Wiesenthal urges Körber NGO to sever ties with alleged Iranian terrorist

The walls appear to be closing in on the Germany-based Körber Foundation over criticism of its promotion of an alleged antisemitic mass murderer, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who worked for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Approximately 40 German-Iranians and Germans protested on Thursday in front of the Hamburg-based Körber Foundation because the controversial think tank hosted Mousavian in May at a political breakfast.

Iranian human rights activists accuse Mousavian of overseeing the assassinations of at least 24 Iranian dissidents during the 1990’s in Europe when Mousavian was ambassador to Germany (1990-1997).

“Germany should permanently declare Mousavian persona non grata,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

The Center is named after the legendary Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal. The prominent German-Iranian dissident, Mina Ahadi, who led the Thursday demonstration, told the Post that she agrees with Cooper. “A travel ban is a good thing” with respect to Mousavian, Ahadi said.

Mousavian served as the spokesman for Iran’s regime during its nuclear negotiations mainly with the EU (2003-2005).

The Post can reveal that the Körber Foundation also hosted the Iranian regime official Saeed Khatibzadeh in 2019, who is affiliated with the Iranian regime’s Holocaust-denying Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS). In 2006, the IPIS organized an antisemitic conference of a who’s who of global Holocaust deniers.

Kurt Adolf Körber (1909-1992), a former Nazi who exploited the victims of a concentration camp to advance the Holocaust and Hitler’s war goals, founded the pro-Mousavian foundation.

Cooper said  “One would think that the think tank named for Körber would have a special sensitivity to the martyrdom and suffering of Iranian women and girls who perished at the hands of the barbaric Tehran regime. Quite the opposite appears to be true.”

Cooper added “Germany continues to insist that it is committed to teach younger generations about the evils of Nazism and the Shoah. Does this include teaching about Kurt Körber?  He was the technical director of Universelle-Werke Dresden, a weapons manufacturer which used over 3,000 slave workers during WWII. Körber, a Nazi Party member, was involved in establishing a slave labor camp for Universelle. Hitler’s regime also gave Universelle 700-800 women workers from the Ravensbrück concentration camp complex. Whitewashing the deeds of evil doers makes a mockery of Germany’s commitment never to forget its past.”

Mousavian denies involvement in murders of 24 Iranians

Körber Foundation representatives, Julian Claaßen und Lothar Dittmer, did not immediately respond to The Post's press queries. In an interview published on Körber’s website, Mousavian denied he was involved in the murders of 24 Iranians. Mousavian said about the court verdict that convicted Iranian and Hezbollah agents of assassinating Iranian Kurds in the Berlin restaurant Mykonos in 1992: “The 398 pages of the Berlin court’s (Kammergericht) verdict issued in April 1997 are public and anyone can read it. There is no accusation against me at all…Now the radicals in Iran accuse me of being a puppet of the West and the warmongers in the United States accuse me of being a puppet of the Iranian government. Both are wrong.”

Mousavian omitted in his interview with Körber that a former high level Iranian intelligence agent, Abolghasem Mesbahi, testified at the trial that, "Mr. Mousavian has participated in most of the assassinations committed in Europe."

Mesbahi's statements were widely reported in the German media during the trial and German intelligence viewed Mesbahi as a highly credible witness. It is unclear why Körber did not question Mousavian about Mesbahi and Mousavian’s antisemitism, his endorsement of the fatwa to murder Rushdie and his zealous support for Hamas and Hezbollah.

Mousavian is a non-tenured academic for Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy at Princeton University. Mousavian compared Israel to Nazi Germany on his X, formerly known as Twitter, after Hamas invaded Israel  on October 7 and slaughtered nearly 1,200 people.  Mousavian has also expressed support for the German and US-designated terrorist organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah, in the German media. The Washington D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) published in April an extensive report on Mousavian’s alleged murder spree and support or terrorist organizations.

Lawdan Bazargan, who oversees the California-based organization, Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA), helped mount the protest against Mousavian and Körber, told the Post “The Körber Foundation and Princeton University are playing with fire by promoting Seyed Hossein Mousavian and being dishonest about their actions. Both institutions have appeased him to gain access to the Islamic regime of Iran. As recognized by German courts and the US government, the Islamic regime of Iran is a terrorist regime.”

The protest in Hamburg was the first trans-Atlantic demonstration against Mousaivan and more activities are planned versus Körber and Mousavian.

Bazargan, who was imprisoned in Iran for her political dissident activities in the 1980’s, said “Academic and charitable institutions like Princeton and Körber do not possess the necessary sophistication to deal with terrorist countries and their agents. Engaging with individuals like Mousavian undermines their credibility and poses significant national security risks. These institutions must sever ties with former diplomats of the regime and stop running foreign policy on the sidelines.”

Rabbi Cooper noted that “Seyed Hossein Mousavian endorsed the Fatwa against author Salman Rushdie. That alone should have led Princeton to bar Mousavian from their faculty. On top of that he openly endorses Hamas and Hezbollah. He does not have tenure. Time for Princeton to open a new page in its history and throw out this longtime supporter and facilitator of the murderous Iranian regime”

Post press queries to Princeton University president Christopher L. Eisgruber and his spokesman on Sunday were not immediately answered.

The Körber Foundation is founded by Körber AG, a transnational engineering corporation with a location in Richmond, Virginia. The Post has located entries on the internet listing Körber business in Iran. When approached for a comment, Henriette Viebig, a spokeswoman for Körber, refused to comment. It is unclear if Körber is providing dual-use technology to Iran. Dual-use merchandise can be used for military and civilian purposes. Körber also declined to state if it is in compliance with US sanctions against Iran’s regime.

Jason Brodsky, an Iran expert and policy director of the US-based United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told the Post “I think Körber’s hosting of Hossein Mousavian is a symptom of a larger problem in the German business community. Many still adhere to the fantasy that trade ties with Iran will moderate the regime. This theory has been repeatedly proven wrong. German companies should not be doing business with the Islamic Republic while it is holding German nationals hostage and plotting terror attacks throughout the European Union.”

Iran’s regime is currently holding two German nationals hostage, Jamshid Sharmahd and Nahid Taghavi.

Brodsky added “Germany should cut all these ties, and deny the permissive environment that exists for Tehran on German soil, particularly with Iranian banks still operating there.”

Mousavian’s alleged atrocities have electrified social media. The famous Iranian cartoonist and satirist, Reza Aghili, depicted the reported duplicity of Mousavian who claims to seek a peaceful nuclear energy in the Middle East but told an Iranian regime paper that former Iranian regime president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should have built nuclear weapons.

سید حسین موسویان در روزنامه گفتگو با رورنامه همشهری غنی‌سازی‌ 20درصدی را واکنشی ضعیف از سوی دولت احمدی‌نژاد به قطعنامه‌های شورای امنیت می‌داند و می‌گوید اگر او در آن زمان تصمیم‌گیر بود دستور ساخت بمب اتم را می‌داد.سید حسین موسویان، استاد دانشگاه پرینستون، سفیر رژیم در آلمان در… pic.twitter.com/3dCCDeHKvF

— AAIRIA (@AAIRIA_Org) June 17, 2024

Cooper said that “This ex-Iranian ambassador to Germany has served as a well-placed cheerleader for pushing the Iranian regime to build a nuclear bomb. He was Implicated in the deaths of 24 anti-Iranian regime activists in on German soil, yet both Obama and Biden administrations treated him as credible advocate on the controversial issue of Iranian nukes and the elitist, well-connected Körber think-tank continues to invite him to speak to policy makers and influencers.”

Mousavian refuses to answer multiple Post Email and WhatsApp press queries.