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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Summit Features Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters In the eye of conspiracy
By Azadeh MoaveniOn the face of things, the average Iranian could be forgiven for thinking the investigation of the attempted assassination of key reformer Saeed Hajjarian is going smoothly. Only two weeks after the attack, the mug shots of seven suspects, all young men, stare out from the front pages of Tehran's newspapers -- seemingly a testament to the vigilance of the authorities pursuing the case.
But a closer look at the investigation reveals that political factors may complicate the picture. A fundamental question arises: will the fact that the gangland style hit was against a high-level political figure force a cleaner inquiry than is typical; or will the inevitable sensitivity of any proper investigation lead to the formal -- but actually incomplete -- resolution that many expect?
The special committee established to track down the assailants of the reform movement's leading strategist last week captured the men it says are responsible for the attack. One of them, a student at Tehran's Azad University, has already confessed.
As more information about the group seeps out, reformists are increasingly dissatisfied with the substance of the investigation. They believe the seven suspects represent only a small part of a group involved in a systematic plan intended to undermine President Mohamed Khatami, and remind the reform movement that actual power is still far from its grasp.
Jalaleddin Taheri, who leads the Friday prayer in Isfahan, pointed out in Tehran this week that identifying the source of the attack, not just the means by which it was carried out, is the key task at hand. "If just one or two people are executed, this isn't an answer, because tomorrow two others will replace them," he said.
Reformists cannot imagine that a handful of young men, despite the links of some of them to the security forces and others to the revolutionary guards, could have been capable of masterminding the assassination of a key political figure. They worry that after the initial arrest of a handful of suspects, the investigation will blunder on, but lead nowhere. Such a fear is not too far fetched considering that the year-and-a-half-long investigation into the serial murders of dissidents and petty criminals is still largely fruitless, though the murders have become, in the eyes of the public, a scandal of almost national proportions.
With the Hajjarian case, eyebrows were first raised when predictable accusations from the hard-line establishment -- that the attackers came from the reform camp -- were accompanied by a swift, harsh and continuing crackdown on press coverage of the investigation. Conservatives ordered a virtual media blackout on the subject, and the special judge appointed for the investigation has thus far seemed more occupied with summoning reformist journalists to court than with the attack itself.
Reformists are still howling that media blackouts are illegal, and that revolutionary courts should not have jurisdiction over press matters. Compounding their frustration is the coverage of state-controlled television and radio, which they believe has downplayed the significance of the attack. "Limiting the flow of information to the public is the first step in eroding public confidence in the possibility of completing this investigation," Reformist Member of Parliament Mohsen Mirdadami lamented in the daily Aftab-e-Azadegan.
In a blunt command for the benefit of the public, as well as the authorities, President Khatami said this week that "the eye of conspiracy must be removed."
Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, an establishment hard-liner criticised for sanctioning violence in both his Friday sermons and public rhetoric, responded snidely that "the eye of conspiracy cannot be removed with a smile," making a reference to the president's characteristic facial expression.
Khatami's cautious response to hard-line provocation, has earned more public sympathy for this latest blow to the reformist camp than many of its members predicted. Perhaps the viciousness of the attack, or the political machinations that followed, have reminded Iranians that much of what they fear in their society is intertwined with the political motivations of the authorities that are its custodians.
Progressive cleric Abdullah Nouri, out of prison this week on a brief furlough, spoke about this tension in the reformist daily Asr-e-Azadegan. "If it is the case that our culture itself has nurtured such violent groups," he said suggestively, "then a trial certainly will not suffice to uproot them."
