13 out of 18 Iranian intelligence agents confess to killings

The 13 accused agents admitted to having ordered or followed orders in connection with the killings of writers and intellectuals in November and December 1998. Two of the agents have denied involvement in killings and said that they were merely informed about the plan.

The confessions concerned the killings of nationalist Dariush Foruhar and his wife, Parvaneh, as well as the writers Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Puyandeh. The death of another writer, Majid Sharif, has reportedly not yet been raised in court. Mostafa Kazemi, the highest-ranking defendant on trial, confessed on Saturday that he ordered the killings. After his confession, the others admitted having followed his orders.

The suspected mastermind of the killings, Saaid Emami, committed suicide in prison in June 1999. According to the detained reformist Akbar Ganji, former intelligence head Ali Fallahian was also involved in the serial murders. Fallahian himself has denied the accusations. Fallahian was convicted by a Berlin court in 1997 for his role in the 1992 assassination of four Iranian-Kurdish dissidents at a Berlin restaurant. Fallahian had categorically denied those charges, and reformist circles have linked Emami to the Berlin killings.

(la/dpa)