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- A German court ruled that the assassination of Iranian
opposition leader Sadiq Sarafkindi in Berlin in September 1992 was ordered by the
"highest state levels" in Iran. The judges convicted two men of murder,
sentencing them to life in prison, and two others of complicity in the killing. Germany
then recalled its ambassador to Iran, ordered four Iranian diplomats to leave the country,
and suspended its "critical dialogue" with Iran. (AP, 4/10/97)
- A French court
ordered prison sentences for 34 Islamic militants, accused of plotting to destabilize
Morocco with a series of terrorist attacks. Moroccan Abdelilah Ziyad admitted to August
1994 attack in Marrakesh that killed two Spanish tourists. Other attacks that were planned
included machine-gunning bathers on a Tangiers beach, killing Jews and police and
desecrating a Jewish cemetery in Casablanca. (AP, 1/10/97, The New York Times, 1/11/97)
- Danish officials arrested seven suspected neo-Nazis and charged them with terrorism for
planning a letter bomb campaign against British leftists and sports personalities married
to Blacks. (The New York Times, 1/20/97)
- Legislation to crack down on foreign extremists using Britain as a base to plan
terrorist attacks has passed its second reading in the House of Commons. (London Jewish
Chronicle, 2/7/97)
- German prosecutors charged five suspects in connection with the 1986 bombing of a
Berlin nightclub that killed two U.S. servicemen and a Turkish woman. Two suspects,
Palestinian Yasser Chraidi, 38, and Libyan Musbah Eter, 39, were named as organizers of
the bombing and Eter has confessed. German Verena Chanaa allegedly planted the bomb.
Suspected Libyan ringleader Said Rashid is believed to be in Libya. (AP, 2/7/97)
- Lebanon arrested five suspected members of the Japanese Red Army, a terrorist group
active in the 1970s and 1980s, who were hiding out in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The suspects
were indicted on charges of passport forgery and illegal entry into Lebanon; three were
later expelled from Lebanon. (AP, 2/18/97, 3/13/97)
- Four former East German intelligence officers went on trial in Berlin on charges of
helping terrorists, particularly members of the Red Army Faction, change their identities
and start new lives in communist East Germany. (The Washington Post, 2/20/97)
- Speaking before the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Norwegian State Secretary Jan
Egeland decried Iran's fatwa against author Salman Rushdie as "completely
unacceptable" and called "for international economic sanctions against
Iran." (Statement before the Commission on Human Rights, 3/19/97)
- Customs and police officials in Austria intercepted an Iran-bound shipment of hydraulic
equipment for use in a long-range cannon. (AP, 3/24/97)
- Canada arrested two Saudi dissidents and charged them with terrorist activities. Hani
Abdel-Rahim Hussein al-Sayegh, 28, is suspected of involvement in the June 1996 bombing of
the U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia that killed 19 U.S. servicemen. According to
Canadian Intelligence al-Sayegh is a member of Saudi Hezbollah, a militant Shiite group
linked with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon. Fahad al-Shehri, 21, is being held on
charges of terrorist activities in connection with Islamic extremist groups in
Afghanistan. (Reuters, 3/26/97, AP, 3/31/97)
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