The Trial and Conviction of Arif Durrani

Bordering on Treason?*
Lawrence Lifschultz and Rabia Ali

In April 1987, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Holly Fitzsim- Regardless of new confessions in Washington, after almost
mons, stood before a jury in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and five years behind bars, Durrani still claims for himself the
asked that the members reject the fantastic claims of the unique distinction of being the only person imprisoned in the
defendant. "If Mr. Durrani is telling the truth," she said, United States for the Iran-Contra affair. He continues to
"...the CIA is lying to you, [and] the National Security Coun- insist that he has been wrongfully convicted.
cil [NSC] is lying to you."1 Prior to his arrest and imprisonment, the Pakistani-born
The jury, suspicious of the bizarre stories of a foreign arms Durrani had built his own version of the American dream: he
merchant engaged in shipping weapon parts to Iran, believed had become a successful businessman of a particular kind, a
the CIA and the prosecution. After ninety minutes of deli- licensed arms dealer operating with the sanction of the State
beration, it returned a guilty verdict. Department. As the managing director of Merex Inc. of
Several weeks later Arif Durrani California, Durrani had amassed con-
was sentenced to ten years in prison siderable wealth through the sale of
and fined two million dollars. As he weapons to some of the more unsavory
passed sentence, Judge T. Gilroy Daly Durrani claims he is the regimes of Latin America, Asia, and
told Durrani, "I find throughout greed only person in prison in the Middle East.
and lies, money and perjury, avarice the U.S. for the In October 1986, Durrani's luck ran
and conniving. You are not charged out. He was arrested by U.S. Customs
with it...but your behavior might Iran-Contra affair. agents in Danbury, Connecticut, for
under other circumstances be con- violating export regulations by selling
sidered by some as bordering on arms to Iran a country formally under
treason." a U.S. arms embargo. Brought to trial
In June, nearly five years after Durrani's arrest, a senior in Bridgeport, Durrani defended himself by claiming that he
CIA official, Alan Fiers, pleaded guilty in a Washington court was a link in the tangled chain that made up the Iran-Contra
to having lied to Congress and federal investigators regarding affair. He stated that the arms transaction for which he had
the Iran-Contra affair. Fiers became the first insider to "name been arrested was part of a joint arms-for-hostages initiative
names" and provide information implicating officials at the undertaken by the U.S. and Israeli governments.
highest levels of the CIA in an apparent scheme of deliberate A key figure in Durrani's story was Manuel Jose Pires, a
perjury designed to sustain the veil of secrecy surrounding mysterious Portuguese arms merchant. In the spring of 1986,
the Iran-Contra operation. Durrani says, he was contacted by Israeli government inter-
mediaries who urged him to meet with Pires. The Portuguese
Lawrence Lifschultz has been South Asia Correspondent of the Far dealer, he was told, was in search of certain difficult-to-fmd
Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong). He has also written extensively on
South and Southwest Asia for the Guardian (London), Le Monde Diplo- HAWK missile parts which were to be delivered to Iran. This
matique (Paris), the BBC and The Nation. introduction to Pires inaugurated a collaboration which
Rabia Ali has recently completed her doctoral research at Cambridge would ultimately prove to be Durrani's undoing.
University and is working on a study of modern Pakistan entitled Inheriting Through the Portuguese, Durrani claims he met a U.S.
the Earth: Zulfigar Ali Bhutto and the Pakistan People's Party.
1. See: The United States of America v. Arif Durrani, United States official at the London Hilton who sought assurances that the
District Court, District of Connecticu4 Criminal Action No. B-86-59 (TGFD), parts needed to complete the final "package" for Iran had
March-April 1987. All quotes pertaining to the trial proceedings, unless indeed been secured. The official, Durrani says, was NSC
otherwise cited, are from the court transcripts. Deputy Director for Politico-Military Affairs Oliver North.
Durrani's defense that he was contracted to aid the pur-
*Adapted from a pamphlet: Bordering on Treason?: poses of U.S. policywas dismissed by the prosecution as
The Trial and Conviction of Arif Durrani, pure invention. His arrest preceded by six weeks the revela-
Lawrence Lifschultz, Steven Galster, and Rabia All tions of the Iran-Contra scandal, the details of which were to
Pamphleteer's Press, E. Haven, CT., 1991. To order, see p. 65.
emerge slowly while his trial got under way. Connecticut

