Source: Reuters

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN, April 21 (Reuters) - Around 400 volunteers signed up in Tehran to sacrifice their lives in "occupied Islamic countries" on Wednesday night, inspired by a fatwa from a top hardline cleric giving religious backing to suicide missions.

Wednesday's registration session was the latest by a group called the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, which says it has enrolled 35,000 volunteers nationwide for possible attacks since last year.

Iran's pro-reform government has repeatedly said it would not allow groups to carry out such attacks and no Iranians are thought to have directly executed suicide bombings in Israel or elsewhere in recent years.

But the presence of President Mohammad Khatami's adviser on women's affairs and a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leant some official backing to Wednesday's event.

In a dark hall decorated with pictures of female Palestinian suicide bombers, dozens of men and women queued to fill out registration forms.

"As a Muslim, it is my duty to sacrifice my life for oppressed Palestinian children," said Maryam Partovi, 31, a mother of two.

A banner hanging over the main entrance quoted Khamenei as saying: "Sacrificing oneself for religion and national interest is the height of honour and bravery."

JIHAD FOR GOD

Iranian hardline cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani's religious decree was read to volunteers over a loudspeaker.

It said "martyrdom operations" were permissible in the "occupied Islamic countries" as a weapon of war against modern armies.

"Any martyrdom-seeking operation is a jihad (holy war) for God," it said.

Women dressed in the traditional head-to-foot black chador and men wearing red headbands which read "Prophet Mohammad is God's messenger", responded with chants of "God is great".

Videos of Israeli army attacks on Palestinians were shown on a wide screen. Books and CDs on the Palestinian uprising were also for sale.

Hamid, a 20-year-old student who lost his father in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, said he was ready to sacrifice his life.

"I want to kill Zionists and free my Palestinian brothers," he said.

Since its 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has refused to recognise Israel and supports anti-Israeli groups like Hamas.

"Our enemies are Zionists and other occupiers of Islamic countries," Mohammad Samadi, spokesman for the group of volunteers, told Reuters. "America is definitely considered an enemy."

He said the group was an independent organisation with no ties to the government. Its work was limited to encouraging volunteers to carry out suicide attacks.

"We will not dispatch them anywhere ... they will locate the targets themselves," he said.