Diplomat accused of murder

The Times: A Former Iranian diplomat has been charged in absentia with the murder of an Iranian opposition leader shot dead in Rome 12 years ago. Italian prosecutors said that Amir Mansur Assl Bozorgian was responsible for the killing in 1993 of Mohammed Hossein Naghdi, 42, who had joined the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran in 1981. The Times

By Richard Owen

A FORMER Iranian diplomat has been charged in absentia with the murder of an Iranian opposition leader shot dead in Rome 12 years ago.

Italian prosecutors said that Amir Mansur Assl Bozorgian was responsible for the killing in 1993 of Mohammed Hossein Naghdi, 42, who had joined the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran in 1981.

Mr Bozorgian’s whereabouts are not known, but Iranian exiles say that he returned to Tehran after the killing and remains an intelligence official.

Mr Naghdi, before his defection the chargé d’affaires at the Iranian Embassy in Rome, was given Italian police protection on joining the opposition. Carlo Taormina, the lawyer for his widow, Ferminia Moroni, said documents proved that Mr Bozorgian acted on orders from Iran’s leadership to eliminate opponents.