(22 Aug 1996) German/Nat
The former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, has said the Iranian government approved the murders of a Kurdish dissident and his aides in a Berlin restaurant four years ago.
Testifying in a German court, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr said no attack on Iranian
dissidents would be carried out without the consent of Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini and Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani.
An Iranian and four Lebanese men charged with gunning down the opposition leader and three aides on September 17 1992.
The street outside Berlin's courthouse was closed to traffic, Thursday, and guarded by armed police officers.
Amid tight security, former president Abolhassan Bani-Sadr gave testimony at the trial of an Iranian and four Lebanese men.
They stand charged with the shooting of a Kurdish dissident and three aides in 1992 in a Berlin restaurant in September 1992.
During nearly four hours of testimony, Bani-Sadr laid out the structure by which he said the murders at the Mykonos restaurant were planned, ordered and carried out
Joint lawyers of the plaintiffs said Bani-Sadr's evidence lent weight to what they had suspected from the start, that the killings had taken place with the full knowledge of the Iranian government.
SOUNDBITE: (German)
" For us it is decisive that that what we always suspected from the beginning we are able to verify with various circumstantial evidence and various testimonies that the instructors sit in Tehran. This was not about some fight s in exile but it was planned and focused to kill the party leaders of the democratic party of Kurdistan in Iran."
SUPER CAPTION: Wolfgang Wieland, Joint Plaintiff Lawyer
SOUNDBITE: (German)
"He pointed out (Bani-Sadr) that his sources of evidence are in Iran so they don't know specifics about the action in Berlin."
SUPER CAPTION: Hans-Joachim Ehrig, Joint Plaintiff Lawyer
Bani-Sadr said the political decision to commit the attacks was made by a council for special operations, which advises a committee charged with making the logistical plans.
He said finally Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini and Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani must have approved the operation.
The widow of one of the victims said that Bani Sadr had said little new, but his high standing would be sure to add credence to the claims.
SOUNDBITE: (German)
"What Mr. Bani-Sadr said today has been said many times in court by other witnesses. But in his function and as a former state president in Iran, his testimonies will be judged differently from other testimonies."
SUPER CAPTION: Soreh Baddi, Widow of Nuri Dehkordi
Bani-Sadr alleged Iran planned to send two hit squads to assassinate him while he was in Germany to testify.
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