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The foLlowing are comments from responDents to a survey conducted on april 12-14, 1997. Members of THE IRANIAN TIMES mailing list were askeD questions about a German court ruling that the 1992 assassination of an Iranian opposition figure and three others in Berlin was ordered by the "highest state levels" in Tehran. To see the survey results, click here.

Each (*) represents a comment from a different person. Newercomments are on top.None are from the editor.

* I do not know what is more disgraceful: The fact that some respondents report that the recent events will actually have an affect on the way they choose to introduce themselves to foreigners, or the fact that the questions was even asked in the first place.

We must remember that if we strive for substantial and measurable change in Iran, we must first come together as a people, and be proud or who we are and where we come from...regardless of U.S and European political rhetoric. If Iranians abroad are so easy to lose sight of their heritage, how can they expect others to understand the social and political complexities that have plaqued their country for so many years?

* I just wanted to add, how could Germany label Iran as some sort of terrorist country. It was not even 55 years ago when every damn man and boy in that country who was not a Jew was either supporting the holocaust, or killing any Jew he could get his hands on. Men, women, children... If it were any other country I would feel differently, but for these people who dare try to deny that they themselves committed genocide with the Jewish population, and dare say that the "highest state levels" in Tehran orders terrorists to kill people is very hypocritical.

> * We are a nation that has the potential to be truly great. Unfortunately,
> our mendacity will always be our downfall.

* I must disagree here. Our downfall will be precipitated by the fact that Iranians are TANBAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haazer nistand keh vaaghe'an paashand va yek KAAREE bokonand! faghat harf balad hastand bezanand!!!!! va until we learn to stop being TAMBAL, Iran will always be a 3rd world keshvar.

* I found the result of your survey most interesting. Maybe you should make it available to other News Agancies or interested parties so that they are aware what the majority of the Iranian community outside Iran thinks about the situation.

* The decision raises many interesting jurisprudential questions about the German courts handling of the evidence and witness statements. But legal issues aside, I do not believe the decision will in any way curtail Germany's commercial interests in Iran. All this tough talking by Germany and other major European countries like Britain is nothing more than political rhetoric, which is merely designed to warn the forthcoming administration in Iran that it is Europe and not Iran who holds the bargaining power in their commercial dealings.

* I think that its about time that the current Iranian regime is recognized for what it is: A Group of Terrorists who are a disgrace to the country.

* This of course of was an obvious, ridiculous, inevitable, decision by the German courts. If all else fails when nothing can be proven then: BLAME THE IRANIANS!! It works every time.

* I don't see why Iranians should fear the consequences of the court's decision. After all, this government has been in place for more than a decade now and all the facts are nothing new. It didn't take the court's decision to convince me that assassinations were happening.

As an Iranian, I can assure you that such acts were committed under the Shah, occurring under the Islamic rule, and will happen in the future regardless of who is in power. I am a pessimist when it comes to peace and civility in Iranian politics.

* Based on the evidence presented in the German court there can no longer be any doubt that Iran's security services are directly involved in the killing of political opponents abroad. Further, if the testimony of Abolhassem Mesbahi (the former government official and intelligence operative who defected to France) is to be believed, at least some of the assassinations were carried out under orders from the president of the Islamic Republic. Additional and independent corroboration of the the German court's findings will doubtless follow in the coming months.

The EU now faces a dilemma: Either they can take decisive and long-term actions of a punitive and hopefully behavior-modifying nature, or they can continue as they have until now by making a few protests and then, following a "decent interval", continue with business-as-usual. Mr. Rafsanjani has already made it clear that he expects the latter, expressing his feelings with more than a little contempt for the Europeans, whom he considers with some justification to be craven and spineless.

There is of course no guarantee that steps taken by the EU will have any significant effect on the behavior of government of the Islamic Republic, hence the Europe's dilemma: The killings may continue as they have for the past 15 years. Moreover, once steps are taken against Iran the EU countries can be utterly confident that their citizens will once again begin to disappear from the streets of Beirut, and possibly Tehran as well. This would be fully consistent with past actions of the government of the Islamic Republic. In fact, kidnapping and hostage-taking can be viewed as a form of diplomatic activity "by other means" peculiar to the Islamic Republic, initiated to extract concessions of a political/diplomatic nature from the governments of the kidnap victims.

