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	The B'nai Brith Canada Institute for International Affairs has a mandate to protest the abuse of human rights throughout the world and advocate on behalf of worldwide Jewish communities in distress. The Institute has a special focus on pro-Israel advocacy and education.
Rochelle Wilner President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Amos Sochaczevski National Chair	Ruth Klein National Director

There is no greater mitzvah than Redemption of Captives
Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Hilchot Matanot Ani’im, Chapter 8, Article 10

IRAN UPDATE 5 - July 23, 1999

While the Western media continues to focus on the current civil unrest in Iran, the plight of the 13 Jewish captives seems to have been for the most part forgotten. In general, channels of communication are tightly controlled in Iran, which makes it hard to obtain any reliable information. Cell phone communication, for example, was reportedly shut down for several days during the height of the recent student protests.

Four months have now passed since the arrests of the 13 captives and still there is no word as to the exact charges against them, their legal representation, or a trial date being set. Concern continues to grow, intensified by the sketchy details about their wellbeing. Certainly not all the prisoners have been allowed visits. Rumours last week that there were to be several releases - including the youngest captive who is only 16 years old - only led to disappointment. The current tension is not helpful for their situation since any major upheaval could have a destabilizing effect on the power of the central judiciary to control its local counterparts.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Israel had rejected a deal offered by unofficial Iranian intermediaries to release the 13 Jews in exchange for payments of billions in debts that Iran claims are outstanding from the days before the 1979 Islamic revolution. Israel was said to have rejected this offer as extortion, which could only lead to future hostage situations. This account was subsequently denied, with a particularly blunt refutation by an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, as reported in yesterday's Tehran Times.

Unconfirmed reports from Iran indicate that the authorities may have confiscated the passports of several Iranian Jews over the past few days, leading to renewed fears of another round of harassment.

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