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September 14, 2005
Iranian Action Committee
PRNewswire
NEW YORK -- Several former U.S. Embassy
hostages, Iranian victims of torture and the
Iranian Committee to Pursue the International
Crimes of the Islamic Republic of Iran
(Committee on IRI Crimes), held a press
conference condemning the New York (UN) visit of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, identifying him as a
perpetrator, practitioner of, and an agent of
international terror.
Making this case through powerful, first hand,
testimonials and accounts of their experiences
with Ahmadinejad, were former US hostages, who
were held in captivity, in Tehran, for 444 days;
actual victims claiming torture at the hands of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; a member of the Iranian
Kurdish Democratic Party detailing, and
implicating, Ahmadinejad in the assassination
account of their Secretary-General; and Dr.
Manouchehr Ganji, Founder of Committee on IRI
Crimes, himself a former United Nations
Rapporteur on Human Rights.
"Many of my interrogations were at odd hours,
after midnight, during which Mr. Ahmadinejad
advised me that they knew of my handicapped
son's name, address and school," said former US
hostage, Col. Dave Roeder (Ret.). "They had full
knowledge of my son's school pick-up and
drop-off schedules, threatening that my wife
would receive his small body parts, by mail, if
I did not cooperate," he added. "I was in
Tehran, I was there, I saw him [Ahmadinejad] for
months and months, I can tell it was him. No one
can tell me otherwise," said Bill Daugherty,
also a former hostage, in Tehran, whose point
was to challenge any skeptics of his and his
fellow hostage's accounts and recognition of
Ahmadinejad.
Internationalizing Mr. Ahmadinejad's portfolio
of crimes, Dr. Morteza Esfandiari representing
Iranian Kurdish Democratic Party indicated that
they and the Austrian authorities are in
possession of detailed and extensive data and
information implicating Mr. Ahmadinejad's
personal involvement in the July 12, 1989
assassinations of Mr. Abdul-Rahman Ghassemlou --
the Secretary- General of the Iranian Kurdish
Democratic Party -- and two of his colleagues in
Vienna, Austria.
Fearing for their lives and personal safety, a
gruesome accounting of the 1989 kidnapping and
assassination was presented on behalf of Mr.
Abass Gholizadeh's family who, subsequent to
several failed attempts, was kidnapped by the
Islamic Republic's intelligence agency in
Turkey. In an ordeal, widely reported by the
Turkish media, Abass Gholizadeh was kidnapped,
while on a walk with his wife, only to be found
by the Turkish police, three months later, badly
mutilated and tortured, floating off the coastal
waters of Istanbul. This account, including the
involvement of the Tehran regime, was widely
reported by the media, which, in addition to
prior similar acts, resulted in the recall of
Iran's then-Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. Manucher
Mottaki, who is currently also in New York with
Ahmadinejad. "This crime including several other
assassinations of Iranian dissidents, in Turkey,
were committed with the full knowledge and, in
fact, supervision of Mr. Mottaki who today
enjoys full diplomatic courtesies in this very
city -- as Mr. Ahmadinejad's prized Foreign
Minister," said Dr. Manouchehr Ganji, making the
presentation at the behest of Mrs. Gholizadeh,
whose assassinated husband worked with the Flag
of Freedom Organization of Iran, which Ganji
headed.
In addition to various other accounts offered by
former US hostages, Messrs. Kevin Hermening,
Col. Chuck Scott (Ret.), Don Sharer, as well as
their attorney, there was first hand testimony
by a former Iranian national, Mr. Joseph
Pirayouf, relating his story of intimidation,
arrest and torture, in Tehran, at the hands of
Mr. Ahmadinejad leading to, among other
injuries, the fracture of his jawbone. At the
time of his arrest, in 1979, Mr. Pirayouf, owner
of a taxi company, had been assisting Americans
to exit Iran, which was found to be offensive by
anti-American zealots like Ahmadinejad.
"The presentation today portrays just a small
sample of the kind of criminal behavior the
leadership of the Iranian regime has
systematically pursued," said Dr. Ganji, author
and an authority on international law and human
rights. "Iranians, particularly those suffering
at home, appreciate the distinctions that are
being made every day between them and the clique
of criminals that are ruling them. We heartily
welcome the former American hostages' decision
to stand with those Iranians struggling today,
in quest of freedom and a secular democratic
system of government based on international
covenants on human rights. "
After the 1979 revolution, the twenty-three year
old Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became Ayatollah
Khomeini's universities' representative in the
Student Office for Strengthening Unity, which
played the command and control center for the
seizure, and subsequent occupation, of the US
Embassy for 444 days. Later in the 1980's he
joined the Revolutionary Guards and eventually
helped create the infamous Qods Brigade, which
is today, still tasked with the super-secret
special terror operations dictated by the
clerical leadership. Just this summer, he was
handpicked and declared winner, by the regime's
Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to replace
the outgoing President Mohammad Khatami.
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