ANKARA, Turkey -- An Iranian revolutionary court Thursday sentenced elderly dissident leader Abolfazl Qassemi to life imprisonment on charges of trying to overthrow Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's regime.
An Iranian revolutionary court Thursday sentenced elderly dissident leader Abolfazl Qassemi to life imprisonment on charges of trying to overthrow Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's regime.
Qassemi, in his late sixties, was spared a firing squad execution 'due to his advanced age and ill health,' a court verdict quoted by Tehran Radio said.
The veteran moderate nationalist is secretary-general of the Iran Party, part of the National Front which aided Khomeini's rise to power before being excluded from government by the Moslem fundamentalists.
The radio later reported troops and revolutionary guards killed 10 dissidents in renewed clashes near the towns of Saqqez, Sanandaj and Salmas in northwest Iran and arrested eight dissidents, including four women, in raids on alleged hideouts in Tehran.
The court found Qassemi guilty of cooperating with and receiving aid from Shahpour Bakhtiar, the shah's last prime minister who now leads a Paris-based movement against Khomeini.
It said Qassemi attempted the 'overthrow of the Islamic republic, according to statements by one of the political leaders of the coup d'etat plot' on July 9, 1980.
The radio did not identify the leader but it said the court decided to commute Qassemi's death sentence to life in prison due to lack of evidence of his role in the failed coup.
Scores of military and civil officials were executed on charges of attempting to overthrow Khomeini's regime after the coup plot was reported.
In a significant denunciation of the Iran Party itself, thecourt said the party 'took a position ... against Iran's Islamic order, first under Bakhtiar's leadership and then under Qassemi's leadership after the revolution.'
The conviction of Qassemi ironically followed testimony by Siavoush Karimi, a former chief of operations for SAVAK, the late shah's secret police.
The court said Qassemi cooperated with SAVAK, 'in view of more than 300 pages of documents' and testimony given by Karimi, 'one of Qassemi's contacts' with the defunct agency.
Revolutionary leaders have charged SAVAK still is active, receiving directions from Bakhtiar.
Qassemi's conviction renewed attention to the pro-shah opposition, whose activities were eclipsed by a recent wave of assassinations of clergymen blamed on the regime's former allies -- ousted president Abdolhassan Bani-Sadr and Mojahideen Khalq guerrillas led by Massoud Rajavi.
Bani-Sadr and Rajavi lead a Paris-based National council of Resistance which is shunned by Bakhtiar.
Qassemi, in his late sixties, was spared a firing squad execution 'due to his advanced age and ill health,' a court verdict quoted by Tehran Radio said.
The veteran moderate nationalist is secretary-general of the Iran Party, part of the National Front which aided Khomeini's rise to power before being excluded from government by the Moslem fundamentalists.
The court found Qassemi guilty of cooperating with and receiving aid from Shahpour Bakhtiar, the shah's last prime minister who now leads a Paris-based movement against Khomeini.
It said Qassemi attempted the 'overthrow of the Islamic republic, according to statements by one of the political leaders of the coup d'etat plot' on July 9, 1980.
The radio did not identify the leader but it said the court decided to commute Qassemi's death sentence to life in prison due to lack of evidence of his role in the failed coup.
Scores of military and civil officials were executed on charges of attempting to overthrow Khomeini's regime after the coup plot was reported.
In a significant denunciation of the Iran Party itself, the court said the party 'took a position ... against Iran's Islamic order, first under Bakhtiar's leadership and then under Qassemi's leadership after the revolution.'
The conviction of Qassemi ironically followed testimony by Siavoush Karimi, a former chief of operations for SAVAK, the late shah's secret police.
The court said Qassemi cooperated with SAVAK, 'in view of more than 300 pages of documents' and testimony given by Karimi, 'one of Qassemi's contacts' with the defunct agency.
Revolutionary leaders have charged SAVAK still is active, receiving directions from Bakhtiar.
Qassemi's conviction renewed attention to the pro-shah opposition, whose activities were eclipsed by a recent wave of assassinations of clergymen blamed on the regime's former allies -- ousted president Abdolhassan Bani-Sadr and Mojahideen Khalq guerrillas led by Massoud Rajavi.
Bani-Sadr and Rajavi lead a Paris-based National council of Resistance which is shunned by Bakhtiar.
