Ayatollah to return in bid to set up Islamic State

Press, 22 January 1979, Page 8

Ayatollah to return in bid to set up Islamic State

International

NZPA«Reuter Paris Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny, the powerful leader of Iran’s religious opposition movement, will return from exile on Friday 7 in a bid to transform the country from a monarchy to an Islamic republic.

A close aide said the 78-year-old Shi’ite Muslim! leader would fly to Teheran; for prayers at the city’s! main mosque on Friday! before leading a long! procession to the main! Teheran cemetery. The Ayatollah hasj chartered a special Iran Air! flight to take him home from 15 years of exile in time for next Saturday’s! commemoration of the anniversary of the death of the prophet Mohammed. Although the Ayatollah’s return home was expected any time after the Shah’s departure on vacation last Tuesday, aides had stressed that it might take weeks

and they. were, worried about :|the Muslim leader’s safety if i; he returned. ' But one close aide said at jthe week-end that the IjAyatollah had decided to ; return before the country — ' now ruled by a new civilian — plunged into ■ worse chaos which might provoke a military coup d’ ijetat. >■ The Shah left after weeks : of bloody street clashes ■ between his troops and the Ayatollah’s followers. j The Ayatollah was clearly * encouraged . by the huge > peaceful demonstrations by -millions of people 1 throughout Teheran on j Friday in support of his !political demands. j The speaker of Iran’s ; lower house of Parliament ; (Majlis) (Dr David Saeed) announced in Teheran that ;20 deputies, had resigned in response to a call from the ; Shi’ite leader for them to ■ make way for what he Termed “the x true ■ representatives of the people.” Ayatollah Khomeiny arrived in France last October from Najas, in Iraq, where he lived in exile for almost 15 years. He was expelled from Iran after denouncing the Shah and leading anti-Government protests in Teheran in 1963. Established in makeshift headquarters in the suburban village of Neauphle - le-Chateau, 50km ; from Paris the bearded ! patriarch issued a stream of (messages urging his (followers to strike and

trdemonstrate, weakening the f grip of the Shah’s authoritarian rule. t At crucial moments during 5 the past months he has j urged hi? ’ followers not to _ provoke the Army, part of i which his aides say has declared its support for the t. Ayatollah. > In a new statement on Saturday, he called, once , more for calm and urged his 5 supporters to co-operate ® with the security forces. “ While he has described the recently-formed civilian y Government of the Prime e Mini s t e r (Dr Shapur 7 Baktair) as illegal, the Shi’ite 3 leader has so far not 1 specifically called for its 3 removal, Aides said they felt that the! Baktiar Government 5 would fall rapidly when the L Ayatollah returned. ) But Dr Baktiar has said E he would not have up his post i and has stated that his ; presence in power is the > only guarantee against a : -military coup d’etat. The Ayatollah has said he ' will appoint a provisional government which, in co- ■ ordination with a so-far ; u n n a me d Islamic i Revolutionary Council, . would govern the country ; and organise free elections ; u n d e r an Islamic I constitution. ; Meanwhile an aide to the . Ayatollah has said that : information from Iran says > 2800 anti - Shah Air f Force men have been i arrested at two military I bases in what he said was ’ one of the first instances of ; serious divisions in the [ armed forces.

; Dr Ibrahim Yazdi said the [arrests occurred at Air Force I bases in Hamadan and (Deztul. [ It was not immediately (possible to confirm the [reports in Teheran. He said ■rumours were circulating in Iran that some of the airmen had been tried by a military tribunal and some had been executed. In Teheran, the new Iranian Government has released 162 political prisoners, leaving only eight — all convicted of or charged with political murder — still in jail, the official radio has said. More than 2000 political detainees have been freed under amnesties by the Shah since his fifty-ninth birthday last October. In Moscow, the [Communist Party ■ newspaper, “Pravda.” has [accused the United States of [plotting a military take-over in Iran and renewed a [warning that Moscow was [closely watching events [there In Kuwait, the newspaper, “Siyassah,” has said that Soviet spy planes have been making reconnaissance flights in the Gulf and to the south of Iran. Quoting diplomats in Dubai, it said the planes took off from Soviet bases in Ethiopia for the spy missions which started two weeks ago. Their aim was to “check American military activity in the waters close to Iran” and follow developments within the country.