Dokument #1322261
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Kenneth Katzman, author of The Warriors
of Islam: Iran's Revolutionary Guard, states that the
Revolutionary Guard established an Intelligence Unit "attached to
all levels of its command structure" in order more effectively to
combat armed organized opponents of the Islamic Republic,
especially the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (1993, 83). Katzman adds that the
Intelligence Unit was to have been "merged with the Ministry of
Intelligence when that bureau was constituted in 1984 ... the
Guard's Intelligence Unit remains separate and active, in part
duplicating the efforts of the Intelligence Ministry" (ibid.).
However, a 1995 ODR report says that the Intelligence Unit, created
in 1981, "was incorporated within the newly created Intelligence
Ministry, or Vezarat-e Ettela'at," but nevertheless maintained a
considerable degree of autonomy (13 Jan. 1995, 4).
A German government report on Iranian
intelligence activities in Germany published in the German
newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau on 28 March 1995 claims
that "[t]he intelligence service of the Islamic Revolution Guard
Corps (IRGC-armed force)"
is to be found in numerous Iranian facilities. So far, employees of this service have been identified with the Iranian Embassy, in semi-private firms, and in branches of Iranian foundations, such as the "Mostaz'afan." the activity of the IRGC employees that has been discovered in Germany so far is concentrated on the acquisition of military materiel; the acquisition of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons ... and security tasks within Iran Air (the posts of chief of security and armed security personnel aboard aircraft).
The IRGC employees identified in Germany so far are in close cooperation with employees of the Ministry of Information residency in the Iranian Embassy.
A 5 June 1996 article in the London
newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports that Iran's
Revolutionary Guards run training courses for armed opposition
organizations from Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, and other
countries in several camps in Iran. According to the article,
participants in these training courses sometimes travel to Iran via
Syria or Cyprus, "where they are received by representatives of the
Revolutionary Guard's intelligence organ."
In the fall of 1996, the head of the
Intelligence Unit of the Revolutionary Guards was identified as
General Mohammed Jaferi (General Sardar Mohamed Jaafari) (AFP 15
Oct. 1996). He was posted to a joint command centre with the Iraqi
Kurdish opposition organization, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK), in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah (ibid.). Defence and
Foreign Affairs' Strategic Policy reported that Jaferi (Jaafari)
was the head of the Revolutionary Guard's intelligence service in
Iraqi Kurdistan (30 Sept. 1996).
On 3 June 1996 the government of Bahrain
accused the Iranian government and the "intelligence department of
the Iranian revolutionary guards" of supporting a militant Shi(i
organization, "the Military Wing of Hezbollah ( Bahrain," which was
accused of attempting to overthrow the Bahraini government (AP 3
June 1996).
On 19 February 1998, Intelligence
Newsletter reported that "the military intelligence service"
of the Revolutionary Guard had used an Iranian-based branch of
al-Daawa, an Iraqi Islamist opposition group, "to infiltrate
Baghdad and operate against Massud Radjavi's People's Mujahedeen,"
an Iranian armed opposition organization based in Iraq.
Additional information on the institutional
structure of the intelligence branch of the Revolutionary Guard
could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research
Directorate within time limits.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Agence France Presse (AFP). 15 October
1996. "Terrorism." (FBIS-TOT-97-001-L 15 Oct. 1996/WNC)
Al-Sharq al-Awsat [London, in
Arabic]. 5 June 1996. "Iran: Revolutionary Guard Training Camps
Profiled." (FBIS-NES-96-110 5 June 1996/WNC)
Associated Press (AP). 3 June 1996.
Adnan Malik. "Bahrain: Coup Plot Foiled." (Global NewsBank)
Defence and Foreign Affairs Strategic
Policy. 30 September 1996. "New Intelligence Bosses in Kurdistan."
(International Media Corporation 30 Sept. 1996/NEXIS)
Frankfurter Rundschau
[Frankfurt, in German]. 28 March 1995. "German Report Exposes
Iranian Intelligence Service." (FBIS-NES-95-062 28 Mar.
1995/WNC)
Intelligence Newsletter. 19
February 1998. "Split in Iraq's Al Daawa Movement." (Indigo
Publications 19 Feb. 1998/NEXIS)
Katzman, Kenneth. 1993. The Warriors
of Islam: Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Boulder, Colorado:
Westview Press.
ODR Bulletin d'Information
[Berne]. 13 January 1995. Iranian Security Forces.