36 CovertAction Number 38 (Fall 1991)

 prosecutors maintained that Durrani, a private
supplier of arms to many countries, was operating
entirely for his own personal profit. The prosecu-
tion categorically denied that Durrani had any con-
nection whatsoever with any covert operation
being run by U.S. government agencies.
These opposing views will be aired in court
again this autumn, in response to a motion for a new
trial by Durrani's attorneys. The motion claims that
the prosecution withheld crucial evidence that
could have aided Durrani's defense. At the fall
hearing, the court will decide whether sufficient
new evidence has emerged to warrant a new trial.
Demonstrating or disproving the link to Iran-
Contra has been an elusive task for both the
defense and the prosecution. Durrani's arrest on Lawrence Lifschuhtz
Arif Durrani in prison In Danbury, Conn. awaiting a hearing for a new trial.
October 3, 1986, for buying spare parts for the
U.S.-desi !Ai ed HAWK missile system occurred a
month before the American public learned that officials at Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, met with high-level
the highest level of the U.S. government were intimately Iranian officials and hammered out an agreement whereby
involved in the covert export of weapons to Iran which in- the U.S. and Israel would supply a variety of armaments,
cluded HAW1C parts. In the spring of 1987, while the press was especially TOW missiles and spare parts for the U.S.-designed
preparing to cover the dramatic cross-examinations on HAWK air defense system, in return for Iran's cooperation in
Capitol Hill of Oliver North and John Poindexter, CIA and securing the release of Western hostages held by pro-Iranian
NSC officials quietly travelled to Bridgeport to deny groups in Lebanon.2
Durrani's allegations that his arms purchases were made on According to documents provided to the Tower Commis-
behalf of the U.S. government. Based in part upon this tes- sion, on July 29, 1986, in Jerusalem, Nir informed Vice Presi-
timony Durrani was convicted and sentenced. The case has dent George Bush that the Iranians had also "asked for other
been virtually unknown outside the district court in items... there were 240 [additional] items [HAWK spares] and
Bridgeport where it was originally tried. we agreed to it."3 The same day in a memorandum to Vice
After an inquiry which spanned more than a year, and Admiral Poindexter, Oliver North asked that he "obtain
which drew us into a labyrinthian network of underground [President Reagan's] approval for having the 240 HAWK mis-
arms merchants in Europe, we have unearthed new informa- sile parts shipped from Israel to Iran as soon as possible
tion that lends credence to Durrani's claims that his activities ...delivery of the 240 should help assure the Iranians that we
were indirectly linked to the Iran-Contra operation. This will keep our word."4 The following day, July 30, Poindexter
information, however, also has much broader implications. had secured the President's written approval.5
Our investigation in Europe yielded evidence indicating that However, the parts which the Israelis shipped did not
the scope and volume of arms illegally shipped to Iran from cover all the items on the 240 item list. The Iranians were
NATO states and NATO suppliers were hundreds of times searching in particular for the "heart" of the HAWK system
greater than the value of shipments revealed as the basis of known as a klystron tube, without which the entire missile
the Iran-Contra scandal. system was useless. It was the time known in Iran as the "war
Relying on interviews with arms traders directly involved of the cities" when vast urban areas, lacking the protection of
in the traffic and a hitherto confidential police inquiry con- surface-to-air defense systems, were being laid waste by Iraqi
ducted by a special intelligence unit of the Gendarmerie in air attacks.
Brussels, we were able to unlock the details of several illicit While readying their arms package for Tehran, both Israel
arms networks linked to the U.S.-Israeli effort to supply Iran and the U.S. also began an intensive search to locate the
with weapons officially prohibited for export. The obscure
and peculiar Durrani case served as a window to a more 2. Report of the President's Special Review Board, hereafter referred to
expansive panorama of illegality and deception. as The Tower Commission Report, February 26,1987, cited in The National
Security Archive, The Chronology The Documented Day-by-DayAccount of
the Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Contras, Malcolm Byrne, ed.,
The Backdrop 1987, p. 443.
The four months preceding Durrani's arrest had been a 3. Ibid.
4. North to Poindexter, July 29, 1986, The Tower Commission Report,
period of intense secret diplomacy between Iran, Israel and
cited in The Chronology, p. 440.
the United States, each pursuing its own ends. At a crucial 5. The Tower Commission Report,, cited in The Chronology, p. 441. Also
