On the third day of the suspicious murder of the German national, Heinrich Lambert Heimess, the state-run Ressalat daily quoting "one of the officials of the State Security Force in [town of] Kashan," absurdly claimed that "after committing the crime, the murderer introduced himself as a member of the Mojahedin"!

Blaming this crime on the Mojahedin has doubtless been upon the instruction of the clerical regime's Intelligence Ministry, which did exactly the same thing in the course of the recent political killings.

The Intelligence Ministry, however, must have failed to notice that on Saturday, the state radio, television and official news agency, IRNA, and on Sunday, most of the state-run press, reported that the murderer was killed by the State Security Force immediately after committing the crime.

The state-run Iran News daily pointed to the regime's role in his murder in its editorial yesterday: "This murder, blamed by the officials on a lone fugitive, is the latest in a series of mysterious murders which the Intelligence Minister admitted were the work of "wicked individuals."

In the course of the political murders over the past months, all of the regime's leaders tried to evade this major political scandal by blaming the murders on the United States, Israel and the Mojahedin. This bold-face lie before anything else reveals the suspicious nature of, and the regime's role in, this murder.
 
 

Contradictory Accounts of German's Murder, Agence France Presse, February 15

TEHRAN - Iranian police issued an account Monday of the murder of a German businessman following mounting criticism of the authorities' handling of the affair.

Police insisted a lone fugitive from justice was responsible for Saturday's murder of the former Tehran representative of Deutsche Bank, Heinrich Heimes.

Police also insisted the gunman killed his hostage before the final firefight with police in which he was killed, contradicting the German foreign ministry's insistence that Heimes too was killed in the final exchange of fire.

The police statement followed a second day of criticism in the Tehran press and open questioning of the official accounts of the German's killing.
 
 

Iran Angrily Rejects European Probe into Murders, Agence France Presse, February 14

TEHRAN - Tehran Sunday stepped up its rejection of calls for an international inquiry into a string of murders here last year, warning the European Parliament not to meddle in its domestic affairs.

The European Parliament and other international organisations have called for fact-finding teams to be sent to Iran to investigate the murders late last year.

Nateq-Nuri's angry reaction to the calls from the European Parliament follows a firm rejection from Iran's conservative judiciary earlier this month of any international inquiry.
 
 

Guards Say Fatwa Against Rushdie Irrevocable, Agence France Presse, February 13

TEHRAN - The death sentence issued against British writer Salman Rushdie by Khomeini is irrevocable, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards force said in a statement Saturday.

The statement, carried by the IRNA news agency, said Khomeini's verdict was "based on Islam" and could not be retracted.

"The apostate Salman Rushdie will eventually be burnt in the fire of Moslems' wrath," the elite force said.

The statement blasted "certain western countries and false advocates of freedom of thought and human rights" for a two-year "disinformation campaign to make world people and Moslems believe that Iran has backed down from its stances towards the apostate author Salman Rushdie."
 
 

Political Violence: Khamenei's Brother Assaulted, Agence France Presse, February 13

TEHRAN - Mohammad Khatami called Saturday for an investigation into the assault of one of his advisers, the brother of supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, amid an escalation of political violence in the Islamic republic.

Hadi Khamenei was taken to hospital with head wounds after hard-liners beat him up at the Mohammadieh mosque in the holy city of Qom, site of theological schools and a stronghold of conservatives.

The Salam newspaper reported Saturday that attackers broke windows in the mosque, tore up portraits of the president and shouted "Death to Khatami" as Hadi was preparing to give a speech.

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