Chain murders of Iran

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The chain murders of Iran (Persian: قتل‌های زنجیره‌ای ایران) were a series of 1988–98 murders and disappearances of certain Iranian dissident intellectuals who had been critical of the Islamic Republic system. The murders and disappearances were carried out by Iranian government internal operatives. They were referred to as "chain murders" because they appeared to be linked to each other. The victims included more than 80 writers, translators, poets, political activists, and ordinary citizens. They were killed by a variety of means such as car crashes, stabbings, shootings in staged robberies, and injections with potassium to simulate a heart attack. The pattern of murders did not come to light until late 1998 when Dariush Forouhar, his wife Parvaneh Eskandari Forouhar, and three dissident writers were murdered over a span of two months. After the murders were publicized, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei denied the government was responsible, and blamed "Iran's enemies". In mid-1999, after...

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