meeting in-February-1986, AniirariiNir, a special adviser to see: the Washington Pos4 February 8, 1987.

Number 38 (Fall 1991) Covert Action 37

 At the Geneva meeting, Durrani
claims, he and Pires were joined by
an Iranian official responsible for
Iran's HAWK system. Durrani indi
cated that he was optimistic about
locating at least some of the missing
HAWK parts on the 240-item list
from private suppliers once he re-
turned to the United States.
Meanwhile, in mid-April, North
had already alerted Poindexter that
their operation was having difficulty
locating all the HAWK parts. "We
have a problem on our side," wrote
Department of Defense North, "in that over 50 of the parts
HAWK missile parts were the subject of extensive searches by the Reagan administration now do not appear to be in stock or
for supply to Iran as part of the Iran-Contra deal and also by Durrani who was convicted are no longer made for our version
for their illegal export. This 'trio of HAWK,' photo is captioned 'three tons of fun" by the DoD. of the system. Nir is checking in
their [Israel's] older inventories to
missing items on the list. The problem was that Iran's HAWK see if they have them on hand."7
system was nearly a decade old; parts for the older version In early May 1986, Durrani visited Radio Research in
were not readily available. Therefore, a closer, broader Danbury, Connecticut, seeking HAWK parts and the possible
search was necessary. repair of several klystron tubes. In July 1986, Radio Research
It was at this stage in the spring of 1986 that Durrani claims executives suspicious about the ultimate destination of the
he was contacted by the Israeli government's purchasing HAWK parts contacted U.S. Customs.
office in New York. Durrani's firm, Mere; had maintained Special Agent Steven Arruda began monitoring Durrani's
active contacts with the Israelis as one of their suppliers in telephone calls to Radio Research and organized video
the U.S. market. In the netherworld of the international arms surveillance of his ensuing visits. For more than half a decade
business, Durrani was known for his multiplicity of contacts, under a program code-named Operation Exodus the Customs
and on his Pakistani passport he had traveled frequently to Service had made an elaborate effort to staunch the export
Iran since the early 1980s. of weapons to Iran. Durrani was now swimming into Exodus.
Approached by Israeli intermediaries, Durrani flew to On August 29, Durrani's first shipment was permitted to
Europe and on to Israel where, he claims, he met with Israeli leave the country and tracked through a series of freight
representatives, including members of the Israeli Air Force, forwarding companies in New York and Brussels. Its ultimate
to discuss the list of requirements specified by the Iranians. destination was Iran and not Jordan as Durrani had stated to
Ari Ben Menashe, a retired intelligence officer in the Israeli Radio Research. Court records establish that both Durrani
Defense Force, confirms Durrani's visit.6 Returning to Eu- and Manuel Pires were present at Kennedy Airport to see off
rope, he had a meeting with Rahim Malekzadeh, the Chief of the shipment. As far as the Customs Service was concerned,
Logistics in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Malekzadeh the moment the shipment left the U.S. without a license, Arif
impressed upon Durrani the urgency of securing badly need- Durrani had violated the Arms Export Control Act. They
ed materiel for Iran's war effort against Iraq. would arrest Durrani on the next shipment. Pires, however,
With both the Israelis and the Iranians urging him to get would never be indicted. It was an omission which would
involved, Durrani arranged in Geneva for his first rendezvous haunt the case.
in the spring of 1986 with the Portuguese arms merchant, Unknown to Customs officials supervising Operation Ex-
Manuel Jose Pires. odus, exactly 30 days earlier, President Reagan had specifi-
cally authorized delivery of HAWK missile parts to Iran at the
Manuel Pires and the Quest for HAWKS request of Poindexter and North. And, according to CIA
Pires, an established figure in the European arms market, documents provided to the Iran-Contra committee, "on Au-
had worked on a number of transactions involving Israel. gust 3, the United States delivered 12 pallets of HAWK spare
Frequently referred to as that "gangster" by numerous as- parts to Iran."8 A single pallet had already been delivered on
sociates in a business known more for an unmarked bullet May 26 when McFarlane, North, Nir, and the CIA's George
than a kind remark, he had managed to build an unusual (continued on p. 61)
reputation in the international arms trade.
7. North PROF note to Poindexter, April 16,1986, The Tower Commission
Report, cited in The Chronology, p. 344.
6. Ari Ben Menashe, private interview, New York, December 7, 1990. 8. The Tower Commission Report, cited in The Chronology, p. 450.

