Iran arrests more suspects in dissidents' murders
TEHRAN, Feb 14 (AFP) - More suspects have been arrested in connection
with a string of murders of dissidents late last year, a special commission
of inquiry reported to Iran's reformist President Mohammed Khatami Sunday.
The commission told the president that the new arrests should help throw
light on the brutal killings, his office told the official news agency
IRNA.
A shock admission by the intelligence ministry last month that "rogue"
agents had been involved in the killings prompted the resignation earlier
this month of conservative Intelligence Minister Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi.
Khatami stressed to commission members the need for them "to seriously
follow up the issue" in coordination with the judiciary and intelligence
ministry and the importance of a "timely" reporting of their
findings, his office said.
Tehran's military prosecutor Hojatoleslam Mohammad Niazi will disclose
more details about the case early next week, a commission member told IRNA.
The brutal murders of nationalist dissident Dariush Foruhar and his
wife Parvaneh and of writers Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Pouyandeh caused
public uproar here.
Another writer Majid Sharif was also found dead in mysterious circumstances.
The murders led radical supporters of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami
to trade accusations with his conservative opponents over responsibility
for the murders and prompted Khatami to set up the commission of inquiry.
The commission initially announced the arrest of 10 people in connection
with the murders although some have since been released.
The Tehran military prosecutor has vowed that he will try the case in
public.
Iran has repeatedly rejected calls from the European Parliament and
other organizations for an international commission of inquiry into the
killings.
"Europe has no authority to interfere in our affairs and ask for
fact-finding or inquiry teams to be sent," Iranian parliamentary speaker
Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri told MPs earlier Sunday.
Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi insisted there was in any case
no need for any inquiry as the Iranian justice system was completely open.
"There is a genuine dialogue between the judiciary and the people
and we have no problem," he said earlier this month.
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