Akbar Ganji, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and intelligence official, disclosed in an interview with a Tehran daily that three Christian clergymen "who did not agree with our political regime" were murdered by the mullahs'
Ministry of Intelligence in 1994 and the Ministry then "put the blame on the Mojahedin."

Ganji also said in the interview that "the bombing in Mashad (the holy shrine of the eighth Shiite Imam) was one of their (Intelligence Ministry's) acts. They destroyed the Sunni mosque in Mashad and then there was the terrible bombing in the shrine of Imam Reza, for which they blamed the Mojahedin."

Prior to this, ex-Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri, a member of the State Expediency Council, and a number of government-run newspapers had openly acknowledged that the brutal murder of the three Iranian priests - two bishops and a pastor - and the
mutilation of their corpses were carried out by the Ministry of Intelligence.

Ganji admitted in the same interview that one of the "projects" undertaken by the Ministry of Intelligence" was "the drug smuggling business, which generates huge revenues." He said some of the women used by the Intelligence Ministry in its drug smuggling
operations "were later liquidated."
 

CLERIC JAILED FOR ARSON ATTACK ON A RELIGIOUS SCHOOL,REUTERS, DECEMBER 6

TEHRAN - An Iranian clerical court has sentenced a young cleric to eight years in prison for an arson attack on a religious school in central Iran, a newspaper reported on Monday.

Kayhan daily quoted a court statement as saying that Mohammad Javad Emami was convicted for the attack in July on a school of theology in Isfahan.

The conviction often carries the death penalty under Iran's law, but the statement said the court had shown leniency due to the cleric's young age and because he had expressed remorse for the attack.

There has been an increasing number of reports of clerics being arrested in Iran for violent crimes.
 

FINGERLESS THIEF NOW TO LOSE FOOT, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, DECEMBER 6

TEHRAN - A 30-year-old man who had four fingers of his right hand cut off for theft under Iran's harsh Islamic laws is to lose his left foot after burgling the home of a judge, the daily Javan reported Monday.

The man, named only as Jaber B. from Tehran, lost his fingers last year after being convicted of several thefts, the paper said.
 

GUARDS CHIEF WARNS ABOUT "LIBERALISM", STATE CONTROLLED IRNA, DECEMBER 6

QOM - The commander in chief of the revolutionary guards corps (IRGC) Rahim Safavi said on Sunday... the cultural liberalism is intended to undermine the Islamic and revolutionary values of Islamic Iran.

He was speaking in a gathering of the clerics dispatched by the theological seminaries to work in various centers of the IRGC.

He added that the Iranian officials and people should foil the enemies' ploys through acquiring knowledge of the real and pure Islam.

The political liberalism, on the other hand, aims to materialize its aims through a parliamentary coup d'etat, Safavi maintained.

He went on to say that some enemy's agents are trying to infiltrate among the people; they are disguised and use masks to achieve their objectives.
 

THREE MORE NEWSPAPERS FACE COURT ACTION, REUTERS, DECEMBER 5

TEHRAN - Iran's press court is preparing to take action against three more newspapers after the closure of several publications, a judge was quoted as saying .

Judge Saeed Mortazavi, who heads the court, said the dailies Arya and Sobh-e Emrouz and the leading newspaper Kayhan faced unspecified charges, the daily Akhbar-e Eqtesad reported.
 

MORE PUBLIC HANGING, REUTERS, DECEMBER 6
 

TEHRAN - Hadi Amani, aged 19, was hanged in public in northern Iran for kidnapping and murder of two young boys, newspapers reported on Monday.

Entekhab daily said Amani was hanged at the murder site on Saturday, in the presence of the victims' families and provincial officials.
 

Back to Brief on Iran