Iranian Nuclear Physicist Assassinated

Keynez

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Feb 12, 2007
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TEHRAN, Iran - A nuclear physics professor who publicly backed Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the disputed June presidential election was killed Tuesday when a remote-controlled bomb rigged to a motorcycle blew up outside his home.

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State media identified the victim as Masoud Ali Mohammadi, 50, a professor at Tehran University, which has been at the center of recent protests by student opposition supporters. Before the election, pro-reform Web sites published Ali Mohammadi's name among a list of 240 Tehran University teachers who supported Mousavi.

The government blamed the bombing on an armed Iranian opposition group that it said operated under the direction of Israel and the U.S. Iran often accuses both countries of meddling in its affairs – both when it comes to postelection unrest and its nuclear program. Israel's foreign ministry had no comment.

Reflecting the internal tension that grew out of election, hard-line government supporters called at recent street rallies for the execution of opposition leaders.

Iran's nuclear work has also put it under pressure from the United States and its European allies, which suspect Tehran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies that and insists its nuclear work only has peaceful aims, such as energy production.

Ali Mohammadi had just left his house on his way to work when the remote-controlled explosion went off, state TV said. The blast shattered the windows of his home in northern Tehran's Qeytariyeh neighborhood and left the pavement outside smeared with blood and strewn with debris.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as confirming the killing and saying no one has been arrested.
Ali Mohammadi, who wrote several articles on quantum and theoretical physics in scientific journals, was not a well-known figure in Iran.

He was also not an outspoken or visible supporter of Iran's opposition movement during the months of turmoil that have followed the election, though his name did appear on the list of professors who backed Mousavi before the vote. That list was published on several pro-reform Web sites in the weeks leading up to the vote.

Mousavi and his supporters claim he was true winner of the June election but fraud robbed him of his victory. His supporters staged massive street protests in the weeks after the election, which met with a harsh government crackdown.

The semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted a Tehran University official as saying Ali Mohammadi was not involved in any political activity.

"The prominent professor was not a political figure and had no activity in the field of politics," Mehr quoted Ali Moqari, head of the university's science department, as saying.

A spokesman for Iran's atomic agency, Ali Shirzadian, told The Associated Press that Ali Mohammadi had no link with the agency.

"He was not involved in the country's nuclear program," Shirzadian said, adding that the professor was active only in the theoretical field at Tehran University.

Ali Mohammadi was a member of some academic associations focusing on experimental science, and a government news Web site called Borna described Ali Mohammadi as a senior nuclear scientist but gave no other details.

In 1992, he received the first doctorate in nuclear physics to be awarded in Iran, from Tehran's Sharif University of Technology.

Iran's Foreign Ministry accused Israel and the U.S. of involvement, according to the Web site of state TV.

"In initial investigations, there are some indications of vices of the Zionist regime, the U.S. and their mercenaries in Iran in the terrorist incident," ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying in the report.

Mehmanparst, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the killing of nuclear scientists cannot thwart the country's scientific and technological progress.

Iran also directed suspicion at the exiled opposition group the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran. One conservative Iranian Web site close to the ruling establishment said the group carried out the attack under direction of Israeli agents.

The Tabnak site, which carried the report, is closely associated with Mohsen Rezaei, who serves on an advisory body to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Rezaei was the only conservative candidate to challenge hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the election.

The People's Mujahedeen, however, denied any involvement in the killing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/iran-nuclear-physicist-ma_n_419676.html
 
Personally, I think Iran will have a nuclear bomb in about 5 years. This incident has israelis all over it. Sijui mnaonaje?
 
oooh dear God!!! Iran Iran!!! very problematic ka nchi haka!!!
 
Personally, I think Iran will have a nuclear bomb in about 5 years. This incident has israelis all over it. Sijui mnaonaje?

This professor was supporter of the opposition leader, This made him a potential target by the Iranian regime.

