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September 23, 2009
Iranian Generals Issue Death Warrant According to Letter
In an article published September 10th, we provide minor details (based on a letter received by the Beirut-based newspaper Almoharrer Alarabi) regarding a death warrant issued by two Iranian generals to a junior Iranian military “information” officer directing the junior officer to “eliminate” Hamid Ghoriafi, the London-based senior correspondent for the Kuwaiti newspaper, Alseyassah (Al-Siyassa).
We initially withheld the names of the alleged perpetrators at the request of Ghoriafi (and others), who is now speaking openly about who wants him targeted and why.
As we reported, the letter stated the Iranian military issued the warrant because, “Ghoriafi has a good relationship with Israeli intelligence through Lebanon’s MP Marwan Hamadéh [a Lebanese Druze]. Hamadéh supplies Ghoriafi with information regarding the International tribunal, so Ghoriafi can sell it to Alseyassah.”
According to an English translation of the letter, “An order to eliminate Ghoriafi was issued to Iranian ‘military information officer’ Lt. Samir Oubeid by Iranian Generals Ahmad Frouzanda and Jafari Sahra Rodi.”
We’ve since spoken with Ghoriafi, who says the letter was presented by a trusted (though unnamed) source of “many years” to Almoharrer Alarabi – a newspaper which Ghoriafi has written for – and the letter provides details about Oubeid, specifically the Iranian lieutenant’s purportedly strong ties to both Hizballah and the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad.
The letter states that Oubeid holds Iranian and European citizenship papers, and that Oubeid has appeared on Al Jazeera TV and other pro-Jihad media, praising Hizballah and denouncing the pro-democracy movement in Lebanon.
Ghoriafi, an outspoken critic of Hizballah and the terrorist group’s Iranian and Syrian backers, was targeted several years ago by a letter-bomb. The assassination attempt failed to kill Ghoriafi, but wounded a colleague. “No newspaper in Lebanon can publish what I’m writing,” Ghoriafi says.
An American counterterrorism analyst confirms, “The letter has been obtained by Lebanese security officials.”
See September 10thj article here.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor W. Thomas Smith Jr. is a former U.S. Marine infantry leader and shipboard counterterrorism instructor, who writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans, on the West Bank, in Iraq and Lebanon. Visit his website at uswriter.com.
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