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The Iranian authorities say that a man has been executed at the Evin prison in Tehran after being convicted of involvement in the killing last August of the country's former prison chief, Assadollah Lajevardi.
The authorities said the convicted man, Ali Asghar Ghazanfar-Nejad, was a member of the Mujahedeen Khalq, which said it had carried out the killing.
Correspondents say there has been no report of a trial since his arrest in August. The official news agency said another of the killers committed suicide.
Opposition groups accused Mr. Lajevardi of committing atrocities when he headed the Evin prison after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
[Lajevardi was appointed director of Evin Prison following the 1979 revolution. He was accused of overseeing widespread acts of torture and other human-rights violations in the 1980s, when the regime waged a merciless campaign against the opposition.
[Lajevardi was promoted in 1989 to
the post of director of the country's prison system, a position he held
until February. Agence France Presse]
Rafsanjani Blames Anti-Khatami Protest On Italy, Agence France Presse, March 12
TEHRAN - Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday accused the Italian government of authorizing opposition protests against President Mohammad Khatami in Italy this week.
"It was an insult and they could have very easily prevented them," he said during weekly prayers at Tehran university.
The Italians "authorized it all in the so-called name of freedom," said Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council, the Islamic republic's highest political body.
Khatami's three-day visit to Italy was marred by Iranian opposition protesters who threw paint-filled eggs on his car and held demonstrations.
On Saturday, the daily Keyhan castigated the Italian foreign ministry over the presence of Iranian dissidents.
"The Islamic republic of Iran is not willing to tolerate such behavior," it said, accusing the CIA of funding the dissidents' travels in Italy.
Rafsanjani also lashed out at media "interpretations" of Khatami's visit.
"They said his visit ended the isolation
of Iran. It is untrue because Iran was never isolated," he said.
Khatami: Fatwa on Rushdie is Confirmed, Agence France Presse, March 11
TEHRAN - Mohammad Khatami, whose Italian trip was a bid to polish the Islamic republic's image in the West, promptly found himself confronted with Iran's number one image problem, author Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie was in Italy on Wednesday as Khatami was in the midst of the first visit to western Europe.
"All Moslem countries and the Organization
of the Islamic Conference" have "confirmed" the death sentence against
Rushdie, Khatami told IRNA.
Daily: Only 30 Percent Turnout in Tehran Local "Election", Agence France Presse, March 11
TEHRAN - Iranian conservatives stepped up the pressure Thursday to overturn their defeat in last month's municipal elections as an MP called for the impeachment of the interior minister over the handling of the polls.
Interior Minister Abdol-Vahed Mussavi-Lari "must be impeached because he has no intention of abiding by the law," influential conservative MP Ahmad Rasoolinejad said.
"The numerous violations of the law committed by the interior minister and his deputy, Mostafa Tajzadeh, in the course of the elections" necessitate his ouster, he told the English-language Iran News.
Rasoolinejad, a leading member of the conservative-dominated parliament, said there had been "thousands of complaints" filed with election authorities about the February 26 polling.
"Only 30 percent of those eligible participated in the local elections in Tehran," the conservative Tehran Times said Wednesday.
"This nonparticipation should be seriously
taken into consideration, particularly by the president," the English-language
daily said in a challenge to claims that the vote was a forceful mandate
in support of Khatami.
Tehran's "Electronic" Khatami Disappears, Agence France Presse, March 10
TEHRAN - A high-tech electronic portrait of Khatami was stolen from a busy Tehran square after the city government received anonymous threats from outraged callers.
The Tehran municipality received a series of "rude and threatening phone calls about the eight square-meter (86 square-foot) electronic Khatami, which also displayed the date and time in northern Tehran's congested Qods Square.