There is high likelihood that he was killed by the state to silence him knowing that Israeli will be the firsr to be implicated. However I am not totally ruling out the possibility that Mo-sad might be involved because they also have the motive to do that.
 
Iranian cleric: Opposition leaders should be executed


REUTERS
Last Updated: 4:58 PM, December 29, 2009
Posted: 12:36 PM, December 29, 2009

TEHRAN -- A representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday opposition leaders were “enemies of God” who should be exceuted under the country’s Sharia law, state television reported.

“Those who are behind the current sedition in the country ... are mohareb (enemy of God) and the law is very clear about punishment of a mohareb,” said cleric Abbas Vaez-Tabasi. Under Iran’s Islamic Sharia law the sentence for “mohareb” is execution



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/iranian_cleric_opposition_leaders_8hjrTkmj3ddwyuRr M5LBmN#ixzz0b7QPcpGG
__________________
 
Ndio utaona upumbavu wa kiongozi wa Iran!how comes unawalaumu Jews na Marekani kwa hili tukio,wakati huyu alikuwa anaback opposition?
 
Ni kweli, it could be either one, lakini hiyo article nina wasiwasi nayo kwa sababu imelalia zaidi kumuweka kama opposition wakati the only evidence iliyopo kwamba alikuwa anasupport opposition ni hiyo list ambayo haijawa confirmed usahihi/ukweli wake.

This professor was supporter of the opposition leader, This made him a potential target by the Iranian regime.

There is high likelihood that he was killed by the state to silence him knowing that Israeli will be the firsr to be implicated. However I am not totally ruling out the possibility that Mo-sad might be involved because they also have the motive to do that.
 
wow... hold up a bit jamani!!!

Iran regimen ni tatizo kwa sasa, Yes!!! lakini tukumbuke kwamba hakuna "smart regimens" kama Waisrael hasa kwenye conspiracy etc

if we want to learn about intelligensia vizuri, hii case tuiangalie pande zote mbili, natamani kweli mtu ani-convince kuondoa consiracy theories kabla ya kujump to ahmedinajad, kwani rais wa ian si mjinga kama tunavyodhani aue kijinga hivyo!!!

My gut feelings see USA written all over this guys, possibly for refusing alliance like the other professor who got lost in the US

eniwei anything is possible siku hizi

Walijaribu weee na russia kuhusu kuua vocal opposing forces lakini wapi sasa wamepata new target... better thing about russia ni wayahudi pia, just like the uSA
 
wow... hold up a bit jamani!!!

Iran regimen ni tatizo kwa sasa, Yes!!! lakini tukumbuke kwamba hakuna "smart regimens" kama Waisrael hasa kwenye conspiracy etc

if we want to learn about intelligensia vizuri, hii case tuiangalie pande zote mbili, natamani kweli mtu ani-convince kuondoa consiracy theories kabla ya kujump to ahmedinajad, kwani rais wa ian si mjinga kama tunavyodhani aue kijinga hivyo!!!

My gut feelings see USA written all over this guys, possibly for refusing alliance like the other professor who got lost in the US

eniwei anything is possible siku hizi

Walijaribu weee na russia kuhusu kuua vocal opposing forces lakini wapi sasa wamepata new target... better thing about russia ni wayahudi pia, just like the uSA


That's what I'm saying. Iran has very little to gain by eliminating this guy like this. Kama ni intimidation wangemlock up tu au wangeenda kutarget a well-known figure.
 
That's what I'm saying. Iran has very little to gain by eliminating this guy like this. Kama ni intimidation wangemlock up tu au wangeenda kutarget a well-known figure.

Maybe na tena narudia maybe. kwa majasusi wa kikweli kweli mtu kama huyu ana faida kubwa zaidi akiwa hai kuliko akiwa marhum. acheni kuwaone Mayahudi katika hili. Hawaui kiuoga namna hiyo. Kama wanakuta they don't hide their faces wanakuja in the open. Kumbukeni habari za yule sheikh Yassin
 
Wote tuna-speculate, wanaojua ukweli ni iran, mossad na cia. Israelis and americans wame-master this kind of assassination way before arabs did, na mara nyingi, kama siyo zote, huwa hawa-claim responsibility, kumbuka so far hata hawa-comment (hawakubali au kukataa) kuwepo kwao ndani ya iran.