38 CovertActiou Number 38 (Fall 1991)

 (continued from p.38) The prosecution's CIA witness, Charles Moyer, testified that the
Cave made their secret journey to Tehran. Israel provided the logistical CIA was responsible for procuring the HAWK parts shipped by the U.S.
assistance in arranging the delivery. However, the shipment of HAWK government to Iran in May and August 1986, and that it procured these
parts was incomplete. only from the Department of Defense. He testified further that the CIA
"When the Iranians inspected the HAWK parts shipped in August, made no attempt to procure any parts after May 1986. Under cross-
they...found the shipment incomplete," notes the Congresional Iran- examination, however, he did admit that parts obtained by third parties
Contra Investigation Report. "By August 20, Iran had identified 177 or intelligence 'cut outs' would not necessarily have been "committed
items in the original order which had not been included in the ship- to paper" generating the type of records to which he would have had
ment."9 Two weeks earlier, on August 8, Oliver North had acknow- access.
ledged the problem during a London meeting with Arniram Nir lere Time would reveal the existence of an important link between
he proposed supplying the Iranians with the "177 missing units. Manuel Pires, other "third parties," and the joint U.S.-Israeli initiative.
In late August, North was reporting to John Poindexter: "[Chief of But during the Bridgeport trial, the defense was only able to maintain
Near East Division, Directorate of Operations, CIA] has assigned an that the prosecution had failed to demonstrate conclusively that Durrani
officer to work w/army logistics in an effort tofmd (or manufacture, if had not been involved in exports "made by or for" an agency of the
necessary) the missing/wrong [HAWK] items. U.S. government. Durrani's lawyers argued that a sustainable convic-
Back in Connecticut, Durrani continued his negotiations with Radio tion required the government to prove beyond reasonable doubt that
Research for additional HAWK parts. By early September Durrani the defendant's activity had clearly not been linked to Washington's
informed Pires that the second shipment would be ready within a secret Iranian operation.
month. On September 8, 1986, a week after Durrani and Pires had The defense had argued that documents in the Tower Commission
dispatched their first shipment, North rather coincidentally reported to Report clearly demonstrated that in the autumn of 1986, Oliver North
Poindexter the discovery of "a significant number of HAWK parts which was actively searching for missing HAWK parts which could not be
had previously been listed as 'una- found within U.S. or Israeli govemment
vailable '...Director Casey [of the CIA]," stocks, and that "third parties" were in-
North continued, "conducted a review volved in the procurement effort. How-
of the Iranian project today and has "...the President of the United ever, at the request of the prosecution,
directed his people to initiate necessary States and people working under Judge Daly ruled that the Tower Com-
preparations for acquiring the parts mission Reportthe only government
promised in earlier discussions with the him were in fact busily engaged in document on the Iran-Contra affair at the
Iranians."12 doing exactly the same thing timewas not sufficiently trustworthy
According to Durrani, toward the to be admitted as evidence. Thus, the
end of September he was urgently sum- at the same time." jury never saw the communications be-
moned to London by Pires. It was at this Ira Grudberg, Durrani's attorney tween North and Poindexter that the
stage that Durrani claims to have met defense deemed so crucial.
Oliver North. North, Durrani says, ques- "The bitterness and vigor with which
tioned him on the status of his HAWK the Government comes at this sentenc-
shipment. He assured the NSC official ing," said Defense Attorney Ira Grud-
that the parts would be ready for delivery but stated that "there was a berg to the judge, "is unprecedented in my experience in practicing in
problem with the export licenses." Durrani claims that North told him, this district for twenty-six years...I think it is reasonable and proper [in
"you don't need them. It's all going to be authorized."13 passing sentence] for this court to look at the fact that the President of
Meanwhile in Connecticut, Operation Exodus was in full swing. the United States and people working under him were in fact busily
Customs was ready to pull in the net. On October 3, having returned engaged in doing exactly the same thing at the same time."
from London, Durrani visited Radio Research to take delivery of the
HAWK consignment and was arrested. "Affaire des Missiles TOW"
Conspicuous by his absence at the trial of Arif Durrani was his
The State vs. Arif Durrani Portuguese partner in the 'crime,' Manuel Pires. In February 1987,
In March 1987, Arif Dunmni's trial opened in Bridgeport. The some weeks before the trial opened, Assistant U.S. Attorney Fitzsim-
prosecution team, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Holly Fitzsimmons, mons and Customs Agent Arruda traveled to Lisbon to interview Piles.
argued that Durrani was simply weaving his story to fit the daily According to the trial documents, Pires appeared to have been a
Iran-Contra revelations then appearing in the press. remarkably cooperative source.
To refute Durrani's claim of having met Oliver North in London He contradicted Durrani's claims and said that he Pire s, "dealt with
the week before his arrest, the prosecution presented the testimony of the Iranians to make money and had no involvement with any efforts
Michael Sneddon from the NSC who testified that no records of such by the U.S. government to deliver military items to Iran."14 The
a journey existed. Under cross-examination Sneddon admitted that if prosecution decided to accept Manuel Pires's story given during a
North had arranged his trip outside of NSC procedures, there would be pre-trial interview in Lisbon. In fact, Pires agreed to testify as a witness
no travel records. For example, Sneddon admitted he had no knowledge for the prosecution against Durrani, although he had refused to set foot
of North's May 1986 trip to Iran at the time it occurred. in the United States, wishing to give his testimony only from Portugal
or Spain. However, halfway through Durrani's trial as the prosecutor
and Durrani's defense lawyer prepared to fly to Spain to take Pires's
9.Iran-Contra Investigation Report, U.S. Congressional Serial Set, Serial deposition, Pires inexplicably canceled the rendezvous.
No. 13739, 1987, p. 248. Thus Manuel Pires's precise role remained elusive and unclear
10.Ibid. throughout the trial. Durrani's lawyers admit that they were hamstrung
11.The Tower Commission Report cited in The Chronology, p. 456. by the time and resources it would have required to investigate Pires's
12.North to Poindexter, September 8, 1987, cited in The Chronology, pp.
468, 469.
13.Arif Durrani, private interview, Federal Correctional Institution, 14.United States of America v. Arif Durrani, Government's Sentencing
Sheridan, Oregon, December 6-7, 1989. Memorandum, May 6, 1987.

