Iranian military court to probe murders of dissidents
TEHRAN, Dec 31 (AFP) - An Iranian military court is to investigate
the recent killings of two writers as well as a nationalist dissident and
his wife, the official news agency IRNA reported Thursday.
The agency, quoting an unnamed spokesman for the military court, said
the general court that had originally taken up the cases sent them to the
military tribunal after deciding a special investiagtion was needed.
But the spokesman stressed that the cases "have nothing to do
with the armed forces or the police."
The cases concern the fatal stabbing of secular nationalist leader
Daryush Foruhar and his wife, Parvaneh, on October 22. The killings
were followed by the kidnapping and murder of two secular writers, Mohammad
Mokhtari and Mohammad Pouyandeh, in early December.
Another intellectual, Majid Sharif, was also found dead under mysterious
circumstances around the same time, but the authorities said he had died
of a heart attack.
Iranian authorities have condemned the chain of killings and blamed
them on a "foreign enemy plot" aimed at undermining the Islamic
regime.
But a member of Foruhar's Iranian Nation's Party this week alleged
that "branches of Iranian intelligence services" were involved
in the murders.
The authorities have pledged to investigate the killings and a number
of arrests were announced earlier, but police have not divulged any information.
The military spokesman said the court will inform the public on any
progress made in the investigation.
Meanwhile several liberal opposition leaders sumbitted an open letter
to President Mohammad Khatami on Thursday demanding information on the
results of the investigation, IRNA reported.
Among the signatories were former foreign minister and the head of
Iran's Freedom Movement Ebrahim Yazdi and political ally Hashem Sabaghian,
it said, citing an official in Khatami's office.
The official recalled that the president has already assigned a special
team to investigate the "suspicious murders," pledging that information
on the outcome of the probe will be made public "if they don't hurt
the proceedings."
Around 300 liberal dissidnets, academics and journalists plan to gather
at a Tehran mosque on Thursday to commemorate the 40th day of the death
of Foruhar and his wife.
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