The next months will be very interesting, both in terms of EU-Iran relations and in terms of the EU's ability to act in concert when faced with a clear and present danger to their sovereignty.

* It may not discourage Iran from killing its opponents but it makes it harder for them to do this kind of dirty work without paying a price. Also, this is not just a matter of Iran-German relations but also the truth about the murder of three people! We seem to have forgotten what the trial was about.

* Opinion This! No Good, I am afraid you may get in trouble on this one and I recommend you stay out of it. A reply to this survey for some readers is as good as a an admission of treason given the current situation.

After all look at what we are talking about. Expressing an opinion about allegations that the current Iranian government is behind the killings of hundreds of political dissidents abroad!

Question 5 asks directly if you think the government kills people. The wrong answer to this is grounds for arrest in Iran today. This means that if it can be proven (which you can't guarantee can't with this format) that a reader in fact, believes that the government of Iran kills political dissidents, that reader may be arrested if they went back.

I would recommend a more anonymous website with a submit that does not capture the senders e-mail address. You might get more responses. I would actually recommend steering clear of such topics altogether. At this point you should get either pro-government or extremely naive and therefore discountable responses.

I know you care and I know you are on a path, but I really hate this shit.

As Iranians abroad we have to each make a choice, either we start anew here and rebuild what lives we have left, given our deviation since 1979, or we put every ounce of energy into overthrowing the current regime to one more along the lines of our true heritage.

Unfortunately, I am middle class Sherkat-Nafti and the middle class is the most cowardly class of all, add the fact that I am a half-breed and considered "Najes" for all practical purposes, and as much as I hate to admit it, I don't love my country that much.

* Iran may justifiably or otherwise have killed its political opponents abroad, but decisions such as the German court is not going to persuade the government of Iran to 'behave' as the international community wishes it to.

In my opinion the only way to break this vicious circle is to first accept Iran into the international community and then change its foreign policies through the concerted international diplomatic effort.

* Ali Fallahian, the head of Iran's security/information apparatus is a wanted man around the world. How many people does he and others in the Iranian leadership have to kill before we realize that the current regime is more ruthless and evil than any regime before it. To those Iranians who still believe that the current regime is fair and cares about family values, I'd like to see you justify this episode.

The only way to stop their current behavior is not with a carrot, but with a long stick.

* The third question, "will this change the way I introduce myself to foreigners", is a ridiculous one.

I would also like to comment that we Iranians have known for years that the [Iranian] regime carries out these political assassinations. There is so much proof and evidence that there's no point in even discussing the issue. The sad part is that, as Iranian citizens, on the one hand we would like to see the downfall of the regime - for too much of the blood of our nation has already been spilled, too much damage done to a country that used to be so grand and glorious; but on the other hand, as ardently anti-IRI as most of us are, many of us would still like to see open diplomatic channels and active dialogue and trade. Why? Because it's our COUNTRY, it's our people; God knows that sanctions and isolation don't do a damn thing to the mullahs - they still pocket the billions in oil sales. What they do is hurt the people of Iran, who are the ones who suffer economically from these measures. So, I still favor trade and diplomacy with the regime.

* European countries have always tried to pass judgment on Muslim/Islamic countries. This is a socio=religious issue and not a political one!

* What matters most is how the people inside of Iran are influenced by and will react to the recent revelations. Otherwise, there is no new information in the Mykonos rulings. Unfortunately it is already evident that the Iranian authorities have prepared and are delivering a very unified story about the German trial to a domestic audience. They discount it as being "political".

Remember that Iranians have no concept of "independent" courts and "fair" trials, so they are more likely to believe the possibility of "political" and "influenced" trials than people in the West. The Iranian public is bombarded by domestic media with the IRI's version of the truth and many will believe this story.

