IRANIAN students in Bolton are being targeted for recruitment to Islamic fundamentalist groups with links to international terrorism, it has been claimed.

Bolton has been named as one of eight towns and cities in Britain where secret groups - funded by the Iranian government - are being formed.

The groups propagate militant fundamentalism and provide facilities for the regime's intelligence and terrorist network.

The claims are made in a major probe carried out in several countries by the Sunday Telegraph. It says recruits are expected to collect information on other Iranians with a view to drawing up lists of names and addresses and intelligence reports on key individuals opposed to the regime.

Those who show promise are recruited as agents into the Iranian secret service, allegedly responsible for assassinations and various acts of terrorism in Europe.

The network of groups operating throughout the country is masterminded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader and advocate of implementing the death sentence against author Salman Rushdie.

The sister of one Iranian student studying in Bolton refused to comment on the allegations when she was contacted by the BEN because she was scared of the consequences if she spoke out. She claimed information would be passed back to Iran where members of her family would be put in danger.

Her brother has recently acquired British citizenship and will be allowed to remain in Britain because he would almost certainly face arrest if he returned to his home country.

Bolton's Racial Equality Council say there are no records of Iranian organisations in the town but dissidents in Britain opposed to the regime claim it is almost certain that agents are operating in the town in secret.

A Middle East expert said: "I would be extremely surprised if some Iranians who support the regime were not active in Bolton. "Greater Manchester is a key area with a significant muslim community and there are undoubtedly cells of fundamentalist activists recruiting people to the Iranian regime's cause.

"They are often attracted to these organisations because they suffer from a feeling of exclusion from society and fundamentalism fills a vacuum.

"There will also be Iranian dissidents in the area and they will be monitored and information will be collected on them." He said there was also a network of "sleeper" agents in Britain who have been implicated in terrorist activities abroad.

A spokesman in Britain for the oppressed Kurdish minority, who have suffered at the hands of both the Iranian and Iraqi regimes, said: "I am not surprised at all that they are active in Bolton. "It is tied up with the whole nature of exporting terrorism across the world. They consider it their religious duty to serve the Iranian regime."

A number of Iranian students study at Bolton College and Bolton Institute has a high intake of overseas students, including a significant number of Iranians.

A spokesman for the Institute's official Islamic Society was not available for comment but Student Union Acting President Mark O' Brien said he was satisfied the club was a respectable organisation. He added: "If this sort of thing is going on it is in secret and is certainly not on an official basis or with the backing of the Union. The Islamic Society is not political or involved with Islamic fundamentalism.

"I would certainly be concerned about the tactics employed by any group attempting to recruit people to the ideas of Islamic fundamentalism."

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said they could not comment on the allegations or any matters involving the intelligence services.

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