Hundreds flee Iran as crisis deepens

Press, 2 January 1979, Page 1

Hundreds flee Iran as crisis deepens

NZPA-Reuter Teheran The exodus of foreigners from strife-torn Iran is being stepped up amid reports from opposition sources that up to 700 people were killed on Sunday when troops opened fire on anti-Shah demonstrators in the holy city of Mashhad. The Shah, after weeks of turbulence by large sections of tl.e population opposed to his Government, has decided to appoint a civil government to replace his military-led regime. Earlier reports had said that the Shah intended to leave Iran and hand over the throne to a regency council, but he said yesterday that he had no intention of leaving or stepping down. The Shah has accepted the resignation of the Prime Minister, Gholam Reya Aghari, but has asked him to stay on until the formation of a new Cabinet. Dr Shapur Baktiar, aged 63. a liberal opposition figure, has agreed to form the new Cabinet, and said

yesterday that he hoped to do this by the week-end.

The United States, Canada, South Africa and the Common Market, except France, have advised the families of nationals working in Iran to leave. France has said that the decision lies with its people “as a matter of common sense.”

Nearly 200 evacuees, mainly British and American, reached Greece in time to greet the New Year in hotels near Athens Airport. But the airlift could be complicated by the threatened boycott of foreign airlines by workers at Teheran’s Mehrabad Airport. Reports of the killings in Mashhad came from a spokesman for the city’s most prominent religious leader, Ayatollah Say id Abdullah Shirazi.

“The troops opened fire on big crowds in a street. Hundreds were killed, maybe 700,” he said. “Troops were seen picking up the dead from the streets and taking them for burial in ditches outside the city.” The official radio con-

firmed there were casualties in Mashhad, but said the number of those killed and injured varied. The radio made no mention of disturbances in the western city of Dezul, where the opposition National Front reported that troops had fired on antiShah demonstrators, killing 36 people and injuring 300. In Mashhad, the spokesman said that the army attacked the Ayatollah’s house, killing 14 people and injuring 56. The Ayatollah escaped by a back door before troops and tanks surrounded the house and crowds gathered. The spokesman said it was an hour later that the troops fired on the crowds and killed possibly as many as 700. The National Front said that the force of the army would not stop the opposition movement. “Killing thousands of people will not resolve the crisis: there will be a backlash,” a spokesman said. The capital, Teheran, was quieter, though there were demonstrations in

several parts of the city daring which the Prime Minister-designate, Shapur Baktiar, expelled from the National Front after agreeing to form a new government, was described by protesters as a rabid dog. Dr Baktiar said yesterday that the Shah had “expressed his desire to go abroad for a while for the purpose of medical treatment and relaxation — at a convenient time.” The Imperial Court denied this, saying: “There is no immediate plan for his Majesty’s departure from Teheran.” Osbervers believe that Dr Baktiar might have been trying to win public support by showing he was in favour of the Shah’s leaving the country, to offset the effects of his expulsion from the National Front. The new move to form a civilian government already appears to have split the opposition front, though palace sources have said that Dr Baktiar’s government will include National Front deputies in Parliament.