Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Elder of ZiyonMajid Jamali Fashi, 24, was convicted of killing Professor Massoud Ali Mohammadi by detonating a bomb outside his home in January 2010.Al Arabiya adds that he was convicted of Moharebeh (waging war against God) and notes "Western analysts said Ali-Mohammadi, a 50-year-old Tehran University professor, had little, if any, role in Iran’s sensitive nuclear program. A spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said at the time he was not involved in its activities."
Fashi was also accused of being a spy for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and receiving $120,000 (£72,000) for the killing.
Israel does not comment on such claims.
"Majid Jamali Fashi, the Mossad spy and the person who assassinated Masoud Ali Mohammadi, our nation's nuclear scientist was hanged on Tuesday morning," Iran's Irna news agency reported.
Professor Massoud Ali Mohammadi was a particle physics professor at Tehran University. He is one of several high-profile nuclear scientists to have been killed in Tehran in recent years.
Iran has repeatedly accused Israel and the US of trying to harm its nuclear programme.
Fashi, who was tried and convicted in August 2011, appeared on Iranian TV in January confessing to the professor's killing, and giving details of the intelligence gathering operation he said he was involved in.
Opposition sources in Iran have accused the government of killing Professor Mohammadi because he was one of their supporters.
The Mossad may have been involved in the assassination, but it is far from certain that Fashi had anything to do with it.
Sounds like an Iranian hit job where they got the opportunity to kill 2 people they wanted to get rid of.
(h/t John W.)
