Iran Focus: Paris, Aug. 4 The Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), denied that it had any role in the assassination of a hard-line judge in Tehran.
The Peoples Mojahedin Organisation of Iran categorically
denies this false allegation, a spokesman for the MeK told
the Persian-language satellite television channel, Simaye
Azadi. Iran Focus
Paris, Aug. 4 The Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), denied that it had any role in the assassination of a hard-line judge in Tehran.
The Peoples Mojahedin Organisation of Iran categorically denies this false allegation, a spokesman for the MeK told the Persian-language satellite television channel, Simaye Azadi.
Earlier, the editor of an influential ultra-conservative newspaper had blamed the MeK for the Tuesday assassination of the judge, Hassan Ahmadi Moghaddas, who was also Tehrans Deputy Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor.
Mohammad-Kazem Anbarloui, editor of the daily Ressalat, told the state-owned news agency Mehr that the MeK targeted the hard-line judge, because he had passed a harsh sentence on dissident journalist Akbar Ganji.
Ganji has been publicly supporting the [MeK”> in his recent statements, Anbarloui said. I think the [MeK”> assassinated the judge to show their support for Ganji.
A former deputy foreign minister of Iran dismissed the charges that the MeK was behind the attack.
I dont think this was done by the [MeK”>, Javad Mansouri, a hard-liner and a former ambassador, told Mehr news agency. The [MeK”> has been instructed by the U.S. not to carry out any terrorist attack, so that they would gain the necessary prestige to enter the political phase.
Ibrahim Yazdi, a former foreign minister who now heads Iran Liberation Movement, blamed the recent spate of violence in the country, including the assassination of Ahmadi Moghaddas, on authoritarian factions within the theocratic regime.
I believe a faction [within the Islamic Republic regime”> has decided to launch a new phase of violence in the country, Yazdi told the Persian-language website Mizan. The intransigence that was shown over the case of Akbar Ganji, the assassination of Judge Moghaddas, and the recent explosion in Tehran are all related to each other.
Yazdi said the ultra-conservative faction seeks to create false crises in order to legitimize the strong presence of paramilitary forces on the political scene and establish relative quiet in the country as the new government settles in.
Yazdis comments echoed a statement by a former deputy head of Irans secret police, Saeed Hajjarian, who implicitly blamed the assassination of Tehrans deputy prosecutor on internal factions of the clerical regime. Hajjarian was shot in close range in March 2000 by a gunman who later turned out to be a member of an Islamist paramilitary group with ties to the ultra-conservative faction.
I thought the attempt on my life would be the last such attack, because it cost our government a lot, Hajjarian said.
