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Free The ISA 6: Iranian Students Under Attack

By VVAW

In the early morning hours of November 3, 1976, the head-quarters of the World Federation of Iranian Students (CISNU) in Paris was raided by French police and all inside were arrested. Four were deported from France, among them the International Affairs Secretary. Two others were charged with "shooting" and "wounding" a "cultural attache" of the Iranian Embassy in France. One of the students charged is the organizational secretary of the CISNU. The charges were soon followed by a massive barrage of propaganda and harassment against ISA and its members in France by the French government.

Within days Iranian students around the world organized large demonstrations in support of the arrested and deported ISA members in France. One demonstration in Houston, Texas on November 9th was attacked by FBI agents and Houston police, resulting and beating and arrests of at least 91 Iranian students.

The recent attacks on ISA members in France and in the US are clearly a new wave of Repression against Iranian students abroad which has been going on for years under the direction of SAVAK, the international secret police which carries out the orders of the Shah of Iran against Iranian people at home and abroad. The Iranian Student Association has long been a thorn in the side of the Iranian dictator. Outside of Iran, The ISA has always raised the voice of the Iranian people against the tyranny and oppression in Iran taking up the cries of over 100,000 political prisoners imprisoned in the Shah's dungeons. Through demonstrations, conferences, cultural programs and distribution of literature about the situation in Iran, the ISA tries to inform the people of the world the unbearable living conditions of the majority of the Iranian people and their struggle for a free and democratic Iran.

The significance of these recent attacks is readily apparent. Oil rich and strategically located, Iran's continued support is needed by the western powers and their ruling classes to attempt to bail them out of their economic crisis, due to the huge accumulation of petroleum wealth under the control of the shah of Iran. Added to this is the direct role that the Shah plays as puppet and policeman for US interests in the area. The US rulers are willing to go to great lengths to please and pacify the Shah and keep him as an ally in the area.

For example, Kissinger and the Shah concluded a $55 billion contract last August, including $15 billion worth of military arms and several nuclear power plants. The sale of arms to Iran now surpasses the figures of one-time aid to Vietnam during the war, making Iran the single largest recipient of US arms and military aid. During French President Giscard d'Estaign's visit in October 1976 to Iran, a billion dollar deal, including 6 nuclear power plants, was concluded.

To please the Shah, the western countries like France and the US are more then willing to cooperate with the Shah and attempt to silence to voice of the ISA abroad. The banning and suppression of the ISA in the US and Europe will help the western countries to better cover up the nature of these deals with the Shah, their involvement in Iran and the true nature of the oppression of the Iranian people at the hands of the Shah and SAVAK, which murder of over 1 million Iranian people to date.

VVAW has long enjoyed the warmest fraternal relations with the ISA here in the US and we urge the fullest possible support of ISA in their demands.

*The droppings of all fabricated charges and immediate release of Nadar Oskooie (the organizational secretary of the Confederation) and Reza Takssiri.

*That the deportation orders against Kazem Kardevani (international affairs secretary) and the other three be immediately withdrawn and they be allowed to re-enter France (they are currently in Sweden).

*Stop the harassment of Iranian Students in France and the US.

*Condemn the criminal activities of SAVAK in Europe and the US, particularly in this latest wave of attacks on the ISA.

We in VVAW strongly urge everyone to send telegrams and letters of protest to:

Minister of Justice
13 Place Vendome, 75042
Paris, Cedex 1, France

Minister of Interior
Place Beauvau, 75800
Paris, France

Human Rights Commission
UN Plaza, UN
New York, NY

Amnesty International
55 Theobald's Road
London, WCIX 8sp, England