(RSF/IFEX) – As the trial of the presumed murderers of intellectuals and dissidents killed at the end of 1998 begins on 23 December in Tehran, RSF calls on the Iranian authorities to do everything possible to make the trial public and fair. The organisation also asks the courts to communicate to the victims’ families the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – As the trial of the presumed murderers of intellectuals and dissidents killed at the end of 1998 begins on 23 December in Tehran, RSF calls on the Iranian authorities to do everything possible to make the trial public and fair. The organisation also asks the courts to communicate to the victims’ families the contents of their files. It is imperative that this trial be held with full transparency. Since the end of 1998, victims’ families have been waiting for the murderers to be identified and punished. Until now, they have been very disappointed by the lack of progress toward justice. On 9 December 1998, RSF, Amnesty International and the International Federation of Human Rights asked for the creation of an international commission of inquiry. The Iranian authorities refused. The organisation hopes that the commitment of President Mohamed Khatami, who stated that the population will be “informed” of the trial’s progress, will be respected. Nine journalists are currently imprisoned in Tehran for “anti-Islamic propaganda”, “threatening national security”, “generating false news”, “threatening Islam”, etc. Moreover, two journalists, Khalil Rostamkhani and Hassan Youssefi Echkevari, are currently threatened with the death penalty (See IFEX alerts of 19 December, 14 November, 17 October, 8 August, and 29 June 2000).
In November and December 1998, several intellectuals and dissidents – Darioush and Parvaneh Forouhar, emblematic figures of the liberal opposition, Majid Charif, editorial writer for the monthly “Iran-é-Farda”, and writer-journalists Mohamad Mokhtari and Mohamad Jafar Pouyandeh – were murdered. These assassinations caused intense concern among the Iranian public. On 22 November, Forouhar and his wife, Parvaneh, were found murdered in their home in Tehran. Between 25 November and 9 December 1998, Charif, Mokhtari and Jafar Pouyandeh disappeared. Their bodies were found a few days later in the suburbs of Tehran.
At the end of August 1998, Pirouz Davani, editor-in-chief of the publication “Pirouz”, also disappeared. His body has never been found (See IFEX alerts of 13 September 2000, 8 and 3 December 1998). On 28 November 1998, the daily “Kar-e-Karegar” reported rumours of his execution. At the end of November 2000, Akbar Ganji, a journalist with “Sobh-é-Emrouz” who was investigating this case, confirmed this rumour and implicated Mohseni Egeie, prosecutor for the cleric court, in this murder. The relevant authorities have never confirmed this version. Ganji, who is being prosecuted primarily for these revelations, has been detained in Evine prison since 22 April 2000 (See IFEX alerts of 24 and 15 November, 7 September, 29 June, 16, 12 and 1 May, 28 and 25 April 2000).
On 6 January 1999, the Intelligence Minister, Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, admitted the involvement of some of his agents but stated that no high ranking officials in the ministry knew about these murders. On 9 February, Dorri-Najafabadi, an influential conservative who was directly implicated in the murders, resigned. On 20 June, the official news agency IRNA announced the suicide of Saeed Emami, a high-ranking official in the Intelligence Ministry. He died in unusual circumstances in his cell. At the same time, the prosecutor of the Tehran military court revealed that a dozen people belonging mostly to the Intelligence services had been arrested. Two of them are still imprisoned. The others have been released. In a series of articles published in 1999 Ganji implicated several personalities in these murders, including ex-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsandjani and his intelligence minister, Ali Fallahian.
On 23 December 2000, eighteen people will stand before the military court.
