Iran: Iraqi people will put Rajavi on trial as they collaborated with Saddam and suppressed Kurds
…Asked about the recent announcement by Interpol that the leaders of the banned Mojahedin Khalq organisation are being arrested if there are any plans for them to be extradited? Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i said that there are no plans as such but he hoped that the Iraqi people will put these figures on trial as they collaborated with the government of Saddam Hoseyn and they have been involved in acts of suppression against the Kurds… Full report: UK US governments fomenting subversion in Iran – Minister At 1918 gmt IRTV2 started broadcasting a live interview with Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i the Intelligence Minister who said that he has evidence that the UK and US governments are fomenting subversion inside Iran. He said: "Of course, evidence does exist that in the south, say, there were operatives being supported by the British and in the east and the west both the English and the Americans have been involved and we have submitted this evidence to the foreign ministry so that the matter can be pursued through legal channels. If a court is convened then this evidence can be used in that court."
Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i started by paying tribute to the deceased statesmen of the Islamic Republic who lost their lives as a result of an assassination attempt: Doctors Raja’i and Bahonar.
He started by giving a brief rundown of the services of the Ministry to the nation. He said that the mission statement of the ministry is to protect the nation and system from all acts of subversion. He said that given the subversion and instability in the region the ministry has had a few challenging years but it has triumphed over all of these.
The Ministry has identified the programmes of the enemy and their tactics and strategies. He said that some of the services of the intelligence ministry will be made public to the nation soon.
On the Modus Operandi of the ministry he said that arresting of suspects is not necessarily the main objective of the intelligence ministry. The first objective is to identify the spies and not necessarily arresting the suspect. He added that initially the suspect must be warned so that if for any reason they have misguidedly cooperated with the enemy they can repent. Only if the suspect does not refrain from continuing his activities will he be arrested.
Asked if the main enemies are CIA and Mossad? Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i said that the enemy is not just CIA or MOSSAD although they are the main enemies.
He added that some had been duped by the enemy to collaborate and betray the nation in this misguided way. He reassured that these have been warned, sometimes through being pursued by the Judiciary, and they are now collaborating with the ministry.
He added that there were yet others who had gone even further and could not be counselled back to correcting their treacherous ways so they have, either been executed or are serving long term prison sentences.
Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i went on to say that there are spill over effects from terrorism in the region. He reassured the viewers that The intelligence ministry coordinated with many of the government organisations in order to combat the spill over instability and subversion effects.
He added that the remit of the intelligence ministry is not only to neutralise the conspiracies but to also combat the causes of these conspiracies through intelligence and research work.
He went on to pay tribute to his government saying that never before has the intelligence ministry been as coordinated with other government institutions since it became a ministry in 1984.
He used the illustrative case of fighting economic corruption as one of the areas his ministry is charged with dealing. He said that the ministry is also involved in identifying the causes of this corruption.
He said that different government ministries are vetted on a random basis in order to not only report back to the minister in charge but also as a confidence building exercise to combat corruption.
On worries expressed over flight of capital as a result of the seemingly intrusive methods of the ministry he said that contrary to these concerns and expectations the merchants have themselves a stake in this anti-corruption drive. He went on to add that an umbrella organisation ahs been set up to give support to merchants and capital owners and investors.
Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i then went on to talk about the role of the ministry in the democratic process. He reassured that the various ministries who are involved in conducting elections approach his ministry with a view to being served information of the prospective candidates in order to help officials vet the candidates.
Asked about the changing tactics of the counterrevolutionaries, Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i said that the enemies have realised that the tactics of assassination and killing have failed. They are now trying to convey the impression to the people that the leaders of the Islamic Republic are inept in running the country. They are pursuing the objective of creating a rift between the officials and the people.
He went on to say that the enemies are, also, involved in ditching their previous terror tactics and participate in what he called soft overthrow. They are for example using forum of cultural, youth and elite gatherings to recruit prospective talent. Once the recruits are identified by the enemy they are invited to conferences and pseudo-cultural centres abroad and counselled to work for the enemy. He went on to reassure that this ploy has also met with defeat and many of these prospective recruits are, themselves, collaborating with the ministry and denouncing their previous activities and collaborators.
