Ebrahim Zalzadeh (c. 1948 – February 22, 1997) was a dissident

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

author and editor who was murdered in 1997 in what is thought to have been one of the " chain murders" of dissidents by "rogue elements" in Iran's intelligence ministry.

Background

Zalzadeh was editor of the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian literary monthly ''Mayar'' (also spelled ''Me'yer''), a publication that frequently criticized Iranian government

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

practices against the media, and was forced to close by the authorities in 1995. Zalzadeh oversaw the publishing companies of Bamdad ("Dawn") and Ebtekar ("Initiative"). "Dictatorship will not continue," Ebrahim Zalzadeh wrote in his final editorial to the supreme leader of the Iranian regime, Ayatollah

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ( fa, اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, born Akbar Hashemi Bahramani, 25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islami ...

and he is remembered for that. Iran's formidable intelligence agencies banned Me'yar after the critical editorial and later kidnapped and executed Ebrahim Zalzadeh. Zalzadeh disappeared on February 22, 1997, and was identified in a

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

morgue on March 29.CPJ Journalists Killed in 1997: Ebrahim Zalzadeh, Mayar, February 22, 1997, Tehran
/ref> According to the coroner's report, his body was discovered half-buried and with multiple stab wounds in the chest, on or about February 24 by a road in the outskirts of Tehran. He was in a Tehran morgue on March 29,
/ref> 35 days after he had been reported missing. "Zalzadeh was one of several Iranian writers and publishers who had volunteered to share the punishment of magazine editor

Abbas Maroufi Abbas Maroufi ( fa, عباس معروفی, 17 May 1957 – 1 September 2022) was an Iranian novelist and journalist. His most famous novel is ''Symphony of the Dead''. Born, raised and educated in Tehran, Abbas Maroufi studied dramatic arts at Te ...

, who was sentenced in January 1996 to six months in prison and 35 lashes for criticizing the government."

Sources

Freedom Forum Jourists Memorial EBRAHIM ZALZADEH

References

External links

Ebrahim Zalzadeh's death report at Amnesty International

Ebrahim Zalzadeh at International Press Institute
1990s missing person cases 1997 deaths Assassinated editors Burials at artist's block of Behesht-e Zahra Deaths by stabbing Formerly missing people Iranian editors Iranian murder victims Iranian writers Male murder victims Missing person cases in Iran People murdered in Iran Persian-language writers Unsolved murders in Iran Year of birth uncertain {{Iran-writer-stub

Background

See also

Sources

References

External links