Iran opposition leader condemns professor's assassination

MirHosein Mousavi

The disputing candidate of Iran’s presidential election, MirHosein Mousavi, issued a statement which maintained the assassination of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, physics lecturer at Tehran University, is “part of an extensive plan” orchestrated by “the enemies of the nation.”

Massoud Ali-Mohammadi was killed on Tuesday after a booby-trapped motorcycle blasted near his home.

MirHosein Mousavi added: “The cruel martyrdom of Doctor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi reveals the bitter truth that the enemies of Iran intend to use the current crisis in the country to their own advantage.”

MirHosein Mousavi goes on to condemn what he refers to as a “criminal” act which “everyone regardless of their political biases should show patience and care in discovering all its dimension.”

The opposition leader also adds: “The loss of Doctor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi is a catastrophe and no one who is dedicated to the fate of the country can remain indifferent to it.”

Yesterday two other opposition figures, Ayatollah Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami also issued letters of condolence for the death of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi.

The deceased professor was buried under strict security measures yesterday in Tehran.

Reportedly, a significant number of security and plain clothes forces were present at the funeral and chanted anti US and Israel slogans making allusions to the government’s claim that the US and Israel were involved in this assassination.

Former lawmaker and an acquaintance of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, Ahmad Shirzad, who is also an executive member of the reformist party Islamic Iran Participation Front write in his website that plain clothes forces and “brothers of Hezbollah” did not allow the professor's relatives, students and colleagues to get close to his body.

He adds that students and colleagues of the deceased stood at a distance from the “special participants” and chanted the Islamic Revolution chant of “There is no god but God.”

Fars news agency also reported the presence of some people in the funeral carrying green symbols which are representative of the opposition movement that have taken shape in Iran in the post-election protests. According to Fars, they were chanting “deviating slogans.”

Mahmaoud Ahmadinejad told reporters yesterday that the method of Mr. Ali-Mohammadi's assassination according to the reports delivered to him bears Zionist marks.

Government media have described Massoud Ali-Mohammadi as a nuclear scientist and portrayed his assassination as an attempt to stifle Iran’s nuclear research.

Mr. Ali-Mohammadi’s relatives deny this theory and claim that he was an election protester and had participated in the June 15 demonstration in protest to the alleged fraud that brought Ahmadinejad back to power.