Iran reformer names ex-minister as key to 'serial murders'

Ganji is seen at the Tehran Revolutionary Court in Tehran on Thursday

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Reformist editor Akbar Ganji Thursday accused Iran's former intelligence minister of being behind the 1998 "serial murders" of dissidents.

Ganji, on trial in a Revolutionary Court for threatening state security, told the judge he was prepared to give detailed information on the series of murders that shocked the nation in late 1998.

"(Former Intelligence Minister) Ali Fallahian is the key to the serial murders," Ganji said.

"He has issued the sentence for many of those murdered. If you like, I can prove my claims right now." However, Ganji did not elaborate.

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Fallahian was not available for comment, but in February he told Reuters the case was a press invention. He also said the killings occurred well after he had left office.

Ganji also accused Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Tehran's deputy justice chief, of ordering the death of leftist dissident Pirouz Davani.

"Mr. Mohseni Ejei, as a judge, issued the sentence to murder Pirouz Davani," he said. Again, Ganji provided no evidence, but said he was prepared to do so. Ejei was also unavailable for comment.

In accusing the two men -- both mid-ranking Shi'ite Muslim clerics -- Ganji went further than he had in best-selling books on the so-called serial murders.

The case has propelled Ganji, a former ideologist for the elite Revolutionary Guards, into the forefront of Iran's reform movement, although some of his colleagues accuse him of going too far.

He is also facing charges in the Press Court connected to his newspaper reporting .

Ganji smiles to his friends after the morning session of his trial

Earlier Thursday, Ganji denied that his participation in a conference with Germany's environmentalist Greens party had threatened Iran's national security.

He was imprisoned in April after attending a conference in Berlin on the future of Iran's reform movement.

"I deny all the allegations in the indictment. They have nothing to do with me," Ganji said.

He was charged along with some 17 others with acting against state security, spreading propaganda against the Islamic system and insulting religious sanctities.

Exiled opposition groups had disrupted the seminar in a bid to embarrass the reform movement back home, which they accuse of being an accomplice of the government.

Hardliners in Iran jumped on the ensuing scandal, replaying tapes of the affair on state television and accusing reformers of collaborating with the "enemy."

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