French raid Iran group, 150 held

CNN ^ | 6/17/03 | NA

[Daus]

Police used explosives to blast down some doors in the raid, sources said.

PARIS, France -- More than 150 were held after an anti-terrorism raid in France on the offices of an Iranian opposition group by 1,000 police, officials said. Also seized was $1.3 million in cash.

[Daus]

Thought this was interesting timing (and target) for the French. If you think France didn't want Iraq toppled, they SURE don't want Iran in trouble.

[Shermy]

This was the first time since the EU declared the People's Mujahedeen a terrorist group in 2002 that French authorities have moved to detain members.

France is signaling to the students that they don't have international support.

Like with Saddam, French oil contracts with Iran are generous to the French side (due to American threatened sanctions). Mullahs actually run the industry through "trusts" and probably got bribes from TotalFinaElf. French have the same conflicts with liberation of Iran as they did about Iraq - fear the contracts would be thrown out.

[Shermy]

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=16295&NewsKind=CurrentAffairs

NICOSIA, June 17 (AFP) - Iran's People's Mujahedeen described as "absolutely preposterous" the charges that led to a Tuesday morning raid by French police on the opposition group's offices in the Paris area that netted 150 arrests.

More than 1,200 police officers, including members of the anti-terrorist squad, swooped on 13 locations, carrying warrants claiming that "terrorist acts" were being planned by the group.

Spokesman Ali Safavi, speaking to AFP in Nicosia by telephone from London, said "these allegations are absolutely preposterous."

He said People's Mujahedeen personnel had been living in France for many years "and there has been no problem. Wherever they are, they are absolutely not involved in illegal activities in their host country."

He accused France of "trying to curry favor with the (Islamic) fundamentalist regime in Iran" and said the arrests were part of a "concerted conspiracy" between the two governments.

He said the Iranian government, which has been demanding that other countries crack down on the activities of Iranian dissidents within their borders, had "put pressure" on Paris to act against the group.

He said Paris had "done a deal" with Tehran for "political reasons," which he declined to spell out. "You'll have to ask them," he said.

"Ironically, the French had been protecting them (the Mujahedeen) from terrorist attacks of the Iranian regime" in the past, he said.

The movement was given sanctuary by ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 1986 after being driven out of Iran in the wake of a vicious power struggle following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

It is classed as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department, the European Union and the Iranian government, but says it is merely fighting oppression under the Islamic regime in Tehran.

On May 11, Iran demanded US occupation forces in Iraq hand over members of the Mujahedeen, which are based in that country and recently signed a ceasefire with the US military there.

The ceasefire deal with the US forces in Iraq angered Tehran, which accused Washington of being equivocal in its "war on terrorism".

[Shermy]

BTW, I believe this is the same group with units in Iraq which the US hasn't arrested but is keeping an eye on. Perhaps France is using this to "stick America in the eye" again. But, a tough game, since the US labelled "terrorists" as a favor to Iran - in trade for a lack of intervention in Iraq or something.

[Daus]

Perhaps France is using this to "stick America in the eye" again.

Perhaps... or they are just 'on the payroll'.

[Shermy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/604198/posts

Brokers of the Bomb (France is Terrorized into Supplying Iran with Enriched Uranium )

New Scientist (print edition, p. 31) ^ | 05-January-2002 | David Cohen


[...]

Over the Tournedos Rossini...I learned by dirt-poor Gabon, a former French colony in Africa, has an expensive railway system with high-tech tunnels. The railway was built to ferry uranium as part of a deal between France and Iran -- a deal partly brokered by my unch companions, Goldschmidt and Etamad.

Iran invested $1 billion in France's nuclear faciity at Pierrelatte in exchange for 10 per cent of the enriched uranium produced. Peaceful uses only -- guaranteed in triplicate, of course. When Khomeini booted out the Shah, it all went poire-shaped, as they say in French nuclear circles.

The French refused to hand over enriched uranium to the man who called America the Great Satan, but Khomeini took his revenge. Paris suffered a number of terrorist incidents. Like George Besse, who founded Pierrelatte, nearly all those killed were linked to the deal. The French government said the murders were the work of crazed Islamic fundamentalist. In fact, they were well-targeted warnings.

... In 1999, Paris was astonished when President Khameny of Iran, on an unoficial visit, paid his respects at the tomb of Marie Curie. He left a red rose. A nice symbol, Goldschmidt and Etamad grinned at the lunch table. Despite Khomeini, Iran got its enriched uranium.