Call for an end to impunity for murderers and those behind serial killings of intellectuals and journalists

Reporters Without Borders has called on the Iranian authorities to break the impunity enjoyed by murderers and especially those who instigated killings, on the fifth anniversary of the serial murders of journalists and intellectuals. In November and December 1998 several intellectuals and opposition figures were murdered in Iran, including Daryush and Parvaneh Forouhar, prominent liberal opposition figures, Majid Charif, editorial writer for the monthly Iran-é-Farda, writers and journalists Mohamad Mokhtari and Mohamad Jafar Pouyandeh. A few months earlier Pirouz Davani, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Pirouz disappeared without trace and his body was never found. This wave of killings and disappearance led to angry protests in a significant section of the reformist press. "We have reached the conclusion that highly-ranked figures are implicated in this case, figures whom we cannot challenge. That is why this file is frozen, " said Hossein Ansari-Rad, Iran's head of the Article 90 Commission of Parliament, whose role is to investigate written complaints against the executive, legislature or judiciary. In January 1999, the intelligence ministry officially acknowledged that some of its agents were implicated in killings and announced the arrest of dozens of suspects. In January 2001, 15 agents of the intelligence ministry were convicted in the Forouhar murder case. Three were sentenced to death and 12 were sentenced to prison terms. Three others suspected of involvement were acquitted. The case then went to the supreme court, which confirmed the verdict. Only two people were sent to jail for 15 years. As for the Davani case, the authorities never showed any inclination to investigate it further. Those who ordered his disappearance have therefore been guaranteed complete impunity. There is never any discussion about who were the masterminds behind the killings. A few weeks ago the Forouhar's daughter Parastou told Radio Farda - that broadcasts from outside Iran - that "after five years of the files going two and fro between the different justice departments, there is no chance of a satisfactory outcome. Now we are sure that Iranian justice refuses to investigate this case and refuses to punish the murderers and those behind the murder." All the families of victims have complained that the question of who instigated the killings has never been raised. Since November 2002, they have been making complaints to international justice organisations. Reporters Without Borders supports these families and hopes that the international bodies will do everything within their power to see that justice is done.