Iran Focus

London, Feb. 27 – Iran Focus has obtained a list of 20 terrorist camps and centres run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The names and details of the training centres were provided by a defector from the IRGC, who has recently left Iran and now lives in hiding in a neighbouring country. Iran Focus agreed to keep his identity secret for obvious security reasons.

The former IRGC officer said the camps and the training centres were under the control of the IRGC’s elite Qods Force, the extra-territorial arm of the Revolutionary Guards.

“The Qods Force has an extensive network that uses the facilities of Iranian embassies or cultural and economic missions or a number of religious institutions such as the Islamic Communications and Culture Organisation to recruit radical Islamists in Muslim countries or among the Muslims living in the West. After going through preliminary training and security checks in those countries, the recruits are then sent to Iran via third countries and end up in one of the Qods Force training camps”, the officer said.

The Imam Ali Garrison has been a long-time training ground for foreign terrorist operatives. Presently, some 50 Islamists from neighbouring Arab countries are receiving training there in five groups of 10, the officer said.

“Iraq followed by the Palestinian territories have become the focal point of the Qods Force’s activities. Many of the foreign recruits in these camps now come from these two areas, but others come from a wide range of countries, including the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, North Africa and south-east Asia”, he said. “In most camps, the Sunnis outnumber the Shiites”.

“The scale and breadth of Qods Force operations in Iraq are far beyond what we did even during the war with Saddam”, the officer said, referring to the IRGC’s extensive activities in Iraq during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. “Vast areas of Iraq are under the virtual control of the Qods Force through its Iraqi surrogates. It uses a vast array of charities, companies and other fronts to conduct its activities across Iraq”.

“We would send our officers into Iraq to operate for months under the cover of a construction company”, he said. “Kawthar Company operated in Najaf last year to carry out construction work in the area around Imam Ali Shrine, but it was in fact a front company for the Qods Force. Qods officers, disguised as company employees, established contacts with Iraqi operatives and organised underground cells in southern Iraq”.

The officer said Qods Force officers also used the Iranian Red Crescent and the state-run television and radio corporation as fronts for their operations in Iraq.

A special branch inside Iran’s Foreign Ministry is responsible for assisting the Qods Force in bringing in foreign recruits. The recruits first travel to third countries where they are given new passports by Iranian agents to facilitate their entry into Iran. Upon finishing their training course, the new agents leave Iran for third countries from where they use their genuine passports to return to their countries of origin or where missions are planned.

The list of the bases used for training terrorists identified for Iran Focus are as follows:

1) Imam Ali Training Garrison, Tajrish Square, Tehran,
2) Bahonar Garrison, Chalous Street, close to the dam of Karaj,
3) Qom’s Ali-Abad Garrison, Tehran-Qom highway,
4) Mostafa Khomeini Garrison, Eshrat-Abad district, Tehran,
5) Crate Camp Garrison, 40 kilometres from the Ahwaz-Mahshar highway,
6) Fateh Qani-Hosseini Garrison, between Tehran and Qom
7) Qayour Asli Garrison, 30 kilometres from Ahwaz-Khorramshahr highway,
8) Abouzar Garrison, Qaleh-Shahin district, Ahwaz, Khuzestan province
9) Hezbollah Garrison, Varamin, east of Tehran
10) Eezeh Training Garrison
11) Amir-ol-Momenin Garrison, Ban-Roushan, Ilam province
12) Kothar Training Garrison, Dezful Street, Shoushtar, Khuzestan province
13) Imam Sadeq Garrison, Qom
14) Lavizan Training Centre, north-east Tehran
15) Abyek Training Centre, west of Tehran
16) Dervish Training Centre, 18 kilometres from the Ahwaz-Mahshar highway,
17) Qazanchi Training Centre, Ravansar-Kermanshah-Kamyaran tri-junction,
18) Beit-ol-Moqaddas University, Qom
19) Navab Safavi School, Ahwaz
20) Nahavand Training Centre, 45 kilometres from Nahavand, western Iran

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Feb. 27 – Iran’s prison population has increased more than 10 times since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the country’s head of prisons announced.

Ali-Akbar Yassaqi, head of the Organisation of Prisons of Iran, said that the total number of prisoners in Iran was 130,118, up from the 13,000 at the beginning of the revolution.

Yassaqi said that 96 percent of prisoners were men and four percent were women.

The latest figure, however, was lower than the prison figures previously announced by Iran’s judiciary.

International human rights groups regularly voice their concern at the plight of political prisoners in Iran, but Tehran maintains it has no political prisoners and describes jailed dissidents as “criminals”.

DIYARBAKIR (DÝHA) - 20 people got injured in the harsh intervention of the police to the mortuary of Ergin Ekinci(Zagros) from HPG who had lost his live in the clash occured in the district of Dargecit, Mardin.

Very seriously injured 20 person, after intervention of police to about 5 thousand person gathered in the square of Dagkapi, were carried to State Hospital and Dicle University Medicine Faculty. Among the police and the groups dispersed occured clashes. A group of 50 who marched to Urfakapi Quarter had clashed with the police. The group who walked from Eskihal to Station square had broken automated tellers of SSK, Ziraat and all banks on the road. The group later began to march towards Regiment. It was learnt that the conflict were continuing in quarters of Dortyol and Melikahmet. The car of mortuary which came off from the crowd had passed from quarter of Ofis and advancing towards cemetery of Yenikoy.

About 2 thousand person had gathered before the mosque of Sefik Efendi which motuary namaz will be performed for Ekinci. The crowd frequently shouts slogans as '' Viva chairman Apo'', '' PKK is people people is here'', '' Martyr does not die'', ''Ocalan'', '' HPG to the Front to retalliation''.
www.kurdishinfo.com

Iran Focus– A man accused of being a “trouble-maker” was flogged in public by police in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, a semi-official daily reported on Monday.

The man, only identified as Farshid N., received 74 lashes in Shik Street, Jomhouri Islami wrote.

A court in Rasht convicted Farshid of “causing trouble” and “frightening people in public places”.

The “Plan to Increase Security in Society” has been in effect in Gilan province, since February 20, according to Brigadier General Ali Aghazadeh, the commander of State Security Forces in the province. Rasht is the provincial capital of Gilan.

Under the plan, individuals accused of being “trouble-makers” have been rounded up for sentencing in special courts.

Iranian officials often refer to millions of unemployed young men, who are largely beset by frustration and despair, as “trouble-makers”.

Iran Focus– Three explosions have rocked the south-western Iranian province of Khuzestan, the Fars news agency, run by the Office of the Supreme Leader, reported on Monday.

The blasts took place in different parts of the province in the early hours of the morning.

One blast occurred in the village of Malashieh nearby the volatile city of Ahwaz which has been a hotbed for anti-government protests and clashes.

A second blast was heard near the Governor’s Office in the city of Dezful and a third blast went off in the lavatory of the Governor’s Office in the city of Abadan.

The report said that three people had been injured in the blasts but gave no further details.

Ahwaz, the capital of the Arab-dominated province of Khuzestan, has been the scene of several bombings this year and in 2005.

In January, Iran accused British troops in Iraq of being behind a twin bombing in Ahwaz which left at least nine people dead and dozens injured.

A string of top Iranian officials including hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have accused Britain of being behind the bombings.

London has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.