Photo by IRNA
Pro-Khatami students rally against political violence
TEHRAN, Jan 12 (AFP) - About 300 Iranian students staged a rally here
on Tuesday accusing opponents of President Mohammad Khatami of trying to
obstruct his investigation into the recent murders of writers and dissidents.
The protestors gathered inside the Tehran University campus, shouting
slogans in support of Khatami and calling for the resignation of conservative
Intelligence Minister Ghorban-Ali Dorrie Najafabadi, witnesses said.
Najafabadi has come under pressure to step down over the involvement
of a number of secret agents in the murders of nationalist opposition leader
Daryush Foruhar and his wife as well as several liberal writers in the
past two months.
The students, members of Islamic associations in Tehran universities,
also demanded that the conservative head of state radio and television
Ali Larijani step down after accusing him of taking a stand against the
president.
Khatami's supporters are outraged by a television interview on Monday
with Ruhollah Hosseinian, a hardline cleric who accused the president's
allies of having a role in the murders in a bid to take over the powerful
intelligence ministry.
BBC Report:
Photo by IRNA
Teheran students demonstrate over recent murders
Tuesday, January 12, 1999 Published at 14:09 GMT
(BBC) - Several hundred students have demonstrated in Teheran in protest
against what they call an attempt by hardliners to obstruct the investigation
into a series of recent murders of liberal intellectuals and writers.
The demonstration was held on the campus of Teheran University, where
angry students chanted slogans supporting the reformist President, Mohammed
Khatami.
They also demanded the resignation of the country's Intelligence Minister,
some of whose officials are among those arrested in connection with the
killings.
A special committee has been set up to investigate the killings; it
says it has already identified all the members of the gang involved, and
that apart from ten people already arrestred, others are under surveillance.
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