By the above reasoning, no domestic change will come about as a result of the Mykonos rulings. As for the position of EU and International community, the IRI rulers have long learned how to ignore, discount and deal with these external pressures!

* I truly don't believe that we (as "outsiders") are in any position to judge whether the German judgment was fair or not. We simply do not have any access to the information surrounding the Mykonos assassinations and the court case itself. This has been a three(3) year proceeding, and substantial amounts of evidence have been presented.

The Germans, of all people, have always attempted to maintain their economic and political relations with Iran through thick and thin. The evidence around this specific case must have been plausible and definite enough for them to come to this unusual decision, one so much at odds with the current "critical dialogue" policy which was in force up to this point.

Of course the credibility of Witness "C" (the defecting, former Iranian security aide to Rafsanjani) must have been checked pretty thoroughly, but how that "final" association to the specific meeting (at which the Iranian upper echelon "actually gave the order" for the liquidation of the four Kurdish leaders) were made is unknown to us. We just don't know.

At any rate, it now appears that the entire EU (with Greece possibly abstaining) will be recalling their ambassadors from Iran, much to the satisfaction of the U.S. and Israel which had been unsuccessful up to now in persuading the EU governments to boycott trade transactions with Iran. This will further isolate Iran, and in all probability promote a more hardline government in Iran, i.e.expect Nateq-Nouri as President !!

* It was business as usual for Iran's security agency and the government. They just got caught and sentenced this time around. It'll be interesting to see US's reaction to all this (given the atmosphere of improving US-Iran relations).

* I am very reluctant to believe that the German court decision is not influenced by politics. However, I am pretty sure that German and European relations will get back to normal pretty soon. Iran can't afford a deadlock with Europe and vice versa. Ironically, a possible outcome of the German court decision may be improvements in Iran-US relations.

I am no judge and have not followed the case in detail either. The best I can say is that it's probably true. Yes governments do kill their political opponents inside or outside the country and no one can justify that, but the Iranian government is no exception. There are many other third world states that do the same and the US government is the master in this business. Nicholas Burns, with his smart suit and serious talk can demonise the Iranians as much as he likes but there are many assassination plots by the US governments (past and present): numerous foreign national have been killed by the CIA to stablise friendly governments or destablise unfriendly ones. I wonder if a tribunal can ever be set up to find the murderers of Martin Luther King (Jr), Malcolm X, the ones murdered in Wako etc?

You talk of state sponsored terrorism, if the shooting down of the Iranian Airbus over the Persian Gulf by the USS Vincent is not state-sponsored terrorism then what is? Instead of being tried by an international court, the captain of that ship was later awarded a bravery medal to the disgust of hundreds of the families of the murdered Iranian passengers. No formal apology has ever been offered to the Iranians.

Another proven case is the murder of the British police woman PC Fletcher by the CIA and MI5 in front of the Libyan embassy. The Libyans were accused at the time, since shots had been fired from the embassy, which prepared a public opinion that supported the assassination plot on the life of Ghadhafi. But the true killer was actually a CIA/MI5 mercenary who took advantage of the chaos to shoot the innocent officer.Scores of civilians were killed in the bombing raids of Tripoli and Bengazi. Neither the British government nor that of the US have been tried for the murder of a British police officer to justify their political ends.

And what about the MKO people who collaborated with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war and have so far killed many Iranian soldiers at the borders as well as numerous political figures in the past in Iran including a president and a prime minister and who have now made Iraq and western countries, in particular France, their safe haven. In all fairness, if you were the Iranian government wouldn't you want to lay your hands on them? Killing can never be justified but neither can narrow mindedness.

* It is too early to arrive at any conclusions.

* My admiration for the independent judge in this case who against all odds, including the Bonn government's attempts to hide and destroy documents, stood up and let the ugly truth show. The role of opposition groups in Germany helping the court also shouldn't be underestimated. I don't think the German court decision by itself will do much to discourage Iran from committing crimes of this type in the future, but itÕs a step in the right direction.

