Frenchman shot dead in Iranian city

Reuters: A French tourist was shot dead in the central Iranian city of Isfahan by a man who local police said was “mentally disturbed”, a French diplomat said on Monday. TEHRAN (Reuters) – A French tourist was shot dead in the central Iranian city of Isfahan by a man who local police said was “mentally disturbed”, a French diplomat said on Monday.

“It has no political significance,” the diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

He said the 24-year-old French man, Julien van Waesberghe, was killed on Sunday night at a bus station as he was about to travel to another city south of Isfahan, a popular tourist destination.

Iranian media said police knew the identity of the suspected murderer and were hunting for him.

The diplomat said police told the French embassy the killer had been seeking the release of his brother from jail. The police said he had previously made threats about taking possible action.

“It seems that it was a crime that has been done by somebody who was mentally disturbed,” the diplomat said.

A senior Isfahan official, Majid Nader-Alasli, told ISNA news agency the killer was the head of a “group of bandits” who had been involved in armed robberies in Isfahan and another city.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: “The identity of the criminal is known to police and they will seriously follow up the case to arrest the murderer.”

(Reporting by Edmund Blair and Reza Derakhshi; Editing by Matthew Jones)