Chain murders of Iran

Chain murders of Iran
LocationIran
Date1988 (1988)-1998 (1998)
TargetOpposition figures, leaders, intellectuals, etc.
Attack type
Extra-judicial killings
Deaths80+
PerpetratorsSAVAMA
MotiveTo block opposition and reformist movements
Victims of chain murders
Dariush Forouhar
Parvaneh Forouhar
Fereydoun Farrokhzad
Shapour Bakhtiar

The chain murders of Iran[1] (Persian: قتل‌های زنجیره‌ای ایران) were a series of 1988–98 murders and disappearances of certain Iranian dissident intellectuals who had been critical of the Islamic Republic system.[2][3][4] The murders and disappearances were carried out by Iranian government internal operatives, and they were referred to as "chain murders" because they appeared to be linked to each other.[5]

The victims included more than 80 writers, translators, poets, political activists, and ordinary citizens,[6][7] and were killed by a variety of means such as car crashes, stabbings, shootings in staged robberies, and injections with potassium to simulate a heart attack.[8] The pattern of murders did not come to light until late 1998 when Dariush Forouhar, his wife Parvaneh Eskandari Forouhar, and three dissident writers were murdered over a span of two months.[9]

After the murders were publicized, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei denied the government was responsible, and blamed "Iran's enemies".[10] In mid-1999, after great public outcry and journalistic investigation in Iran and publicity abroad,[11] Iranian prosecutors announced they had found the perpetrator. One Saeed Emami had led "rogue elements" in Iran's MOIS Intelligence Ministry in the killings, but that Emami was now dead, having committed suicide in prison.[12] In a trial that was "dismissed as a sham by the victims' families and international human rights organisations,"[13] three Intelligence Ministry agents were sentenced in 2001 to death and 12 others to prison terms for murdering two of the victims.

Many Iranians and foreigners believe the killings were partly an attempt to resist "cultural and political openness" by reformist Iranian president Mohammad Khatami and his supporters,[9] and that those convicted of the killings were actually "scapegoats acting on orders from higher up,"[14] with the ultimate perpetrators including "a few well known clerics."[12]

In turn, Iran's hardliners—the group most closely associated with vigilante attacks on dissidents in general, and with the accused killers in particular—claimed foreign powers (including Israel) had committed the crimes.[14]

The murders are said to be "still shrouded in secrecy",[15] and an indication that the authorities may not have uncovered all perpetrators of the chain murders was the attempted assassination of Saeed Hajjarian, a newspaper editor who is thought to have played a "key role" in uncovering the killings. On March 12, 2000, Hajjarian was shot in the head and left paralyzed for life.[16]

  1. ^ Imani, Amil (July 2004). "Patriotism Fails Iran, Sets to Breed Islamic Terror". Think and Ask Non-Profit News. Archived from the original on 19 August 2004. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Samii, A. William (5 February 2001). "Iran Report". GlobalSecurity.org. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  4. ^ Gholipoor, Ardeshir (2003). "letter about Pirooz Davani from the Port Hedland immigration detention centre WA". Green Left weekly. Archived from the original on 22 June 2009.
  5. ^ Fathi, Nazila (2014). The Lonely War: One Woman's Account of the Struggle for Modern Iran. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465069996.
  6. ^ "Victims of serial killings by the information ministry (Abbridged from Enghelabe Eslami NO. 477) (from 1988–1999)". 2000. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  7. ^ "unknown". Marze Por Gohar. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
    "103 is the estimated number of the victims in the 'serial murders'. [While] the scene of murder and the time of death of 57 victims are known, the other 46 disappeared, and later their brutalized &/or mutilated bodies were discovered in the outskirts of [Teheran]. The actual number of murders is unknown and may be higher."
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ebadi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b "Killing of three rebel writers turns hope into fear in Iran", Douglas Jehl, The New York Times, 14 December 1998 p. A6
  10. ^ "مقام معظم رهبری در نماز جمعه تهران". Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b "Ganji named Fallahian as the "master key" for the chain murders". Iran Press Service. December 2000. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013.
  13. ^ Iranian killers spared death penalty BBC News 29 January 2003
  14. ^ a b "Iranian killers spared death penalty" BBC News, 29 January 2003
  15. ^ Sahim, Muhammad (14 December 2009). "The Chain Murders". Tehran Bureau. PBS. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  16. ^ "Analysis: Who wanted Hajjarian dead?". BBC News. 12 March 2000. Retrieved 29 December 2014.