If Iran sees the consequences and a high price to pay for such crimes, it may think twice the next time. As always, the main job of driving this small victory for all Iranian opposition further falls on our shoulders and not the international community.

* I will not hesitate to introduce myself as an Iranian, because I know that not only am I not a terrorist but I, along with millions of other Iranians, am a victim of this government. The verdict names Iranian government officials and diplomats and not the Iranian people. It is high time for a court of law of a "friendly nation" with very cozy relations with Iran to acknowledge this fact.

* Thank you for your continuous effort to open our eyes and minds to the issues and events which is effecting us directly or indirectly. please do not stop.

* We are a nation that has the potential to be truly great. Unfortunately, our mendacity will always be our downfall.

* [In response to whether the German court decision would make us less/more insecure as Iranians abroad:] Our reputation has already been damaged in Europe and the opinion of one more country will not make a difference.

* This isn't a time to hide your Iranianess (If there is such a word!). We have to yell at the top of our longs, "We are Iranian, and we will fight till the end for our country's freedom!" We have to show the world that the Hezbollah is not all that's left of the IranZamin that Cyrus built... Us -- the business leaders, the academic leaders, the Scientific leaders -- it's us that Iran needs.

* I think that the decision and the actions taken by the EU is totally rash. After all we are talking about an event that took place over 5 years ago ! Nothing that the EU does will change anything in respect of that case, if anything, things with Iran were getting a lot better, but now the EU has placed Iran in the "guilty" seat again, and therefore, relations have taken a big step backwards. This is a very stupid move by the EU.

* Whether Iran has been wrongly accused, we'll never know. There is no doubt that Iran has been involved in at least some of the deaths of its opponents abroad but in this case, I don't know?! Again we don't know what factions in the Iranian government are involved.

I really don't think that Rafsanjani himself orders any killings. He has no reason to dirty his hands and get involved in this kind of stuff. In addition how important do you think the Kurd's opposition is to the regime. Probably not as important as the Mujahedeen's.

Anyway, wish Iran my very best, although I despise the fact that Iran has a zero tolerance policy for its opponents (inside and outside). I am proud to be an Iranian and proud that Iran has taken a strong stance against the US and the UK.

* It's very important to understand that the German court is politically independent. In Namaz-e Jomeh (Friday Prayers), Rafsanjani said it's khefaat (disgrace) for the government of Germany because it couldn't control or influence the German court. He doesn't know anything about democracy; he thinks that in Europe the government can buy the court (just like in Iran).

Why should I be reluctant to introduce myself as an Iranian to foreigners. It's not the Iranian people who are terrorists. It's the Iranian government who kills its opponents abroad. I think that the German court decision is a great "PIROOZI" (victory) for the Iranian people.

* Just wanted to say that Mollahs do not understand anything and the only people who suffer are the poor people of Iran!

* In my opinion every little bit of pressure on the Iranian Government counts. After all, the regime of Shah fell because of the activities of the SAVAK and the resistance of Iranians abroad and inside Iran.

If this new regime is to fall, it will only be when all Iranians inside and outside come to the conclusion that they deserve a better government. The actions of Germans, or French or the US, although somehow puts a dent in the regime, but in the final analysis only we Iranians have to take the final step.

* It was business as usual for Iran's security agency and the government. They just got caught and sentenced this time around. It'll be interesting to see US's reaction to all this (given the atmosphere of improving US-Iran relations).

* Other countries should cut their economic relation with Iran in reality .This will help the people of Iran to make up their mind against the corrupt regime . "Critical dialog" has not had any benefit for our people but rather the governments' involved and of course the murderous regime of Iran. "Critical dialog" is a lid for doing business with Iran. It has no effect on Iran's behavior on human rights and ... In future these countries should respond to the free people of Iran and explain why they continued doing business with this undemocratic system.

* It was obvious that the high ranked Iranian authorities had committed such a crime. They have not and will not tolerate any opposite opinions since they know if they do it will be the end of their era.

