|
Iran
yesterday claimed that its hardline president-elect,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was the victim of a smear
campaign after fresh accusations that he was
involved in the assassination of an exiled Kurdish
politician.
At the weekend an Austrian MP, Peter Pilz, said he
had "very convincing" evidence that Mr Ahmadinejad -
a former revolutionary guard - was involved in the
murder in 1989 of a leading Iranian opposition
politician in Vienna.
Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou was shot dead with two other
Kurdish activists. Ghassemlou was the general
secretary of the Party for a Democratic Kurdistan,
which Tehran had banned.
According to Mr Pilz, Mr Ahmadinejad travelled to
Vienna a week before the murders and delivered the
weapons used to the Iranian embassy. The assassins
were never caught.
"The man stands under urgent suspicion of having
been involved in the murder of Ghassemlou," Mr Pilz,
a Green party MP, told Austria's Der Standard
newspaper on Saturday.
Yesterday, however, the Iranian president-elect's
aides angrily dismissed the latest allegations.
"The charges are so self-evidently false they are
not worthy of response," a foreign ministry
spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, said. He added: "We
advise the Europeans not to fall into the trap of
the Zionist media and to separate their interests
from America and the Zionist entity."
The claim follows earlier allegations that Mr
Ahmadinejad was involved in storming the US embassy
in Tehran and holding 52 hostages for 444 days in
the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Six
former hostages have said they believe Mr
Ahmadinejad was among their captors. He has denied
any involvement, and his claim is supported by the
original hostage takers.
The Bush administration says it is still examining
the claim. At the weekend, however, Mr Pilz said he
had handed over documents concerning the murders to
Austria's interior ministry. State prosecutors in
Austria confirmed that they are now investigating.
The documents were "very credible", Mr Pilz said,
adding that those responsible for the murders had
taken refuge in the Iranian embassy. They were
allowed to slip out of Austria after pressure from
Tehran, the MP added.
Tehran denies the charge. "The enemy has created
these allegations to mask the high turnout in
elections," Mr Asefi said.
Mr Ahmadinejad, an ultra-conservative and former
member of the Office of Strengthening Unity, the
student organisation that planned the embassy
takeover, was elected by a landslide majority last
month, winning some 62% of votes cast on a turnout
of 60%.
His candidacy appealed to the poor who viewed him as
the candidate who would distribute Iran's abundant
oil wealth more directly to them.
On Saturday Saeed Hajjarian, a top former secret
agent and now a senior adviser to outgoing reformist
President Mohammed Khatami, denied the allegations
being levelled against Mr Ahmadinejad.
Several of Mr Ahmadinejad's associates have said he
was opposed to taking over the US embassy.
Although Mr Hajjarian said Mr Ahmadinejad had not
been involved in the hostage taking, he has been at
loggerheads with the hardline president-elect.
Mr Hajjarian has alleged that Mr Ahmadinejad was
involved in financial wrongdoing while previously
serving as governor of Ardabil province in
north-western Iran.
The former secret agent's comments are likely to
draw an angry reaction from Mr Ahmadinejad.
No official charges have yet been brought against
the president-elect, who governed the province
before becoming the mayor of Tehran two years ago.
Muhammad Reza Bahonar, a senior hardliner close to
Mr Ahmadinejad, acknowledged this week that the
intelligence minister, Ali Yunesi, had opposed Mr
Ahmadinejad's appointment as Tehran mayor because
there was a "dossier" against him.
He did not explain the nature of the case.
www.guardian.co.uk
Top |
® 