Number 38 (Fall 1991) Covert Action 61

 international connections. "Only Pires knows who was above him in administration.19 It appears the Belgian police may have actually
the chain," said Assistant Defense Attorney William Bloss. "We had stumbled upon the network which was carrying out the transaction.
evidence that Durrani was working for Pires. There is no suestion about According to a source directly involved with the TOW transaction,
that. But we don't know who Piles was working for... Pires had met with two Israeli military officials in Athens in 1985 to
Curious to know more about Manuel Pires we embarked upon a discuss acquiring arms for Iran. The venue was provided by Greek arms
search for the elusive arms trader and several of his rather unusual dealer Georges Drouviotis. The Belgian police's interrogation of Drou-
associates. Pires remained rather shy about meeting journalists study- viotis confirmed that such a rendezvous did, indeed, occur. The Greek
ing the Durrani case. Only at the end of our investigation would we was a participant in the TOW transaction and, according to our source,
finally succeed in establishing direct contact with him, by which stage had been advanced half a million dollars by Pires at an earlier meeting
we had learnt a great deal about Durrani's mysterious partner. in Lisbon as earnest money toward the shipment of the missiles.
From Poland to China to South Africa to Central America, Manuel The 10,000 'rows they proposed to deliver to Iran were an
Pires had roamed the globe with guns for sale. His multi-million dollar astronomical number to organize even on a covert basis. According to
deals with Iran were typical of a man well-known within the arms trade a source in the arms trade, one method of doing so was to orchestrate
for having gone far by his access to powerful political connections in an elaborate movement of stocks of Tows of an older design among
several countries. According to the respected Spanish weekly, El various NATO states under the pretext of modernizing inventories and
Tiempo, Pires earned some of "his greatest profits supplying all kinds by utilizing false end-user certificates. For example, by shifting stocks
of Spanish weaponry to Tehran with an end-user certificate issued by from NATO bases in Germany to bases in Greece as part of what would
the Brazilian Defense Ministry."16 The circumvention of arms em- appear a normal redeployment of supplies within the Alliance, Tows
bargoes has been Pires's professional forte could be illegally diverted to Tehran.
and the source of exceptional earnings. The official American record acknow-
In the early 1970s Pires had made his ledges that on July 30, 1985, the Israeli
debut in the arms business by selling government formally requested U.S.
weapons to South Africa's apartheid "Delivery of the weapons to the clearance to ship at least 500 TOW missiles
regime. By:the mid-1980s he was operat- to Iran. (The speculation in Brussels is that
ing a series of shell corporations from the belligerents in dribs and drabs the belated admission by the Israeli and
Bahamas to Lisbon under the logos of Rut- allows the conflict to be American governments regarding the
land Overseas Trading, Rimalpi, Risen- transformed eternally into a number of Tows shipped was only offi-
vest, and Interlogistics, among others.17 cially off by one zero.) On August 6, 1985,
Since Brussels was the transit point for series of murderous President Reagan gave his oral approval
Pires's and Durrani's shipments, we offensives..."Belgian police report for the shipment of U.S. made aims to Iran
traveled there to look for clues. By good via Israel, and agreed to replenish Israeli
fortune and some effort we secured several stocks. "In short," as the Tower Commis-
hundred pages of documents from a Bel- sion noted, "the United States was an es-
gian Special Branch police investigation. sential participant in the arms transfer to
Under the direction of a young officer, Pierre Fievez, the police unit Iran that occurred in 1985."20
had spent years digging into the myriad connections of Europe's illicit David Kimche, a senior Israeli official, had told Robert McFarlane
arms bazaar. Among the more prominent personalities they had inves- in 1985 that Israel's interest in selling weapons to Iran had been to
tigated was Manuel Pires, who in the mid-1980s had established a "ensure a stalemate of the conflict with Iraq." Earlier, Henry Kissinger
secondary base of operations in Brussels. observed that American policy toward the Iran-Iraq war was designed
The Belgian police had identified and tracked an entire series of to ensure that in the end "both sides lost." In a police document, "Some
arms transactions involving Pires and his associates in the international Generalities Concerning The Supply of Arms To Iran/Iraq," Pierre
arms trade. One which interested them in particular was an immense Fievez, director of the Belgian police investigation observed:
transaction involving the sale of 10,000 TOW missiles to Iran through
Israel in 1985. The missiles were to be delivered to the National Iranian Delivery of the weapons to the belligerents in dribs and drabs
Oil Corporation (NIOC). At various points in the, planning for the [because of official embargoes] allows the conflict to be trans-
transaction, they were described as "agricultural pumps." The police formed eternally into a series of murderous offensives of short
were able to document in detail all the personalities in the "Affaire des duration stopped only by the lack of munitions. A decisive
Missiles TOW." In particular, they identified two trading corporations resolution of the conflict would not serve the goal of destabiliza-
based in Austria and Panama which were operating on behalf of Israel tion...which the war provokes and for this reasay this war needs
and were utilized to broker the TOW sale.ir the private arms merchant for its provisioning.
In a report published in the Washington Post in November 1986, it
was alleged that as early as the summer of 1985, Vice Admiral Manuel Pires and Georges Drouviotis were among the gray legion-
Poindexter may have given oral approval for the sale of 10,000 Tows naires, the shadow men, who made the deadly process work. The
to Tehran, five times the number publicly admitted by the Reagan Belgian government dossier makes clear that Pires's firm, Rimalpi, had
since at least 1983, been actively engaged in supplying arms to Iran.
There was also evidence that he had acted in violation of Belgian
customs regulations. The police dossier had called for his interrogation
15.William Bloss, private interviews, New Haven, December 1989-March
and possible arrest. 22
1991.
16.El Tiempo, Madrid, December 26, 1988.
17.Ibid. 19.Memorandum by businessman and former CIA agent Richard Brenneke
18.The Belgian Police Dossier on the European arms trade, hereafter to Col. Richard Muller, USMC (Reserve), dated January 1, 1986. Also see:
referred to as the BPD, Report by Pierre Fievez, MDL Chef and Jaques Washington Post, November 29, 1986.
Vanhame, MDL, Gendarmerie, BSR Brussels, March 18, 1987. Accompanying 20.The Tower Commission Report, cited in The Chronology, pp. 136-37,
documentstelexes, correspondence, sales contracts, etc.seized from the 138-39.
residence of Jaques Monsieur, arms trader and an associate of Manuel Pires and 21.BPD, Report by Pierre Fievez, October 24, 1984.
Georges Drouviotis. 22.BPD, Report by Pierre Fievez, December 30, 1986.

