TALE OF DEADLY IRANIAN NETWORK WOVEN IN PARIS; TERRORISM: AN ASSASSINATION TRIAL'S THREADS LEAD AS FAR AS CALIFORNIA, UNCOVERING A WEALTH OF SPY DATA ALONG THE WAY.

November 3, 1994, Thursday, Home Edition

By WILLIAM C. REMPEL, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Los Angeles Times

  It was almost a perfect crime. Three well-dressed men walked into the suburban compound of Iranian exile Shahpour Bakhtiar in broad daylight, passed through X-rays and metal detectors manned by 24-hour police guards, slit his throat and disappeared.

  At first, it appeared to be a brilliantly plotted conspiracy, aided by luck. Then came the mistakes.

  Now, three years later, those mistakes have not only led to the capture of key suspects in the case but have produced a windfall of Iranian spy data for Western intelligence agencies.

  In a trial that opened here Wednesday under massive security, three suspects share the defense dock with the shadow of the state of Iran -- all accused by French investigators of playing a direct role in planning... To read more click here

RECRUITING A POLITICAL ASSASSIN: IRAN'S KGB-LIKE SPIES AT WORK

November 25, 1994, Friday, Home Edition

By WILLIAM C. REMPEL, TIMES STAFF WRITER

Copyright 1994 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times
All Rights Reserved Los Angeles Times

  From that first meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, when recruiting agents offered him $600,000 and a new house in Tehran, Fariborz Karimi seemed a most unlikely assassin. The Iranian agents asked him to kill a man who was his mentor and surrogate father.

  But it was precisely that close relationship that so attracted the Iranian secret service agents. Few prospective recruits had such easy access to the man they wanted eliminated -- the exiled former Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar, whose public criticism... To read more click here

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