Plot Forces Intelligence Minister Dorri-Najafabadi Our Replaced by Yunesi - February 1999
FarsiNet News - News related to Iran, Iranians and Persians - February 1999: "Iranian Intelligence Minister ResignsTEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's intelligence minister has resigned four weeks after his ministry admitted its agents were involved in the killing of dissidents.
President Mohammad Khatami accepted the resignation of Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, thanking him for his "great efforts and services," the official Tehran radio reported today.
The president asked Dorri-Najafabadi to continue in office until his replacement is approved by parliament. Khatami said the government would no doubt benefit from his "knowledge, experience and ability in a different place and in a different and more appropriate capacity," the radio reported.
The president has appointed Ali Yunesi, the chief military prosecutor, to replace Dorri-Najafabadi, according to two newspapers with ties to the government.
There have been continuing calls for Dorri-Najafabadi's resignation since the Intelligence Ministry said Jan. 5 that some of its agents had been arrested in a spate of killings of writers and dissidents.
The disclosure intensified the rivalry between hard-line and moderate factions in the Islamic government.
Both sides have tried to distance themselves from the killings. The agents behind the killings are widely believed to be supporters of the hard-liners, who control the Intelligence Ministry.
The government has said "foreign elements" masterminded the killings. It denied that senior officers approved the slayings.
Nevertheless, Khatami's moderate faction has called for a purge of the Intelligence Ministry.
In his resignation letter to Khatami, Dorri-Najafabadi, 54, said he hoped his departure would bring about a more suitable atmosphere at the ministry and would not be a pretext for "vindictive enemies and uninformed friends" to harm the ministry.
"The hard-working employees of the Intelligence Ministry did not and will not approve of the recent tragic and unfortunate incidents that would make any honorable human being unhappy," Dorri-Najafabadi said in the letter. The text of the letter was broadcast on Tehran radio.
The first of the killings occurred in November. Dariush Foruhar and his wife, Parvaneh, who belonged to a minor opposition party, were found stabbed to death in their Tehran home on Nov. 22.
In the following weeks, the writers Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh and Mohammad Mokhtari disappeared and their bodies were found dumped on the outskirts of the capital. They appeared to have been strangled. Both men had tried to set up a writer's association.
A third writer, Majid Sharif, was found dead after disappearing from his home."
posted by JBOC @ 7:23 PM
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