62 CovertAction Number 38 (Fa111991)

 Witness for the Prosecution? In September 1988, the two men met in London where they reviewed
The Tower Commission had determined independently that the their respective roles leading up to the dramatic events of the Iran-Con-
U.S. government was "an essential participant" with Israel in the 1985 tra scandal.
TOW shipments to Iran. At the time of Durrani's trial, the prosecution "My source about Manuel Pitts was Nir," says Ben Menashe. "I
categorically denied that Pires had any direct or indirect association had long chats in London with Nix in 1988...According to Nis, Manuel
with the U.S. government and depicted as absurd Durrani's claim that Pires was one of the principal operatives run by William Casey. Pires
his purchase of HAWK spares for Pires was part of the U.S.-Israeli was sent under joint [Israeli-U.S.] instructions to Iran in 1984 to put in
arms-for-hostages operation. But if, in fact, Pines was a "cut out" for the new circuit. Pires had a good channel to Iran's Prime Minister, [Mix
the Israelis in the 1986 HAWK shipment, as he, along with Drouviotis, Hussein] Mousavi, and was able to establish close contact with
clearly appears to have been in the 1985 TOW transaction, then this Mousavi himself."25
crucial aspect of Durrani's defense holds up to scrutiny. Furthermore, Ben Menashe confirmed as accurate nearly all the
The prosecution's argument that Pires was merely a passive details which the Belgian police had come upon in their investigation
European purchaser supplied by Durrani is belied not only by the of "l'affaire des missiles TOW." He says that 13,000 TOW missiles, an
official Belgian inquiry but also by the testimony of Pires's close extraordinary figure, reached Iran via Israeli channels. Pires,
associates. Drouviotis, and their associates were part of one of several schemes
It was Willy de Greef, the man who knew Pires best, who provided designed by the Israeli intelligence community to move equipment into
the most compelling testimony. De Greef not only directed Pires's Iran from sources ranging as far afield as China, North Korea, and
office in Brussels under the corporate logo of Risenvest, but had several European states in both the NATO and the Warsaw Pact alliances.
traveled at Pires's side from China to South Ben Menashe also claims to have specific
Africa while Pires pursued a series of covert knowledge of an important rendezvous in
arms deals. Following Durrani's arrest in London at the "very end of September 1986"
Connecticut and the subsequent raids by the where Oliver North and Amiram Nir met,
Belgian police on his own home and office, de From Poland to China among others, Manuel Piles and his Pakistani
Greef terminated his association with Manuel to South Africa associate, Arif Durrani. They had gathered to
Pires.23 work out the last details of the arms package
Sitting in a cafe in Brussels in the spring
to Central America, promised to the so-called "second channel" in
of 1990, de Greef described himself as a man Manuel Pires early October. Ben Menashe says his
who had been stabbed in the back by his had roamed knowledge of the details of the London
employer. He maintained that Pires had chan- gathering came from Nix.26
neled the last shipment of HAWK parts through the globe Aside from what he claims Nis told him,
Brussels under a new corporate entity which with guns for sale. Ben Menashe states that from his roost inside
had never been utilized by their firm before. Israeli military intelligence, he was well in-
This shipment had been invoiced as the formed about Pires's links to Iran and the role
property of IMAM, Ltd., at an address identical he played on behalf of western intelligence
to de Greet" s Ris envest office in Brussels. But, agencies shipping weapons to Tehran. Dur-
according to de Greef, IMAM was a new fic- rani had made his own assertions about Israeli
titious entity set up by Pires for this specific shipment. De Greef links with Pires but was never able to substantiate them for no one came
claimed that the illegal shipment had exposed him to risks in Brussels forward to corroborate his story or sustain his defense.
while throughout the affair Pires had maintained a safe distance in
Lisbon. A Highly Unusual Visit
He confirmed numerous details contained in Belgian police files On July 9, 1987, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix,
regarding Pires's involvement in a wide assortment of arms transac- Arizona, Durrani received a most unusual visitorManuel Fires him-
tions, including the frequent use of false end-user certificates. But, most self. He claims that Pires wanted to draw him into a conversation
significantly, de Greef possessed first-hand knowledge of s par- regarding money, assets, and various aspects of their arms transactions,
ticipation in the 1985 TOW transaction. but he ended the meeting angrily reproaching Pires for not telling the
He confirmed Israeli involvement in the affair, and the specific roles truth at the time of his trial According to Durrani, Pires replied that it
played by Georges Drouviotis and Manuel Pires in the effort to organize was all a mistake and that he had never imagined it would be ten years.
the TOW shipment to Iran. When asked whether the United States had "It wasn't supposed to happen that way," he reportedly said.27
knowledge of or involvement in this transaction, de Greef said, The fact that Pires did visit Durrani at the Phoenix prison has been
"Manuel Pires told me that he had met Oliver North in London twice. confirmed by federal government sources. And according to Durrani's
He said they fixed everything for the TOW shipment to Iran."24 Until lawyer, William Bloss, it was a "highly unusual" event. "It is ordinarily
we actually approached de Greef, no one had asked him what he knew a matter of extensive negotiation [and] background checks for anon-
about Pires's possible links to the Iran-Contra nexus. family member to visit a federal prison...There is no chance that a
Finally, there is today further testimony which may erode the foreign national would just show up at the prison saying I want to see
government's case against Arif Durrani. Ari Ben Menashe, a former my friend and the warden would say 'fine...just go on in.' It is
member of the Israeli Defense Force's Military Intelligence staff, after impossible."28
much deliberation, has decided to speak publicly about his involvement The critical question remains why Pires, who had earlier refused to
in a secret operation which sold billions of dollars of weaponry to Iran come to the U.S., within three months of Durrani's trial felt safe to do
starting in 1980. so without risk of arrest. Durrani's lawyers believe there is a strong
During an interview, Ben Menashe stated that he was a personal possibility that Piles was given assurances of immunity. It remains
acquaintance of Amiram Nir, Oliver North's Israeli counterpart in
Shimon Peres' s government. (Nir was reportedly killed in 1988 in a
mysterious plane crash in Mexico while allegedly trading avocados.)
25.Ari Ben Menashe, December 1990, private interview.
26.Ari Ben Menashe, private interview.
23.Willy de Greet Brussels, May 29, 1990. 27.Arif Dun-ani, private interview
24.Ibid. 28.William Bloss, private interview.

