Iranian regime shaken by murders and insecurity
TEHRAN, Jan 17 (AFP) - Political killings and kidnappings, death threats
against intellectuals and dissidents, and violent killings of citizens
on an almost daily basis, have deepened a sense of insecurity in Iran ahead
of the 20th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
Iran has been gripped by a vicious cycle of death threats and murders
against dissidents and writers as well as professionals, as rival political
factions are locked in a power struggle ahead of the anniversary on February
11.
News of horrific murders in Tehran's northern residential suburbs in
recent weeks, widespread political violence and arrests, disappearances
and failed assassination attempts are also becoming commonplace.
Tehran has seen three murders in the past days. Jurist Javad Emami and
his wife were slaughtered in their home in northern Tehran this week, and
in another incident, Fatemeh Eslami, the wife of a well-known translator
was found strangled to death at her home with a scarf she was wearing,
on Wednesday.
Reza Alijani, the editor of the liberal political monthly Iran-e-Farda
(Tomorrow's Iran), was issued a death threat by a shadowy group calling
itself the Fedayeen (Devotees) of Pure Islam.
The review's director, Ezatollah Sahabi, informed the interior ministry
that Alijani had been threatened with death for giving interviews to foreign
radio stations.
In the central city of Esfahan, weekly Moslem prayers were disrupted
when fundamentalists heckled and threw objects at prayer leader Ayatollah
Jalaleddin Taheri and provincial governor Jaafar Musavi, both allies of
moderate President Mohammad Khatami.
These events are taking place under the shadow of press reports of a
list, as yet undisclosed, of 179 writers and moderates who have been threatened
with death.
Whether political or criminal, the murders have been a serious blow
to the regime's image and provoked a war of words between Iran's principal
political factions on the eve of anniversary celebrations.
Radical leftwingers backing Khatami and conservatives are blaming each
other for the murders.
The verbal melee broke out after the intelligence ministry announced
last week that rogue agents were involved in the murders of two nationalist
dissidents and three writers.
Radicals have called on conservative Intelligence Minister Qorbanali
Dorri Najafabadi to resign, while conservatives have accused pro-Khatami
left-wingers of being involved in the murders.
Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani pleaded with rival
factions to call a truce, warning that "none of you will benefit from
this dispute."
"Our being at each other's throats has pleased the enemy and prompted
them to raise questions about our regime and the (1979 Islamic) revolution,"
he said.
"Our regime and people definitely suffered from these murders.
They damaged our security and harmed our international prestige,"
he said.
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