* Bravo to the independent and just German court! I hope the opposition forces seize this opportunity, unite on basic principles (e.g. free election, religious freedom, No Vel. Faqih,...), and realize that the German court's verdict is only a shot in the arm, nothing more!

* I believe it is more a political case than a murder case and the American and EU governments are trying to put more pressure on Iran so that it would accept their opinions in other political cases such as Bosnia, Palestine,... or keep Iran's economic growth rate as low as possible using all different kinds of sanctions.

* The German Court decision did not come as a surprise to many of the Iranian expatriate community. Rather, it reaffirmed what many had known or suspected to be true over the years. Ironic thing is, the Islamic Republic was not the first to use these tactics; The Israeli secret service has for years been systematically targeting "threats" (read:Palestinians).

These actions are reprehensible by any measure and any country and should not be tolerated by any people or government. My only hope is that this decision will be to completely isolate and deal the final blow to the Iranian economy (and hence the government), thereby bringing in a new era of change.

* this survey is being conducted very naively. it is making an incorrect assumption that Iran is the only country involved in this whole picture. the survey ignores the other pieces of the big picture. The EU [European Union] has been fighting U.S. sanctions on two countries during the past two years: Iran and Cuba.

The U.S. has passed an internal law that it would punish any company which would deal with Iran and Cuba and in the Cuban case, she would allow Cuban Americans to file suits against the Cuban government for confiscating their properties during the Cuban revolution.

On this issue, the EU took the U.S. to the world court and accused her of violating international law for punishing non-American companies outside of her international boundaries. only last week and days before the German court's decision, the EU dropped charges against the U.S. and in turn the U.S. modified the Cuban case to a minor and almost insignificant issue. So, a deal was done: The EU would introduce Tehran as a country which sponsors terrorism (for the first time!) and the U.S. would leave Cuba alone.

Thus far, the U.S. (and Israel, of course!!) was the only major country that accused Iran of terrorism at the international level and now she has the European endorsement. this is something that the U.S. was after for years and she archived it even at the cost of ignoring Castro for a few months. there are no long-term winners but the short term winner of this conflict is definitely Cuba. the short-term losers are both Iran and EU; Iran for the obvious reason and the EU for trusting the U.S. about whatever she has promised regarding the Cuban case.

* Before I say anything I'd like to ask you to put my name after my comments. We have to stand by our words. That's the only way we can have anything achieved.

Well I was upset to hear about the ruling but I can't say they were wrong but there are some things which make the trial a bit shaky. For example the testimony of Bani-Sadr who is known to be against this government. So whether right or wrong it's final.

Anyhow I don't care who did what all I know is we've not had a government who hasn't killed those who have talked against it. You'd expect someone who was tortured by the Shah's Savak to be against actions such as those taken in Germany against the Kurdish dissident. I hope this reaction from Europe does change things but I hope it pushes the Europeans into making strong statements and intensifying 'critical dialogue'.

What bothered me mainly was the fact that this could end up into something which would hurt the Iranian people not the government because if sanctions are applied to Iran then that would make life really tough for Iranians who seem to be going through a lot at this time with economic problems. Seeing Iraq's population starve is not the greatest of sights but seeing Iran's population go through the same would be extremely painful and that is all that worries me. I've discussed this issue in the past few days with many different people. Quiet honestly I seem to be the only person who is worried about the people. The other's WANT the people to suffer hoping that, that would cause a revolt of some kind. But then the question comes, what if there is a revolt? Who's next? They all do the same thing all over again; history has proven it to us so why should we believe any other leader will be any better?

As for fear of Iran's security agency... well I have no fear, it is fear which limits people's abilities. I am prepared to die if it means a better Iran, that is part of being Iranian to me. Beside's all that killing does is make it harder for them not me. I just end up going where I will eventually be going anyhow.

Sorry I went on so much, I just realized how much I wrote and honestly there was much more I wanted to write but I'll stop here. What ever happens 'STAND TALL AND BE PROUD' of being IRANIAN.

Sultan Mehrabi

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