Information on the National Front, including its history and its role in the overthrow of the Shah, its role in the Provisional Government and its current activities (update to Response to Information Request 18601.E of 7 November 1994) [IRN20759.E]

The attached sections of Iran: A Country Study and World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties provide information on the history of the National Front from its 1949 foundation to 1980, including its role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran.

The other attached articles provide information on the activities of the only active component of the National Front inside Iran, the Iranian Nation Party (Iran Nation Party), led by Dariush Foruhar.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB 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.

Attachments


The Independent [London]. 16 August 1994. Safa Haeri. "Iranian Officers Warn Clergy over Oppression." (NEXIS)

_____ .3 May 1994. "Tehran Critic Held." (NEXIS)

_____. 12 February 1994. Safa Haeri. "Opposition Predicts Revolution in Iran; Former Minister Says Popular Uprising Will Sweep Islamic Leadership from Power to Save Country from 'Catastrophe'." (NEXIS)

_____. 18 October 1993. Safa Haeri. "New Purge of Iran's Armed Forces." (NEXIS)

Iran: A Country Study. 1989. Edited by Helen Chapin Metz. Washington, DC: Department of the Army. pp. 27-55, 210.

Mideast Mirror [London]. 6 April 1995. "Iran's Rulers Advised to 'Go Back to Their Mosques' Following Price Riots Near Tehran." (NEXIS)

Reuters. 13 March 1995. BC Cycle. "Iran Says Dissident General Freed for Three Days." (NEXIS)

_____. 28 November 1994. BC Cycle. "Dissident Iranian Writers Dies in Detention." (NEXIS)

_____. 12 August 1994. BC Cycle. "Iran Party Says Government 'Thugs' Attack Funeral." (NEXIS)

_____. 8 March 1994. BC Cycle. "Woman's Suicide by Fire Not Political, Iran Paper." (NEXIS)

_____. 25 February 1994. BC Cycle. "Iranian Woman Burned Herself to Death, Paper Says." (NEXIS)

_____ . 13 May 1993. BC Cycle. Mohammad Zargham. "Rafsanjani to Face Three in Iranian Elections." (NEXIS)

World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties. 1987. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Edited by George E. Delury. New York: Facts On File Publications, pp. 527-528.