Iran's Rafsanjani blames Khatami for dissident killings

Iran Focus:

Iran’s former president Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani accused Mohammad Khatami’s government of having a hand in the 1998 dissident serial murders. Speaking to a gathering of students north of Tehran, Rafsanjani said, “A crime occurred for which the present government is responsible. They should have answered for it.” READ MORE

Rafsanjani, who also heads Iran’s State Expediency Council, which arbitrates between the watchdog Guardian Council and the Majlis (Parliament), was answering a question about who was responsible for the chain murders. At least 120 politically-motivated killings were carried out in Iran in the 1990s.

Authorities at the time blamed the gruesome murders on "rogue agents" from Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The agents who were allegedly involved in the killings were tried behind closed doors, in what was widely seen as a whitewash by the theocratic regime. The main suspect, Saeed Emani, who was the Deputy Intelligence Minister at the time, was reported to have “committed suicide” in prison.

Once again, Rafsanjani attempts to rehabilitate himself.