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

IRAN UPDATE 18 - June 16, 2000

Toronto, June 16, 2000… This week at least four of the defendants who originally made confessions retracted their statements, saying that they were extracted under duress. Defence spokesman Ismail Nasseri stated: “Some defendants have said the confessions were made at the demand of [government] agents. Some of them do not even remember the events.” One of the Muslims under investigation also denied his guilt at this week’s hearings.

With sentencing expected next week, the highly publicized visit of four Neturei Karta representatives has only made the situation of the captives more tenuous. Iranian State Television was quick to broadcast a statement by Rabbi Yisroel Weiss, head of the delegation, to Yusef Hamadani-Cohen, leader of the Iranian Jewish community, in which he alleged the defendants had been "tricked" by Israel into collecting sensitive information on Iran. The English language daily Kayhan International reported Weiss as, in effect, sanctioning sentencing of the prisoners with his comments that “…any punishment in case of conviction…will deter the gullible from falling prey to the Zionist bait”.

However, in spite of the obvious propaganda value of the Neturei Karta visit in bolstering the case against the defendants, the Iranian media did not universally welcome the delegates. One Tehran Times editorial writer dismissed their visit as a subterfuge: “When I saw the faces of some rabbis on Iranian TV…I told myself without any introduction that these are other leverages employed by the Zionist-oriented American regime…to release these spies”. There is certainly tremendous irony in the rabidly anti-Israel Neturei Karta being thus described as merely the tools of the Zionists.

Weiss’s competency to comment on the actions of the defendants, whom he has never met, is akin only to that of Nelson Mandela who asserted that the trial is “free and fair”, even though he did not attend and was fully aware that the proceeding were completely sealed off from public scrutiny. Mandela recently reiterated that “I am doing everything to save the lives of those Jews”. He firmly believes that any criticism of the trial will endanger the lives of the captives.

A number of American lawmakers are proposing to reduce US contributions to the World Bank unless the international body stops approval of millions of dollars of loans it recently authorized to Iran. However, in general Jewish communities and governments throughout the world are waiting in trepidation for the verdicts next week before deciding on any new strategy. Meanwhile, Hussein Ali Amiri, head of the provincial Justice Department, issued a warning: “Continuation of voicing such…biased views of some officials, foreign media and Israeli government may carry as much weight as other evidence presented in court.”

	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.
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