Tighter security for new cleric

Press, 3 April 1989, Page 10

Tighter security for new cleric

NZPA-Reuter Nicosia A Saudi-based Islamic group has sent a cleric to replace the murdered spiritual leader of Muslims in Belgium and stepped up security for the new man. An official at the World Muslim League said that Samir Radi had been sent to Belgium to replace Abdullah al-Ahdal, shot dead in a Brussels mosque on Wednesday with his Tunisian deputy, Salim Bahri.

“We are not afraid of this kind of terrorism ... We are taking new precautions and guarantees to safeguard the people who work with us,” the official said. “I can’t tell you the exact details.” He said Mr Ahdal, who also headed the Muslim League’s office in Brussels, had been offered bodyguards and a gun by Belgian police after receiving death threats linked to the Rushdie affair.

“He refused the guards, saying, ‘God will protect me,’ but accepted the gun,” the official added. Belgian authorities are hunting a lone gunman in the killing of Mr Ahdal. Police suspect the killings were carried out because Mr Ahdal had rejected an Iranian call for the death of the British author Salman Rushdie.

Meanwhile, Iran’s hardline Interior Minister has called for a purge of liberals and dissidents in government .and backed the removal of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s moderate successor-desig-nate.

In a speech at a Teheran rally on Saturday marking Iran’s Islamic Republic day, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi said Iranians working for the United States and Britain had tried to push the country towards the West since the August ceasefire in the Gulf war with Iraq.

He also vowed that action would be taken against women who failed to observe hijab, the strict Islamic dress code.

“Death to the hijabless,” chanted the fistwaving crowd gathered in Imam Hussein square in east Teheran. Mr Mohtashemi’s speech reflected Iran’s renewed mood of militancy following the removal of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, chosen in 1985 to succeed Khomeini, as supreme leader. Khomeini accepted the resignation of Mr Montazeri, a long-time associate who had become an outspoken critic of the Government, last week, saying he was not fit for the job.