Number 38 (Fall 1991) Covert Action 63

 Durrani and his lawyers point to an important detail in the docu-
ment: between mid and late September 1986, North had secretly
traveled to London to meet General Manuel Noriega. Defense lawyers
say that during Durrani's trial a distinct impression was conveyed to
the juryparticularly through the testimony of the NSC witness--that
North had not visited London during this period, thus indicating that
Durrani's entire story was a lie. Yet a year after Durrani's conviction
a document was produced at North's own trial disclosing that North
had been in London during the third week in Septemberclose to the
time that Durrani had claimed he had his own encounter with North in
London. Clearly, the case of Arif Durrani was never as cut and dried
an affair as it was presented during Durrani's trial. It is a complex story
and the zeal measure of fact and fiction in it was never fully established
during any stage of the legal process.
The most crucial question centers on the federal prosecutor's key
three-part operating premise. First, in August 1986, when Durrani made
his first shipment of HAWK parts to Manuel Pires, no third parties were
being used in the procurement of HAWK pasts for Iran by the CIA.
Second, the Agency had procured the parts that it shipped from the
UPI Department of Defense and from no other source. And therefore,
Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and campaign finally, Durrani's shipment had to be a private arrangement uncon-
advisor William Casey, June 1980. nected to the U.S. transfer of weapons to Iran.32
But the difficulty with this premise is that it is based on information
unclear what terms, if any, were negotiated and why. One federal provided by the CIA which is, at best, misleading. The CIA may not,
source, however, has confirmed that, in Phoenix Pires met with Cus- as it had claimed to federal prosecutors, have been using third parties,
toms Agent Arruda, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Fitzsimmons, and that but the National Security Council clearly was. From what the CIA told
he was, in fact, working with U.S. authorities on matters which are her, Fitzsirnmons assumed that all the HAWK parts shipped to Iran as
part of Iran-Contranot just somewere procured only and directly
"classified."
After nearly six months of repeated attempts to contact Pires, we by the CIA.
finally succeeded in October 1990. In a lengthy transatlantic interview,
Pires denounced Arif Durrani as a "liar." He claimed to be just "a simple CIA "Facts"
buyer... [who] tries to be legal all the time." We informed him that we The prosecution's apparent confusion seems to have been further
were in possession of a detailed Belgian police dossier on his activities, confounded by the testimony of Charles Moyer, the CIA witness at the
and asked him about his involvement with the 1985 TOW affair and the trial. Moyer had testified that there were no records in his logistics
Israeli links to the transaction. Pies denied any such involvement. He section for any attempt by the CIA to procure. any HAWK parts after
further denied he had any relationship with either the Israeli or the May 1986. The parts procured in May had been transshipped to Iran
American effort to supply weapons to Iran. 9 via Israel in May and August. The CIA's General Counsel's Office, in
He had, he said, his own reasons for selling arms to Iran. "I am an a recent letter, confirmed Moyer's testimony.
anti-communist," explained Fires. "This is the only country in the However, since the trial, evidence has emerged from the Iran-Con-
world which has given good, special service to anti-communist tra investigations that raises questions about the CIA's testimony. It is
people.. Min my country they arrest a communist, there are revolutions. clear, as described earlier, that even after the last shipment in early
In Iran, they kill the communist people..."3 August with which the CIA officially identified itself, U.S. officials
Pires did admit, however, to having visited Durrani in prison. He were compelled to seek additional HAWK partsidentified as missing
stated that he had done so "officially...through the legal channel" but by Iranin order to keep the negotiations with the Iranians on track.
only in order to collect the money he was owed by Durrani. He Furthermore, according to the Tower Commission, some CIA officials
categorically denied having met either Arruda, or Fitzsimmons, during were assisting the NSC in its search for the missing parts well after the
his visit to Phoenix. He was not to know, however, that Fitzsimmons date of the CIA's officially acknowledged shipments to Iran. At
had already informed us that she had, in fact, met him in Phoenix. Durrard's trial, Moyer was asked about these efforts, made after the
dates when he said that the CIA was no longer procuring any more
The State vs. Arif Durrani: The Sequel HAWK parts, but he said no records existed. Moyer had also testified

In. February 1990, Arif Durrani, seeking a new trial, filed a "2255" that the HAWK parts shipped by the CIA constituted only four pallets.
motion before the U.S. Federal Court in Bridgeport where he was The congressional investigation established that, in fact, the U.S had
originally convicted. In this motion, the federal equivalent of a habeas shipped 13 pallets of fiAwic parts to Iran. Clearly, there was a discrepan-
corpus proceeding, Durrani alleged that the prosecution had suppressed cy between Moyer's testimony and the congressional record. In his
crucial exculpatory information at his trial. In support of his contention dogged insistence on "normal procedure" at the CIA, Moyer seemed
he submitted several supporting documents, including a special stipula- to adhere to the view that if anything was not in the records he looked
tion that had been prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice and the at, it quite simply did not happen.
Office of the Special Prosecutor for Oliver North's trial in 1988.31 And this, of course, was generally the view that the prosecution
seemed to have taken. It therefore appeared to ignore the significance
of the fact that Durrani's first shipment of HAWK parts to Fires occurred
in late August, several weeks after the last CIA pallets had been
29.Manuel Jose Pires, October 10, 1990.
30. Ibid.
31.United States of America v. Arif Durrani, U.S. District Court, District 32.Holly Fitzsimmons, private interview, Bridgeport, August 3, 1990.
of Connecticut, Memorandum of Facts and Law in Support of the the 33.Letter to Lawrence Lifschultz from W. George Jameson, Associate
Defendant's Motion to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct the Sentence under 28 General Counsel, Office of General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, dated
U.S .0 . 2255, February 20, 1990. July 16, 1991.