Kuna scientists wa iran waliotekwa na cia siku za nyuma kwa hiyo hii ni aina tu nyingine ya ku-subotage nyuklia program yao.

Maybe na tena narudia maybe. kwa majasusi wa kikweli kweli mtu kama huyu ana faida kubwa zaidi akiwa hai kuliko akiwa marhum. acheni kuwaone Mayahudi katika hili. Hawaui kiuoga namna hiyo. Kama wanakuta they don't hide their faces wanakuja in the open. Kumbukeni habari za yule sheikh Yassin
 
Nawahisi hao ni Mossad tu! June 1980, Prof Yahia El-Meshad ambaye alikuwa ni Egyptian, lakini akawa tayari kufanya kazi za kutengeneza nuclear bomb Iraq aliuwawa wakati yuko France. Mossad agent alipewa kazi ya kumwambia either afanye kazi kwa maslahi ya Israel ama la akikataa auwawe. Huyu bwana alimfuata Prof chumbani kwake hotelini France, na akampa live kwamba yeye ni muisrael amemfuata ili afanye kazi zenye interest ya Israel. Prof alikataa. Baada ya muda huyu Prof alitoka akaenda kuchukua "mzoga" wake.Alipotoka tu yule dada aliyemuingiza chumbani kwake, jamaa wa mossad wakaingia na kumuua kwa silencer palepale.
Mossad wanaiangalia Iran kwa macho mawili. Inawezekana kabisa huyu scientist alikuwa tishio kwao.
Kuna kitabu kimoja kizuri cha officer wa Mossad aliye defect kwasababu wakubwa wake walimfix kinaitwa By Way of Deception,kimeandikwa na Victor Ostrovsky pamoja Claire Hoy, kinaeleza baadhi ya mambo ya Mossad vizuri.
1980s

June 13, 1980 - Yehia al-Meshad (Yahia El Meshad), Egyptian nuclear
scientist, lecturer at Alexandria University, killed by Mossad agents
in his room at the Méridien Hotel, Paris.[2][3] This took place during
Operation Sphinx, a Mossad attempt to recruit scientists who were
contributing to the development of Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.
July 12, 1980 - Marie-Claude Magal, prostitute, client of Yehia al-
Meshad, pushed under a car in the Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris.[4]
August 21, 1983 - Mamoun Meraish, senior PLO official, shot in his car
by Mossad agents from their motorcycle in Athens.[5]
April 16, 1988 - Abu Jihad, second in command to Yassir Arafat, is
killed by Israeli commandos in Tunis. See Tunis Raid.[1]
 
Wote tuna-speculate, wanaojua ukweli ni iran, mossad na cia. Israelis and americans wame-master this kind of assassination way before arabs did, na mara nyingi, kama siyo zote, huwa hawa-claim responsibility, kumbuka so far hata hawa-comment (hawakubali au kukataa) kuwepo kwao ndani ya iran.

Kuna scientists wa iran waliotekwa na cia siku za nyuma kwa hiyo hii ni aina tu nyingine ya ku-subotage nyuklia program yao.

We can not rule out the likelihood of involvement of CIA or Mosad. It is known they have the motive and desire to sabotage the nuclear prograrmme. Also we can not rule out Iranian regime because they have the motive and means to silence this professor.

Due to nature of relationship between Iran and the west we may never know for sure who is involved because every side will be denying and accusing the other side.
 
Personally, I think Iran will have a nuclear bomb in about 5 years. This incident has israelis all over it. Sijui mnaonaje?

This (see bold) makes me sick, news inaindicate the old chap was in the opposition na some of opposition figures were killed by iranian regime wakati wa maandamano including the wife of one of the prominent opposition figure. Did israel fired guns to these demonstrators?

he had made the enemy of the iranian regime by supporting the oopposition. PERIOD!!!!!!!!

