Fake report of attack on Khatami planted on newspaper
website
TEHRAN, April 10 (AFP) - A false report that moderate Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami had been assassinated was inserted onto the website of
a leading pro-reform newspaper, apparently by a hacker, the press reported
Monday. Photo here
The electronic edition of Fath carried an item for an hour April 5 saying
"President Khatami has been the victim of an attack by two unidentified
armed assailants," the press reported.
The phony page one also announced three days of national mourning and
offered condolences from the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and
the formation of a new interim government headed by former president Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The ersatz Fath page also announced the arrest of the head of the conservative
Kayhan newspaper, Hossein Shariatmadari, and ran astatement allegedly from
Asr-e Azardegan chief editor Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, saying Khamenei must
"be answerable to the people."
The conservative Qods newspaper quoted Fath chief Yadollah Eslami ascategorically
denying the publication of this page on his Internet site.
Qods said the page stayed on the site for nearly an hour before it was
removed.
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