Document #1187036
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
No references to a group by the name of
Farghan were found among the sources currently available to the
IRBDC. In Khomeiny: La révolution trahie, Forghan is
identified as a "mysterious terrorist group that assassinated a
number of military and religious persons following the revolution"
(Delannoy, p. 302). The name Furqan or Forqan appears in other
documentation. According to Dilip Hiro, author of Iran Under the
Ayatollahs, Furqan means "distinction" and was "formed at the
time of the June 1963 uprising by Savak" (Hiro, p. 113-114). He
further states that "it was a religious organization which did not
regard the Imams to be infallible, merely inspired leaders, and had
a poor opinion of the ulema". Allegedly, among other actions,
Furqan members attempted to assassinate Hojatalislam
Hashemi-Rafsanjani on 25 May 1979 (Hiro, p. 212). Another author,
Ervand Abrahamian (Radical Islam, The Iranian Mojahedin),
mentions Forqan (Koran) as a "small religious group convinced that
`reactionary clerics', wealthy bazaaris and `liberal politicians',
not to mention `Marxist atheists', were plotting to betray the
Islamic Revolution" (Abrahamian, pp. 51-2). Abrahamian alleges that
Forqan was responsible for the deaths of Motahhari, Mofateh, the
chief of general staff, and the Imam Jom`eh of Tabriz in the latter
half of 1979 (Abrahamian, p. 51).
Further corroboration for the above information is not currently
available to the IRBDC.
ATTACHMENTS:
-
Abrahamian, Ervand. Radical Islam: The
Iranian Mojahedin. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd.,
1989;
-
Hiro, Dilip. Iran Under the
Ayatollahs. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987;
-
Delannoy, Christian and Jean-Pierre
Pichard. Khomeiny: La révolution trahie. Paris:
Carrere, 1988.