Man pleads guilty to assassinating Iranian nuclear scientist
A man accused by Iran of carrying out an assassination "sponsored and designed by Israel" has pleaded guilty to the murder of an Iranian "nuclear scientist".
According to Iranian media, Majid Jamali-Fashi, 26, admitted killing Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, a particle physicist who Iran says was involved in the country's nuclear programme,
Jamali-Fashi confessed to having attached a remote-control bomb to a motorcycle parked on the street, which detonated and killed Ali-Mohammadi while he was leaving home for work in January 2010.
But seasoned observers questioned whether it was a show trial intended to cover-up Iran's embarrassment over its failure to protect its nuclear scientists.
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In recent years, Iran's nuclear programme has experienced a series of setback after the assassinations of its scientists and the Stuxnet computer worm, which was designed to sabotage its atomic facilities and halt its uranium-enrichment programme. The malware is believed to have targeted a control system used in Iran's nuclear sites in July last year.
In November, Majid Shahriari, a nuclear scientist, was killed and Fereidoon Abbasi Davani, Iran's current atomic chief, survived assassination in two similar attacks to the one which Ali-Mohammadi died.
In July, an Iranian academic, Darioush Rezaeinejad was shot dead by gunmen riding on motorcycles. He was initially described by state media as a nuclear scientist but officials later denied he was involved in Iran's atomic programme. Rumours spread that at the time that the 35-year-old masters student might have been mistakenly killed instead of a nuclear scientist with a similar name, Darioush Rezaei.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...sination-trial
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