killed since the assassination last summer of two American colonels and several Iranian police officers. The police crackdown this summer has accompanied Government claims that the guerrillas have been receiving assistance in arms and money from Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and from the chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, (P.F.L.P.) George Habash. There have also been claims that the Iranian urban guerrillas have been receiving training in Cuba, and in P.F.L.P. training camps in unnamed Arab countries. The P.F.L.P. is known to have some training camps in Lebanon and Iraq and some sources say the year-old detente between Iran and Laq has not been going quite as smoothly as it is made to appear. The guerrillas have concentrated over the past year on terrorist activities in Iranian cities, such as planting bombs in Government

offices, cinemas and other public places. Their handling of explosives has often been inept, and one eyewitness described how an orange cab blew up recently on Teheran’s crowded Ferdowsi Avenue soon after a man carrying a bulging bag got in. He, the taxi-driver and other passengers in the (shared) taxi all died. On other occasions guerrillas have been blown to bits by explosives they were carrying when they got into gunfights with the police. One photograph handed by security men to a reporter showed the nude body of a young woman with a pretty ’ face and her body from stomach downwards missing, blown away by her own explosives, as the police explained. The ferocity with which the guerrillas have been resisting arrest over the past year may - rise from the fact that they expect little mercy from the police when arrested. Up to last summer, guerrillas arrested have been kept for a period of interrogation by security men, then brought for a quick military trial. Up to May last year, 80 of those tried were executed by firing squad and another 31 imprisoned for life. Since then only ,11 others have been brought for trial, nine of whom were executed and another two given life terms. The guerrillas now appear to prefer to die fighting rather than be taken prisoner, interrogated, tried and executed.

Guerrillas killed or captured so far have been mainly teen-agers or men and women in their twenties. They appear to have been recruited from among dissident Iranian students both at home and abroad. Although Left-wing, several seem to be religious to the point of fanaticism.

An imprisoned guerrilla, in a rare interview allowed by security men, told a reporter that one method of recruitment was to invite young men and women to religious “discussion groups.” Here they were fed with both Islamic and political doctrines of a far-Left slant. They were then given jobs

to do to test their reliability to the cell they had .unwittingly joined. The earlier jobs were relatively easy, such as clandestinely spreading leaflets among students. If the new recruit passed that test, he would be admitted to an inner circle. Those who got deeper into the cell were then given more risky jobs, such as leading student demonstrations (which are frequent in Iranian universities, but seldom mentioned in the controlled press). Cell members passing this test successfully would then gradually learn that they were members of an Islamic-Marxist guerrilla group. Jobs from this point on consisted of sabotage, such as planting bombs in public places. Members who wished to quit at this stage found it already too late. Expressing dissent about the use of violence, or even the desire to leave, could mean almost certain execution by the guerrilla group itself. In what appears to be an attempt to wean away recruits from guerrilla cells after they found themselves in this dilemma, the police recently announced an amnesty for those who were members of guerrilla groups but wished to quit — if they bad not yet committed acts of violence resulting in death to anyone. The response so far appears to have been poor, either because the police offer lacked credibility or because those wishing to quit are afraid of being caught and killed sooner or later by other members of the group. A captured guerrilla also

disclosed that the group which last year killed American colonels Jack Turner and Paul Shaffer Jr, and earlier an Iranian security officer, had originally intended to assassinate the Shah at the 1974 Asian Games But they found the security arrangements at the Games too tight and abandoned the plan, deciding instead to assassinate the police official in charge of the security arrangements. Still unclear is whether they assassinated the two American colonels simply because they were staying in the same neighbourhood as the security officer, or whether the Americans had in fact been acting as advisers in the security setup. In their attacks on security officers and American personnel the guerrillas have normally made their attacks in the early morning hours. This obviously served the double purpose of catching the victims by surprise, and facilitating their own getaway before the heavy city traffic began. In their recent crackdown the police have also been making some of their attacks on guerrilla hideouts in the pre-dawn hours, taking the guerrillas by surprise and reducing the risk of innocent people being killed or hurt in the crossfire. But many of the policeguer'i'la battles have occurred at hours when people are out in large numbers, and several persons not directly involved have died or been wounded in the shooting.