He went on to say that in the eastern parts of the country some are involved in physical assassination. Many of their shy supporters have distanced themselves from this kind of activity showing that the tactics of the enemy has evolved. Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i expressed wonder as to why the human rights organisations do not ever protest the activities of these groups?
Asked about the recent announcement by Interpol that the leaders of the banned Mojahedin Khalq organisation are being arrested if there are any plans for them to be extradited? Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i said that there are no plans as such but he hoped that the Iraqi people will put these figures on trial as they collaborated with the government of Saddam Hoseyn and they have been involved in acts of suppression against the Kurds.
Asked if there is any evidence of the armed groups working against the government in Iran being supported by the West principally Britain and the USA, he said that this evidence exists and if ever there was an opportunity to submit this to a court of law Iran will do so:
"I have to reiterate that given the insecurities that exist all around us in Iraq in Afghanistan or some other countries neighbouring us, and given the attempts that the enemy is conducting against us, the level of insecurity that we are suffering from is [relatively] low. Of course, we and other government organs will make the maximum of efforts not to overlook even one possible instance [Of subversion]. We are surrounded in the east, the west and the south by insecurity. We know that the British and the Americans and others who are being supported by the British and the Americans are active in these border regions. But even with this amount of instability we should not feel insecure. Of course, evidence does exist that in the south, say, there were operatives being supported by the British and in the east and the west both the English and the Americans have been involved and we have submitted this evidence to the foreign ministry so that the matter can be pursued through legal channels. If a court is convened then this evidence can be used in that court."
He went on to talk about the deterrent aspects of the ministry work saying that the ministry is just one organisation within the committee set up to combat fraud and economic corruption and that he can not reveal names as there are legal issues that he has to adhere to.
Asked about the possible connections of the economic criminals with influential political figures inside the system, he said that of course there are connections but the ministry tries to be politically neutral and not to be intimidated by these political influences.
Asked about the conspiracies of ”Zionism” against the Islamic Republic he said that there were cases of people conducting industrial espionage in the communications and nuclear industries but these have all been neutralised and the successes of the ministry are all too palpable.
Asked about the recent release of Haleh Esfandiyari and the possible release of Kian Tajbakhsh, the American academics of Iranian extraction, and whether it is because nothing was proved against either of these tow figures? He said that just because they have been released it does not mean that the evidence against them did not exist:
"I have to say something about the fact that they have been liberated. You see, crime and criminality do not mean that the person being suspected has to necessarily be arrested. It is only in certain cases that the law making bodies have charged us with arresting an individual if he has committed or is suspected of having committed a crime that we arrest on the spot. These instances are of course quite rare. But the suspect is only arrested if that suspect is deemed to be dangerous or if he is abroad or he may flee. It could, of course, be that he is in collaboration with others. It could be that he is involved in destroying indicting evidence against himself. If these matters are at play then that person has to be arrested. Until when would that person remain under arrest? He would remain under arrest until such time that one of or more of these issues are still at play. So if say there was a possibility of collaboration and he was arrested then the following day another person who was also involved in this collaboration was arrested and the nature of their collaboration was clarified then the first person would be released. So just because a certain person has been released it does not mean that the charges against him were light and that his crime has not been proved."
Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i went on to say that the ministry is up against Soft Overthrow.
Asked if the two had revealed any names Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i said that he can not say for legal reasons.
On the Student of Amir Kabir University arrested for agitating against the government Hojjat-Ol-Eslam Mohseni-Ezhe’i said that there were two groups of people who were involved: Those who were students who were duped and those who were agitating and who were not at all functioning within the remit of a student or academic.
On the arrest of Shahram Jazayeri, an ”economic criminal” who was arrested earlier he said that there was cooperation between the ministry and the country where Jazayeri was arrested but that the ministry does not operate in other countries as it is illegal.
On the parallel institutions that are suspected to be operating inside the ministry he said that the ministry is a homogenous and uniform organisation and that all its operations are well coordinated and joined up with other government bodies. He, also, reminded the viewers that the ministry can be contacted through the telephone number 113 not to mention the various provincial offices that are set up in these areas.
Source: Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 2, Tehran, in Persian 1900 gmt 28 Aug 07
Reported by:BBC Monitoring Middle East