Keynez it is better to read the article and make comments or not comment if you are not sure!!!!
 
This (see bold) makes me sick, news inaindicate the old chap was in the opposition na some of opposition figures were killed by iranian regime wakati wa maandamano including the wife of one of the prominent opposition figure. Did israel fired guns to these demonstrators?

he had made the enemy of the iranian regime by supporting the oopposition. PERIOD!!!!!!!!

Keynez it is better to read the article and make comments or not comment if you are not sure!!!!


Like I said before, that article was written in order to vilify the iranian govt solely based on the so-called 'list of professors supporting the opposition'. Kama utawaacuse iran kwa hili based on other killings I can do the same for israeli and CIA (evidence ipo ya scientists wengine waliopotea au kuwa abducted, utawalaumu wa iran kwa hilo pia?). Nina uhakika iran ina limited supply ya nuclear scientists, sidhani kama wataenda kuwaua hovyo kiasi hiki. I stand behind my earlier statement.

Kuna watu hapa wanawasupport wayahudi na wamarekani kama miungu yao, to hell with that. Ukweli ni ukweli.
 
The aim of this murder is both to eliminate an Iranian nuclear scientist as well as to further incite anger against the Iranian Government.

The Iranian Govt also know that this would have created problems to itself.

Therefore, those who benefit from this murder are the enemies of Iran, namely primarily the US and Israel.

Mossad, as well as the CIA, are always actively seeking to expand their spying roles in all countries, including inside their allies as well.

It is well believed that if Mossad approaches you for your 'cooperation' (to be their agent), if you refuse, it's just a matter of time before you're a dead meat.

An opposition-leaning nuclear scientist in a targeted country like Iran, is an almost a perfect target for CIA/Mossad recruitment. If he refuses, he is dead.

All in all, this murder bears the hallmarks of Mossad/CIA covert operations.
 
Another issue is that in most cases we read news from Western sources, so we read the news from a Western point of view.

This is the reason the Huffington Post stressed that the scientist backed the opposition leader. To the Western countries seeking regime change in Iran, this is the most important point, so as to have a type of reporting that will have a negative impact to the Iranian government.
 
The aim of this murder is both to eliminate an Iranian nuclear scientist as well as to further incite anger against the Iranian Government.

The Iranian Govt also know that this would have created problems to itself.

Therefore, those who benefit from this murder are the enemies of Iran, namely primarily the US and Israel.

Mossad, as well as the CIA, are always actively seeking to expand their spying roles in all countries, including inside their allies as well.

It is well believed that if Mossad approaches you for your 'cooperation' (to be their agent), if you refuse, it's just a matter of time before you're a dead meat.

An opposition-leaning nuclear scientist in a targeted country like Iran, is an almost a perfect target for CIA/Mossad recruitment. If he refuses, he is dead.

All in all, this murder bears the hallmarks of Mossad/CIA covert operations.


Well said. One thing though, that list might have been circulated by the Israelis knowing most of those Professors would find it hard to confirm or discredit its accuracy. The best option for most was to stay quiet, and that's what this scientist, and probably most other ones, did.
 
Another issue is that in most cases we read news from Western sources, so we read the news from a Western point of view.

This is the reason the Huffington Post stressed that the scientist backed the opposition leader. To the Western countries seeking regime change in Iran, this is the most important point, so as to have a type of reporting that will have a negative impact to the Iranian government.


OK, nitasaidia another point of view, a must read kwa watu kama sisi tuliokuwa na position kwamba ni mossad au CIA. Article ya kwanza ilimquote department head wa university akisema huyu scientist hakuwa anajishirikisha na siasa lakini hii article inaeleza mambo tofauti kabisa.

Who murdered Prof. Ali-Mohammadi?

Dr. Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, a professor of physics at the University of Tehran, was assassinated in front of his home in northern Tehran on Tuesday. Reports indicate that a motorcycle parked next to his car held a bomb that was set off by a remote control device. There are, however, other reports suggesting that the motorcycle had been there for the past three days.


