IRANIAN REFUGEE ASSASSINATED IN TURKEY

ROLE OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC’S SECRET SERVICES

On the night of Monday March the second, an Iranian refugee named Ayub Amini was cruelly attacked with a knife. He later on died from his injuries. Ayub Amini was a political prisoner and one of the militants (Pishmargueh) of the Kurdish organization of Komeleh, living for the past 6 years in Turkey. Ayub Amini was an officially-recognized refugee of the UN High Commissionaire for Refugees (UNHCR). Along with a group of 1200 other refugees, the so-called Northern Iraqis, For years, Ayub who was just another victim of a collusion between his organization and the Turkish government, was banned to move to another country. In the past and in multiple occasions, Ayub had warned the Turkish police and the office of the UNHCR regarding menaces and suspicious movements taking place around him.

Based on the reports obtained by the office of IFIR and based on narration of eye witnesses, the killer was a man from Baneh called Hiwa Rezai who was an ex-militant (pishmargueh) of the Kurdish Democrat Party, who was expulsed from the party for security reasons. After being sent out from the Democrat Party, Hiwa Rezai returned to Iran and resurfaced in Turkey one month ago, demanding asylum. Many refugees believe that Hiwa Rezai has been in touch with the agents of the Islamic Republic’s secret services and the main motivation behind this murder is political and organized by the Islamic Republic. The office of IFIR is currently collecting more information and evidence regarding the correctness of this allegation and as soon as the information is complete, IFIR will take more serious steps at an international level, to protect lives of Iranian refugees in Turkey.

On the other hand, IFIR’s office has received reports regarding the fact that the Islamic Republic has dispatched his spying teams to different cities of Turkey, collecting information from refugees, creating an atmosphere of terror among them, dividing them through spreading false information and inducing enmity and skepticism toward political organizations, all of which are well-known methods of the Islamic Republic among refugees. The Federation has always stood up against any type of instigation of the Islamic Republic among refugees and will reveal the mercenary agents of the Islamic Republic and will neutralize their plans and policies.

Aside from the organized political motive behind this murder, the current event and the last instigations of the secret services of the Islamic Republic in Turkey are proof that a serious danger is threatening Iranian refugees in Turkey. Presently, Iranian refugees are extremely vulnerable in dealing with the terrorist aggression of the Islamic Republic and security measures to protect them from the Islamic Republic’s terrorist aggression are very weak. This is while the UNHCR and the Turkish government have practically prevented a large number of refugees and well-known political activists and opposition forces from being transferred to another country, basically adding to the vulnerability of the refugees.

The International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) condemns Ayub Amini’s murder and considers both UNHCR and the Turkish government guilty of creating a situation in which refugees are being slaughtered. Once again we are asking the UNHCR and the Turkish government to not only provide more serious protective measures for Iranian refugees, but also to urgently transfer refugees especially the group of 1200 refugees called the Northern Iraqis to a third safe country. We are also asking all Iranian refugees and asylum seekers of Turkey to be vigilant on any information or suspicious movement concerning either this murder or the Islamic Republic’s secret services and to contact us immediately

International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR)

April 3, 2007