Another missing Iranian writer dead under suspicious
circumstances
New York, December 9, 1998 (Human Rights Watch) - Human Rights Watch
urged the Iranian government to investigate the recent death of an Iranian
writer under suspicious circumstances. The body of Iranian poet, writer,
and free expression advocate Mohammad Makhtari was found today in a Tehran
city morgue, Human Rights Watch said. Marks on his head and neck made
it appear that he had been murdered, possibly by strangulation, although
no autopsy has yet been carried out.
This was the most recent of a series of deaths under suspicious circumstances
of prominent critics of the Iranian government. Makhtari, who had last
been seen alive on December 3, going to a local shop, was briefly arrested
with five other writers in October 1998. The four were threatened with
being charged with organizing "an underground political group"
if they did not stop holding informal gatherings of writers.
Morgue workers reported the presence of Mohammad Makhtari's body to
his family just two weeks after the body of another prominent writer and
political critic Majid Sharif was found dumped there on November 24, after
"disappearing" on November 20. Sharif's articles criticizing
government polices appeared in a monthly magazine, Irane Farda (Iran's
Tomorrow), which was closed down by court order just three days ago.
In an open letter sent on November 25 to Iran's President, Hojatoleslam
Mohammad Khatami, Human Rights Watch expressed its shock about the killing
by unknown assailants of opposition figures Darioush and Parvaneh Forouhar,
in their Tehran home on Sunday November 22, 1998.
"These killings are part of an increasingly sinister pattern of
harassment and persecution of government critics in Iran," said Hanny
Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa Division
of Human Rights Watch. The killings have continued despite President Khatami's
public statements encouraging freedom of expression and his calls for
investigations into the murders.
"The killing of these writers and opposition figures are reaching
crisis proportions," said Megally. He urged the Iranian government
to initiate an immediate and through investigation into this and other
killings and make the findings public.
