The "chain murders" of the 1990s—a series of assassinations targeting Iranian dissidents and intellectuals—claimed at least 80 lives and stand as a dark chapter in the Islamic Republic's history of extrajudicial killings.
Carried out by the Ministry of Intelligence under President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, these killings sought to silence critics deemed threats to the state, continuing into the presidency of Mohammad Khatami.
In 1999, the Ministry of Intelligence officially—but only partially—admitted responsibility for four of the murders.
Q: Who were the dissidents killed by intelligence ministry agents?
Five individuals whose murders in November and December 1998 drew national and international attention were:
- Majid Sharif: A translator and journalist.
- Dariush Forouhar: Leader of the Pan-Iranist Nation Party of Iran.
- Parvaneh Forouhar (Eskandari): Activist and wife of Dariush Forouhar.
- Mohammad-Jafar Pouyandeh: Member of the banned Iranian Writers Association.
- Mohammad Mokhtari: Member of the banned Iranian Writers Association.
The Ministry officially acknowledged responsibility for the killings of Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar, Mohammad Mokhtari, and Mohammad-Ja’far Pouyandeh, but denied involvement in other cases, including Pirouz Davani’s death.
Q. How were the victims killed and where were their bodies found?
Majid Sharif’s body was found on the side of a road in Tehran on November 19, 1998, six days after he disappeared. Authorities claimed heart failure as the official cause of his death.
Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar were stabbed to death in their Tehran home on November 22. Both sustained multiple stab wounds, suggesting the attack was both deliberate and exceptionally violent.
Mokhtari’s body was discovered on December 3 near a cement factory on a road south of Tehran, several days after he went missing.
Pouyandeh’s body was found in a field in Shahriyar, also south of Tehran, on December 8, a day after he left his office in the capital to return home.
Both bodies showed signs of strangulation, though the authorities never officially confirmed the cause of death.
Q: Were the killings limited to those in November and December 1998?
No. At the time, political groups and media outlets suspected the intelligence ministry of involvement in numerous other assassinations, often disguised as overdoses, car accidents, or unexplained stabbings.
The suspected victims of these systematic assassinations were primarily opponents of the Islamic Republic, including dissident politicians, literary figures, and translators. Others reportedly targeted included an Armenian, three Protestant priests, followers of the banned Bahá'í faith, a prominent university professor with no known political affiliations, and civilians allegedly linked to the intelligence ministry’s covert operations.
Q: When did government-linked murders begin and end?
Many believe the "Chain Murders" began with the killing of Dr. Kazem Sami, who served as minister of health in the first post-revolution cabinet in 1979.
Dr. Kazem Sami was stabbed to death in his medical practice in 1988. The individual accused of his murder reportedly died by suicide in prison. Years later, former President Akbar Rafsanjani, in his memoirs, referenced the alleged killer’s death, fueling further questions about the case.
Some activists and advocates argue that the "Chain Murders" never truly ceased, with allegations of systematic killings resurfacing in recent years.
Prominent filmmaker Kioumars Pourahmad, whose body was found without a suicide note in April 2023, and Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, who were fatally stabbed in their Karaj home in October 2023, have been cited as possible victims of a renewed wave of targeted killings.
Q: Who did the authorities blame for the murders?
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his supporters initially blamed “foreign enemies,” including Israel, for the murders of the Forouhars and the two writers.
Public outcry over these particular killings, however, put pressure on the so-called reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami.
At Khatami's insistence, a three-member independent team was established to investigate the killings. The committee ultimately confirmed suspicions of the intelligence ministry’s direct involvement.
On January 4, 1999, the ministry issued an unprecedented statement partially acknowledging responsibility by blaming “rogue” agents for four of the murders and describing the killings as “despicable and abhorrent.”
This limited admission prompted further scrutiny, as the intelligence ministry operates under the authority of Khamenei, raising questions about how such "rogue" actions could occur without his knowledge.
Q: What happened to the “rogue agents”?
Three top officials of the ministry—Saeed Emami, Mostafa Kazemi, and Mehrdad Alikhani—along with several agents, were charged with ordering and carrying out the assassinations.
Emami, widely regarded as the mastermind behind the killings, allegedly died by suicide in prison before his trial.
The remaining defendants were tried in Tehran's military court. Sentences ranged from qisas (death penalty) to life imprisonment, with some receiving as little as two and a half years.
Q: Were the death sentences carried out?
No. Judiciary authorities stated that the victims’ families had waived their Sharia-based right to qisas for the killers. This act of pardon spared the defendants from execution.
Q: Did the revelation of the ministry’s role in the killings affect the minister?
Ghorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, a minister favored by Khamenei, who at the time had not yet fully consolidated his power as Supreme Leader, was forced to resign. He was replaced by the relatively moderate Ali Younesi.
Najafabadi has consistently denied any knowledge of the assassinations. However, some defendants in the case rejected this claim, stating that the "physical elimination" of targets identified by higher authorities was part of their job description.
In his 1999 trial, prominent reformist cleric and politician Abdollah Nouri accused Najafabadi of being aware of the killings.