Gunman in Court

Press, 9 May 1980, Page 6

Gunman in Court

NZPA-Reuter London Fowzi Badavi Nejad, the only gunman taken alive when commandos ended the six-day siege of the Iranian Embassy in London, appeared in Court yesterday on i.. -rder charges, Nejad, aged 23, a dockworker born in the troubled and largelv Arabic-speaking southern Iran province of Khuzestan, was charged with the murder of two Iranian hostages shot only hours before the British Govern-j ment ordered anti-guerrilla troops to assault the embassy. i Strict security precautions] were taken as Nejad . appeared in the dock at Horse-j fern Road Magistrates’] Court, south-west London,, where he was driven in a; policy convoy from a central, London police station. Nejad, a slight clean-' shaven man wearing a light ! checked jacket and dark trousers, was remanded in custody for a week and or-, dered to appear next Thurs-'

i day at Lambeth Court, south: /London. ;i He listened impassively as '■ Commander Peter Duffy,: '■head of London’s anti-terror-! ist police squad, opposed! iNejad’s release on bail be-| cause numerous threats had' jbeen made against the accused man’s life. ' Nejad, speaking through ian interpreter and handr cuffed to policemen, asked: “Who will threaten me?”

J Commander Duffy told the .■Magistrate: >’ “Numerous!' ;jthreats have - been made! .{against him.” J i On'hearing this, the Magis-] dtrater, Mr Edward Mac De- ! •imott. told Nejad: “I feel that. • if you are given bail you ’ ’[won’t appear to face your' ,trial.” ’ | ‘ In addition to the two: ■ murder charges, Nejad is] ■ charged 'with conspiring to I’ [murder three Iranian diplo-h /mats injured during the!, siege, and assaulting Con-1 stable Trevor Lock, a British' ■ policeman who was among;* 'the captives in the embassy.is

Policemen sifting through the charred remains of the Iranian Embassy siege yesterday put the final death toll iat seven—five guerrilla guni men and two hostages. 1..; Three bodies wrapped in ’green plastic bags were removed from the rubble of the burried-out embassy yesterday, two days after it was stormed . by commandos amidst gunfire, explosions and flames, and Scotland [Yard, said it was satisfied no [others remained inside.’ j .Nineteen, hostages were (rescued .arid five 5 ;; gunmen were killed and one. captured by Special Air Service troops, a yard spokesman said. Two other hostages are seriously i|] in hospital. I Another of the four freed British hostages has given a dramatic account of his captivity and of the lightning rescue operation which left the elegant nineteenth century embassy a blackened shell.