| Tehran, Feb 24, IRNA
Some 100 pro-reform parliamentary deputies have signed a petition asking for more clarification on the circumstances
surrounding the murder of several political activists and progressive intellectuals initially blamed on rogue information agents, the head of the
Article 90 Commission of parliament, Hussein Ansari-Rad, was quoted as saying by the students news agency
ISNA. "Some of the deputies' demands are for a full disclosure of the facts
surrounding the murders and find out about their number, nature and roots.
I think the parliament will get to know about these facts through legal channels," he was cited as saying.
"It is of utmost importance for Majlis (parliament) to carry out more research and investigation on the sensitive circumstances surrounding the
serial murders in order to shed light on their root cause," he added, according to
ISNA.
Meanwhile, the head of the court for the armed forces, Mohammad Niazi, said
on Wednesday in southern Ahwaz city that the lawyer of 15 of those sentenced in the serial murders case had appealed to the Supreme Court. The
families of the victims, however, did not personally sanction the appeals,
issued some 20 days ago. He said that two of those convicted in the murders, as well as three
accomplices, are now serving their sentences in prison.
Last month a military court announced it had sentenced three information
agents to death and five others to life terms found guilty of murdering nationalists Darioush and Parvaneh Forouhar and writers Mohammad Mokhtari
and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh. Seven of the 18 defendants, all intelligence ministry personnel, received
lesser jail terms and three were acquitted.
Victims' families boycotted the trial in protest to the closed door trial
ordered by the judiciary and what they said was the removal of key evidence
from the court's files. They also voiced out disapproval over the death sentences later imposed,
saying they were not seeking a "vendetta."
The press noted that former agents of the intelligence ministry, found guilty on murder charges, during the period of the assassinations had
prepared a hit list of more than 40 more names for possible "elimination."
Information Minister Ali Younessi had earlier said that the judge's 17-page
ruling had to be taken as "conclusive" and the case effectively closed.
ISNA - supplied by
http://www.iranazad.com |
