French lawyer and Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld was told in Teheran yesterday that Iranian Jews have nothing to fear from the new regime. According to reports reaching here, the Iranian Minister of Justice, Assadollah Mobasherin, assured Klarsfeld that Jewish rights will be respected.
Klarsfeld, who with his wife, Beate, has been instrumental in tracking down wanted Nazi war criminals, flew to Teheran Tuesday to see if he could assist four Jews reportedly detained by Islamic Revolutionary Courts pending trial on a number of charges. He said before leaving that he also intended to investigate the execution of Iranian Jewish community leader Habib Elkanian by a firing squad on May 9 on charges of treason because of his associations with Israel and Zionism.
Mobasherin reportedly told Klarsfeld that Elkanian was “executed as a corrupter and not as a Jew.” The Justice Minister said he had nothing to do with the death sentence. “The courts found him guilty and sentenced him to death,” he said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