64 CovertActien Number 38 (Fall 1991)

 delivered via Israel to Iran. This was a time when an intensive search The Belgian police dossier indicates that a group of arms traders
by all parties to procure the 'missing' HAWK items was on. based in Belgium who were associated with Manuel Pires did in fact
By adhering to the letter of the CIA's testimony, Fitzsimmons had play a key role in brokering the 1985 sale of TOW missiles to Iran
glossed over the part of Oliver North and the NSC in the Iran-Contra through Austrian and Panamanian front companies linked to Israel.
drama. The Tower Commission had determined that it was the NSC, Moreover, Pires's former employee and right-hand man, Willy de
rather than the CIA, which had the principal role in organizing arms Greef, alleges that Pires was part of the 1985 TOW deal. Finally, a former
transfers to Iran. In this enterprise, Israel played an indispensable role. intelligence official with the Israeli Defense Force, has stated that
On October 2, 1986, the day before Durrani was arrested attempting to Manuel Pires was working with Arniram Nir and Oliver North.
make his second HAWK shipment, North, in a detailed memorandum to If all this is true, it must now be asked if this was the reason why
Poindexter, described how "we [the U.S. government] recognize that Pires cooperated with U.S. investigators and managed to avoid being
Israel's participation in this activity is both politically and operationally indicted. Furthermore, the precise nature of the arrangement that ex-
important...this is still a joint venture."35 isted between the U.S. Customs Service
When we asked Fitzsimmons if she and Pires at the time of his surprise visit
had questioned the CIA on Israel's in- to Durrani in an Arizona prison needs to
volvement in the HAWK shipments, she be established. And a further question
said that she had not. According to According to Nir, "Manuel Pires that needs to be answered is whether other
Fitzsimmons, she had assumed that the was one of the principal ulterior motives may have been involved
CIA's statement about "no third parties" in keeping Pires out of a U.S. courtroom.
included Israel, and, in any case, she did
operatives run by William Casey." In short, was Arif Durrani, a small cog in
not believe that Israel's role was relevant Ari Ben Menashe a larger wheel, allowed to go to prison in
to the Durrani case. She claimed that Dur- order to protect the anonymity of a net-
rani had never argued that he had an Israeli work associated with foreign intelligence
connection.36 But, in fact, during the trial, agencies allied to the United States?
Durrani had explicitly stated that he had made contact with Pires There is an obvious asymmetry in the magnitudes of the punish-
through Israeli government intermediaries. ment meted out to those who violated the Constitution and the law
It appears that Customs Agent Arruda who had arrested Durrani- through activities that constituted the Iran-Contra affair: the most
and who worked closely with the prosecutionrecognized that such a powerful prime movers were barely touched while minor figures
connection to the Durrani case might jeopardize the prosecution's appear to have encountered the full force of the law. Arif Durrani
position. In November 1986, when the Iran-Contra scandal hit the now approaches his fifth year in prison and awaits a judgment on
headlines, William Sloss, one of Durrani's lawyers, visited the U.S. whether he will be granted a new trial. Perhaps, only then will it be
Customs office and met Arruda. According to Bloss, Arruda "had been possible to finally answer the question: Did this man wrongfully
on the phone to find out if there had been any connection between take the rap for Oliver North and the CIA?
Durrani and the government's shipments, and said that, as far as he
could see, Durrani had no contact with the government shipments,
because the government shipments had an Israeli link. So long al
Durrani did not have an Israeli link, there was no government link."3
What Arruda and Fitzsimmons did not seriously attempt to discover Is this the only man in prison for Iran-Contra?
was whether Manuel Pires had an "Israeli link" and therefore a link
with U.S. shipments to Iran. Had they done so, they might have BORDERING ON TREASON?
discovered that Durrani's shipments may not have been an entirely
private enterprise. The Trial and Conviction of Arif Durrani
In her summation, Fitzsimmons had told the jury "if Mr. Durrani is by Lawrence Lifschultz, Steven Galster, and Rabia All
telling you the truth...[the] CIA is lying to you." And yet the CIA was
not necessarily lying; it did not have to for Durrani's claims to be true.
Of course, the CIA was not telling the whole truth orthere is always A gripping tale about an arms dealer drawn into an
the possibilitythe CIA did not know the whole truth. In any event, off-the-books American intelligence operation and sent to
the CIA's testimony misled the prosecutor and thereby the court. The jail as a result.
real consequence in this instance was that members of the jury believed Bob Parry, PBS, Frontline
their own government and, on the basis of false information, convicted
a man who was then sentenced to ten years in prison. The Durrani story is part of the great tangle of the
In July 1990, Oliver North testified, under subpoena, before a grand jury Iran-Contra affair . . an exceptional piece of research.
in Bridgeport. Although his appearance was dramatic, the question of
Gary Sick, National Security Council,
whether or not the two men could have met in London in September 1986 Carter Administration
was no longer crucial. In light of the Belgian government's inquiry, the
critical factor had become whether or not Durrani's partner in the transfer Direct Orders:
of HAWK parts to IranManuel Pireshad any connection with a U.S. or The Pamphleteer's Press Bordering
Israeli effort to supply Iran with TOWs, HAWKS and other weaponry.38 P.O. Box 120-295
East Haven, CT 06512
Fax: (203) 469-2270
On
$6.75 ppd Treason?
34.The Tower Commission Report, cited in The Chronology, p. 264. The Trial
35.North to Poindexter, October 2, 1986, The Tower Commission Report, Trade Orders: and Conviction of
cited in The Chronology, pp. 497-98. Inland Book Co.
140 Commerce St Arif Durrani
36.Holly Fitzsimmons, Bridgeport, Autumn 1990, telephone interview.
East Haven, CT 06512
37.William Bloss, private interview. ISBN 0-9630587-0-3
Lawn,mace LiCuflultr n
Sleven Galsrer
- 38. Our own letter written last January to North, via his attorney, Brendan (800) 243-0138
Sullivan, regarding North's alleged contacts with Durrani's Portuguese as-
sociate, Manuel Pires, has remained unanswered.

Number 38 (Fall 1991) Covert Action 65