39_881022_L600.jpg

State media, including the Islamic Republic News Agency and Fars immediately declared that Professor Ali-Mohammadi was a nuclear physicist and a supporter of Velayat-e Faghih [guardianship of the Islamic jurist, represented by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], and blamed Israel, the United States, and "their lackeys" for orchestrating the assassination. However, friends, colleagues, former and current students quickly refuted the charge, stating that the professor's views had changed fundamentally, and that he was a supporter of the reformists.

Who was Ali-Mohammadi?
Masoud Ali-Mohammadi was born on August 24, 1959. He was admitted to Shiraz University in southern Iran in the fall of 1978 and majored in physics. In 1985, he was admitted to a graduate program in physics at Sharif University of Technology, one of the most prestigious academic institutions in Iran. After receiving his M.S. degree in physics, he was admitted to the doctoral program in physics. In 1992 Sharif University granted its first Ph.D. degree in physics to Dr. Ali-Mohammadi. He then joined the faculty of the University of Tehran as an assistant professor in physics and was eventually promoted to full professor there. He was the deputy chair of the faculty of science for research, a committee member of the Faculty of Sciences, and a member of the academic promotion team of the University of Tehran. Last July, he was one of Iran's two representatives to the Synchrotron Radiation Center for Research and Applied Science in the Middle East in Jordan.

Professor Ali-Mohammadi's general area of research was theoretical and mathematical physics, but his areas of interest were very broad and varied. According to Dr. Hesamoddin Arfaei, his Ph.D. thesis adviser at Sharif University, Professor Ali- Mohammadi's research included particle physics; he taught classical and quantum physics.

Professor Ali-Mohammadi wrote several books and authored 80 scientific papers published in recognized science journals. He also participated in a summer school program in high energy physics at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. For four years he was also a non-resident research fellow at the Institute for Physics and Mathematics in Tehran.

Professor Ali-Mohammadi was a pious Muslim. He supported the Iranian Revolution of 1979. When he was at Shiraz University, he worked with the Muslim Student Association, which at the time was a pro-government student organization. Dr. Ahmad Shirzad, a professor of nuclear physics at Isfahan University and a classmate of Professor Ali-Mohammadi, said that in the 1980s and 1990s he was a moderate Muslim. According to Dr. Shirzad, Professor Ali-Mohammadi was neither a right-wing reactionary in the conservative camp, nor a reformist supporter in that period. At the University of Tehran he had a reputation for being an honest and kind person who never tried to ingratiate himself with the right-wing centers of power.

In the past few years, however, his political views changed. According to several reports, he had said that he voted for the reformists in the elections for the 8th Majles (parliament) in 2008, and he had supported the reformists again in the in fall 2006 elections for Tehran's city council. More recently, he was one of 240 academics who signed a declaration of support for Mir Hossein Mousavi before the June 12 election.

A former student of his said that on June 15 (when the huge demonstrations against the rigged presidential election of June 12 broke out) he was at the gathering of the members of the Muslim Student Association of the Faculty of Sciences. At that time, someone from Mousavi's headquarters had called to caution them that security forces had orders to shoot demonstrators, if necessary. He said that Professor Ali-Mohammadi told him, "Young man, do not be scared. We must resist them [the hardliners]. A bullet hurts only at the beginning." According to this student, Professor Ali-Mohammadi then arranged for a bus to take him and many of his students to the demonstrations.

According to a statement that was issued by a group of physics students at the University of Tehran, Professor Ali-Mohammadi was one of the leading academics who stormed the University Chancellor's office to demand an investigation into the June 15 attack on the university when several students were murdered and many more were injured.

