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    News & Views

    Tehran under mounting pressure to solve mystery murders

    By Christophe de Roquefeuil

    TEHRAN, Dec 13 (AFP) - Another writer has been found killed in mysterious circumstances, the Iranian press reported Sunday, as the authorities come under mounting pressure to solve a spate of suspicious kidnappings and murders.

    Mohammad Pouyandeh, an art critic and translator active in calls for freedom of expression, was found dead in the town of Shahriar on the outskirts of Tehran, the government newpaper Iran said.

    Pouyandeh disappeared on Wednesday, the same day a fellow-member of the Association of Iranian Writers, Mohammad Mokhtari was reported to have been murdered. He was found dead on Saturday.

    Iran said the victim had been "strangled by a person or persons who did not remove his watch or gold ring," but took his identity papers.

    Pouyandeh is the third Iranian writer to have died in mysterious circumstances recently in Tehran, following Mohammad Mokhtari and Majid Sharif.

    According to Iranian newspapers, Pouyandeh and Mokhtari had planned along with several other writers to form a writer's association. But the authors were recently summoned to the justice ministry and informed their venture was illegal.

    Their deaths follow the murder last month of secular nationalist opposition leader Daryush Foruhar and his wife, Parvaneh.

    The killings have led to a wave of fear among dissident intellectuals and pressure on the authorities to pursue the matter more actively.

    About 50 Iranian authors appealed to President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday to ensure their safety.

    "We wish to call on the chief executive who is responsible for the safety of citizens to put an end to this offensive situation by any means possible," the writers said in a letter published in newspapers.

    "Disaster comes after disaster and there is no one to give an answer," they said.

    "The heart-breaking murders of authors in recent months are proof of unbridled violence which is out to eradicate freedom, destroy public peace and disturb civil society."

    Around 140 MPs in the 270-member parliament called on Khatami to arrest those responsible for the murders.

    "The cowardly murders, disappearance and suspicious deaths of innocent citizens within a short time shows an extensive plot against the Islamic Republic," they said.

    Iran's National Security Council, the country's highest political and military decision-making body, held an emergency meeting late Saturday to discuss the events.

    The council, presided over by Khatami, ordered the ministries of intelligence and interior to "seriously and ceaselessly pursue the issue until final results are achieved," the official IRNA news agency said.

    The killings come amid a fierce campaign by hardline conservatives to halt the process of political openness launched by Khatami after his election in 1997.

    Islamic fundamentalists have waged a violent campaign against moderate and leftwing supporters of the president. Last month, they attacked a group of visiting Americans after accusing them of being "CIA spies."

    While conservative newspapers said little about the killings, the moderate press gave them extensive coverage.

    "Will there be an end to this series of murders, the suspicious string of deaths?" asked the daily Iran.

    "The fruitless silence of the security and intelligence services who do not provide the nation with the slightest news about these terrorist crimes is only spreading the atmosphere of fear and terror among intellectuals," it warned.

    Responding to the growing pressure from the public, Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh said a special committee had been set up at the state security council to investigate the "chain of killings."

    "There are some clues and some people have been arrested in connection with the issue," he told the official news agency.

    "There is no doubt that the culprits have targetted Khatami's government in the short run and the regime in the long run," he said.

    "Some people are conspiring to make life bitter for people at a time when the regime is moving towards political reform."

    The culture ministry too has issued a statement condemning the murders and calling for more serious action.

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