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France raids iranian group Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/169/nation/Police_raid_Iranian_group_detain_159+.shtmlhttp://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/169/nation/Police_raid_Iranian_group_detain_159+.shtml
Police raid Iranian group, detain 159
By Elaine Ganley, Associated Press, 6/18/2003
PARIS -- Masked and heavily armed police raided the compound of an Iranian opposition group yesterday, detaining members on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks in France and building a support base for operations abroad.
The dramatic raids came a month after US forces disarmed the military wing of the group, the Mujahideen Khalq, in Iraq. The organization, which the United States and European Union classify as a terrorist group, seeks to topple Iran's clerical regime.
French authorities detained 159 people in the raids on the compound north of Paris and 12 other sites outside the city. The authorities seized $1.3 million in US currency, mostly 100-dollar bills, along with computers and satellite telecommunications equipment.
''This is about fighting against eventual acts of terrorism perpetrated on French territory,'' Justice Minister Dominique Perben said.
The raid occurred as pro-democracy students protested in the streets of Iran and as Europeans urge the Islamic regime to open its nuclear sites to international inspections. Tehran had complained that Western nations were allowing the Mujahideen to operate freely while, at the same time, accusing Iran of links to Middle East terrorist organizations.
It was unclear whether the raids, which France said were planned a month ago, were connected to the unrest in Iran.
The raids drew protests from sympathizers, including one who set himself on fire outside the French Embassy in London. In Hamburg, Germany, police detained 50 demonstrators after some entered Iran's Consulate, kicking over furniture.
''This is being done at a time when people are rising up for seven consecutive days in Iran, to defy the rule of the mullahs,'' said Hossain Madani of the National Council of Resistance, a a legislative assembly in exile for the group. ''To do something like that to favor the mullahs is disgusting.'' The Iranian government, which calls the Mujahideen Khalq a terrorist organization, praised the raids. ''We expected French authorities . . . to take actions against them,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the government news agency IRNA.
The French government said the raids were aimed at stopping the group from expanding.
The group ''recently wanted to make France its support base, notably after the intervention in Iraq,'' Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told lawmakers, referring to the disarming of the organization's military wing, the National Liberation Army of Iran, in May. ''We cannot accept that.''
At dawn yesterday, more than 1,300 police kicked their way into the walled compound in Auvers-Sur-Oise that has served as the group's headquarters.
Among those arrested was a top figure in the group, Maryam Rajavi, the wife of Iraq-based Mujahideen leader Massoud Rajavi, as well as Rajavi's brother, Saleh.
This story ran on page A17 of the Boston Globe on 6/18/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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