Several other students have stated that Professor Ali-Mohammadi had organized debates on the national crisis at the University of Tehran. He had apparently told his students that "they" [the hardliners] had ordered him to put an end to such activities, but that he was going to press on despite their demands. The last of such debates had occurred on January 5, in which he had urged students to come up with a scientific and practical solution to the Iranian crisis. All of his speeches have reportedly been recorded and can be used as evidence to refute the hardliner's propaganda that he was one of them.

A source in Tehran told the author that Professor Ali-Mohammadi had worked with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on several projects in the past. This source said that given Professor Ali-Mohammadi's extensive knowledge of the IRGC's activities and his recent new-found support for the reformists and Mousavi would have made him a potential target for the IRGC.

Rah-e Sabz, the pro-Green Movement Web site, reported that Professor Ali-Mohammadi had participated in several defense projects, as well as projects linked with Iran's nuclear program, and apparently had extensive information about Iran's military and nuclear program.

Who benefits?
The hardliners have accused Israel, the U.S., and an obscure monarchist group for the assassination. The monarchist group rejected the accusation. In fact, it's highly unlikely that any opposition group carried out his murder. The hardliners may have hoped to distract people by claiming that the assassination was the work of the "enemy," therefore shifting their attention away from the more colossal problems facing the country.

There is also precedence for the assassination of leading figures in Iran's nuclear program and missile industry. In July 2001, Col. Ali Mahmoudi Mimand, known as the father of Iran's missile program, was found dead in his office; he had been shot in the head. Dr. Ardeshir Hassanpour, a prominent and award-winning figure in Iran's nuclear program, was murdered on January 15, 2007. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel's Mossad had murdered Dr. Hassanpour.

In fact, Professor Ali-Mohammadi went to Jordan last summer as Iran's representative to the Synchrotron Radiation Center, an atomic research center undoubtedly on the Israeli's radar. Unlike Ali-Mohammadi however, the other two who were assassinated were leading Iran's efforts in important areas. But Professor Ali- Mohammadi was apparently not involved with Iran's nuclear program at all. His research was in the general area of particle physics, which is of a fundamental, rather than practical nature. He was also not affiliated with the IRGC-controlled universities, namely Malek-e Ashtar and Emam Hossein universities. Ali Shirzadian, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, denied that Professor Ali-Mohammadi was under contract there.

In addition, engineers are leading Iran's nuclear program, not nuclear physicists. It is the engineers and materials scientists who improve the design centrifuges for Iran's uranium enrichment program. It is also the engineers who design the underground enrichment centers.

Because it is likely that Professor Ali-Mohammadi was well informed about many IRGC projects, and a prominent academic supporter of the reformists and the Green Movement, his murder would send a message to others, particularly academics. If the hardliners were behind the murder, it would be a signal that they have started a campaign of assassination to silence the opposition.

Another characteristic of the hardliners is that they never forgive anyone who deserts them and joins the opposition. The deserters are usually dealt with much more harshly than bona fide members of the opposition. This only adds to the suspicion that the hardliners may have had something to do with Professor Ali-Mohammadi's murder.

There is one unusual aspect about the assassination. Almost all the political assassinations in Iran over the past two decades have been carried out by one of two methods. In one, the assassin directly shoots at the victim. Examples include Dr. Saeed Hajjarian, the leading reformist strategist who was the target of an assassination attempt in March 2000; Lieutenant General Ali Sayyad Shirazi, deputy chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, who was assassinated in 1999; and Habibollah Ladjevardi, known as the "butcher of Evin" [Tehran's notorious prison], who was killed in September 1998. In the second method, the victim is kidnapped and killed secretly. Well-known examples of the latter include some of the victims of the infamous Chain Murders of the fall of 1998.

In Professor Ali-Mohammadi's case, the method was more similar to assassinations in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, or Afghanistan. That complicates the case; but then again, it may have been a deliberate tactic used to make it easier to point the finger elsewhere.

If the assassination signals a new campaign by the hardliners, Iran may be moving toward becoming a second Pakistan, where the military and intelligence services eliminate the opposition with impunity and make the country even more unstable than it already is.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/01/who-murdered-prof-ali-mohammadi.html
 
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