In the Mykonos restaurant assassinations ( fa, ترور رستوران میکونوس; also the "Mykonos Incident"), Iranian-Kurdish opposition leaders Sadegh Sharafkandi, Fattah Abdoli,

Homayoun Ardalan Homayoun Ardalan ( Kurdish: ھۆمایون ئەردەڵان, ''Homayoun Ardalan''; 2 February 1950 – 17 September 1992) was the official representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Germany and a member of the Central Commi ...

and their translator Nouri Dehkordi, were

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

at the Mykonos Greek restaurant in Berlin, Germany on 17 September 1992. The assassination took place during the KDPI insurgency (1989–96), as part of the general Kurdish separatism in Iran. The assassins were believed by German courts to have links to Iranian intelligence.

Events

Sharafkandi, Abdoli, Ardalan and Dehkordi were murdered in a mafia-style attack at the Mykonos Greek restaurant located on Prager Strasse in Berlin at about 11 pm on 17 September 1992. Three victims died instantly, while the fourth died at a hospital. In the same restaurant a meeting was scheduled of Ingvar Carlsson, a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden and leader of the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-d ...

, Mona Sahlin, the secretary of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and Pierre Schori, the former Swedish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Due to a telephone call to Ingvar Carlsson from Carl Bildt, the then-current Prime Minister of Sweden, who urged Carlsson to immediately return to Sweden due to the alleged urgent state of the Swedish economy, all three flew back to Sweden the same day and thus probably escaped being assassinated as well. Sharafkandi, Abdoli and Ardalan were buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, in Paris. Tombes d'Abdoli, Sharafkandi & Ardalan

Trial

The trial began in October 1993. In the trial the German court found

Kazem Darabi Kazem Darabi ( fa, کاظم دارابی) (born 1964) is an Iranian intelligence service employee who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Berlin Supreme Court for murdering four Kurdish dissidents in Berlin in 1992. According to the court pro ...

, an Iranian who worked as a grocer in Berlin, Abdolraham Banihashemi, an Iranian intelligence officer, and Lebanese Abbas Hossein Rhayel, guilty of murder and sentenced them to life in prison. Two other Lebanese, Youssef Amin and Mohamed Atris, were convicted of being accessories to murder. A dissident ex-President of Iran Abolhassan Banisadr, who fled the country in 1981 after being impeached and has not returned since, testified as a witness during the trial and told the court that the killings had been personally ordered by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and then-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. There was also a getaway driver named Farajollah Haider (also known as Abu Ja'far). Iranian officials, however, categorically denied their involvement in the incident. The then-speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri dismissed the ruling as being political, untrue and unsubstantiated. In its 10 April 1997 ruling, the court issued an international arrest warrant for Iranian intelligence minister Ali Fallahian after declaring that the assassination had been ordered by him with knowledge of Khamenei and Rafsanjani. This led to a diplomatic crisis between the government of Iran and those of several European countries lasting until November 1997. Despite international and domestic protests, Darabi and Rhayel were released from prison on 10 December 2007 and deported back to their home countries.

Adaptations in media

The events surrounding the Mykonos restaurant assassinations and subsequent trial were adapted into a non-fiction story by

Roya Hakakian , birth_date = ca. 1966 , birth_place = Tehran, Iran , death_date = , death_place = , occupation = , language = Persian, English , nationality = , citizenship = American , education = , alma_mater = Brooklyn College, , period = , ...

in her book ''Assassins of the Turquoise Palace'' in 2011. The Mykonos restaurant assassinations (alongside the

1994 AMIA bombing The AMIA bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; ), a Jewish Community Centre. Executed as a suicidal attack, a bomb-laden van was driven into the AMIA buildi ...

) are attributed to

Majid Javadi This is a list of characters appearing in the Showtime drama television series ''Homeland''. Appearances : = Main cast (credited) : = Recurring cast (3+) : = Guest cast (1-2) Main cast Recurring cast ;Notes Main characters The foll ...

in Episode One of Season Three in the 2011 American TV show Homeland

References

External links

"Holy Crime" A Documentary by Reza Allamehzadeh about the assassinations
(English version on YouTube)

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Mykonos Restaurant Assassinations Terrorist incidents in Germany Germany–Iran relations 1992 in Berlin Attacks on restaurants in Europe Murder in Berlin Kurdish separatism in Iran Assassinations in Germany September 1992 events in Europe Attacks on buildings and structures in Germany Mass murder in Germany Mass murder in 1992 1992 murders in Germany Terrorist incidents in Germany in 1992 People killed in Ministry of Intelligence (Iran) operations 1990s murders in Berlin

Events

Trial

Adaptations in media

See also

References

External links