Iranian Assassin Released

international | crime and justice | news report Wednesday December 12, 2007 16:44 by pat c

Kazem Darabi who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a German court was released on Monday 10 December after serving 15 years in jail. He had been convicted of involvement in the murder of three leaders of Iranian Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), Sadegh Sharafkandi, Fattah Abdoli, Homayoun Ardalan and their translator Nouri Dehkord in Berlin. They were dining in the Mykonos restaurant and were in Berlin for a convention of the Socialist International.

Darabi Arrives To Official Welcome In Tehran.

Parviz Dastmalchi who survived the massacre described what happened: "We were just starting eating and talking. From one corner of my eyes looking at Mr. Sharafkandi, I saw the door open and a man entering, brandishing a machine gun and firing. I just plunged under the table, the sound of the machinegund continuing, corpses were falling, blood covering everywhere. The first terrorist was replaced by another one who, to make sure that all of us are dead, shot all the group one by one in the head, except me, because I was under the table and looking as I was dead already”.

In the trial, the courts found Kazem Darabi, an Iranian Intelligence Agent and Lebanese Abbas Rhayel, guilty of murder and sentenced them to life in prison. Abbas Rhayel was convicted of having fired the last shots in the victims heads, the court ruled that Darabi was the mastermind behind the murders. Two other Lebanese, Youssef Amin and Mohamed Atris, were convicted of being accessories to murder. In its 10 April 1997 ruling, the court declared that the assassination had been ordered by Iranian intelligence minister Hojjat al-Islam Ali Fallahian and with knowledge of supreme leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and president Ayatollah Rafsanjani. The court issued an international arrest warrant for Ali Fallahian.

In a 2004 letter to Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (then mayor of Tehran) objected to the commemorative plaque in front of the restaurant, calling it an insult to Iran.

In 2006, a court ruled that each of the murderers should serve at least 23 years before being considered for release on parole. Given Darabi's reaease after 15 years there is now speculation regarding a secret deal between Berlin and Tehran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger denied there was any such deal but would give no further explanation.

Groups including the Green Party and the Berlin-based Association of Iranian Refugees have condemed the early release of Darabi. and Abbas Rhayel who was also freed on Monday.

"We were hearing some news about Darabi going to be freed and I talked to our lawyer. We are going to lodge a formal protest, but we are told that everything is legal, and apologized to me and my daughter”, Mrs. Shohreh Badi’i, the widow of Mr. Dehkordi

The assassin was welcomed home to Iran by the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri . I wonder if every muderer gets such a high profile welcome home to Iran?