HAJJARIAN FRIENDS EXPRESS FEAR FOR HIS LIFE IN HOSPITAL
By Safa Haeri
PARIS 30TH March (IPS) Friends and family members of Mr. Sa'id Hajjarian, the outspoken publisher of the "Sobhe Emrouz" reformist daily expressed their fears that forces that tried to assassinate him may do it in hospital.
A source close to Mr. Hajjarian, a friend and political adviser to President Mohammad Khatami who survived an assassination attempt of 12th March told Iran Press Service in Tehran that their fear has increased after a middle rank officer of the Pasdaran was admitted in a room next to that of Mr. Hajjarian.
"There are a lot of visitors coming to visit this patient and we don't know if he is genuinely ill or it is a ploy to kill Sa'id here in the hospital after they missed him on their first attempt" the source said on anonymity condition.
"Regardless of the fact that we mount a 24 hours guard, it is easy to cut his respiratory tubes or giving him a lethal injection", he added anxiously.
Pointing to the shortage of some special drugs as well as lack of advanced equipment in Iranian hospitals, some doctors from the medical team that attend Mr. Hajjarian have strongly suggested that he be transported to a western European country, preferably Germany.
According to the source, groups of people, guild associations and various bodies have contacted Sina hospital, the Tehran City Council (TCC) and members of Mr. Hajjarian's family expressing readiness to finance all his medical expenses if transferred outside Iran.
Mr.Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabataba'i, the Head of the Plan and Budget Commission of Tehran City Council (TCC) has told the official news agency IRNA that upon the agreement of the medical team treating Mr. Hajjarian as well as the consent of his family, he would be sent to Germany for further medical treatment.
However, since the medical team believes there is no shortage in terms of specialists and equipment required for treatment of the patient, the issue of his transfer to Germany, raised in talks with the medical team, is out of question for the time being, IRNA quoted Mr. Tabataba'i.
Mr. Hajjarian's son Mohsen has told IRNA that doctors overseeing his father await a dropping of his fever so that he may safely be taken to Germany for further medical care.
He also said that a final decision by doctors would be pending on pulling through his present fever, adding that there had been no special complications after the Sunday night operation to remedy his abdominal adhesion", IRNA reported.
Reports about the exact conditions of Mr. Hajjarian are more or less contradictory, as doctors treating Mr. Hajjarian saiy the patient's vital signs including blood pressure, pulse and respiration, are satisfactory and his health is better than Tuesday.
According to the latest reports, Mr. Hjjarian's kidney function is natural and he suffers minor fever, which is under control through suitable measures.
Mr. Hajjarian, a former high ranking official at the Intelligence Ministry turned moderate and staunch supporter of President Khatami and reformists was shot at close range as he was entering the TCC, where he is the number 2 man.
Ten persons, including the main suspect and the driver of a powerful motorcycle that served the killer to escape, have been arrested in connection with the attempt.
Authorities pretend that the alleged suspect, identified as Sa'id Asgar is a fanatic religious who has acted on his own, assisted by four other people, some of them unemployed, with one of them working as an ordinary guard at a unit of the Revolutionary Guards based in Shahre Rey, near Tehran.
But investigations carried by journalists had revealed that the terrorists belongs to the Intelligence Department of the Pasdaran
In order to stop journalists to continue investigations, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i who, in his capacity as the leader of the Islamic Republic, is also the Supreme Commander of the Pasdaran, has ordered a total black out on news concerning the assassination attempt against Mr. Hajjarian that do not come from officials in charge of investigating the case.
Following his orders, conservatives have escalated intimidation against journalists and politicians denouncing the role played by both some factions inside the Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) and orthodox clergymen in the attempted assassination of Mr. Sa'id Hajjarian.
Emamoddin Baqi, Mohammad Qouchani and Akbar Ganji, all three nationally and internationally acclaimed investigative journalists who played an instrumental role in identifying the murderers of five prominent intellectuals and politicians assassinated savagely in November 1998, forcing the authorities to admit that the killers were senior officials of the Intelligence Ministry have been questioned by the Islamic Revolution Court of Tehran and summoned by the Special Press Tribunal, a Kangaroo Court presided over by a leader's appointee.
All three journalists have received threats of their lives by unidentified callers.
Judge Sa'id Mortazavi of the Press Tribunal who has ordered the shutting of several reformist publications has also summoned Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the younger brother of the President who is the leader of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and Publisher of "Mosharekat" daily, the organ of the IIPF.
The IIPF swept the majority of the 290 seats of the next Majles in the recent parliamentary elections, a landslide victory that observers and analysts says was obtained thanks to the strategy devised by Mr. Hajjarian.
Like other journalists, the younger Khatami has rejected as "unacceptable" and "childish" explanation offered by the Intelligence Minister, Hojatoleslam Ali Yunesi concerning the motivation of the gang that tried to kill Mr. Hajjarian.
According to Mr. Yunesi, the band had acted on itself, without any attachment and connection to any political or military organisation.
But Mr. Baqi says at least three of the suspects belong to the Intelligence Department of the Pasdaran in charge of president's security.
Ridiculing this explanation, the Organisation of Islamic Revolution's Mujahedeen, a leftist group that supports Mr. Khatami said Thursday in a statement that the attempt was not the work of some young zealots but that of an ideologically motivated, Mafia- type group.
For his part, Mr. Ganji has openly called for the resignation of Mr. Yunesi, saying that explanations he has offered the public are not only "unacceptable, but inexcusable, since totally illogical".
Meanwhile, in a meeting Wednesday with President Khatami, Pasdaran Commander General Yahya Rahim-Safavi and other high ranking officers of the force have pledged "loyalty" to the President, assuring him of the Guards "total readiness to assist the Government in every aspect".
For his part, Mr. Khatami has expressed "satisfaction" of the Pasdaran's activities, including their close co-operation with the Intelligence Ministry and the security forces in the identification and arrest of Mr. Hajjarian's suspected murderers as well as the role played by the Guard in safeguarding the regime's fundaments. ENDS HAJJARIAN 30300