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A well-respected tribal leader, whose son produces in Washingtonthe Voice of America's Farsi-language television broadcasts intoIran, was murdered last month by unknown assailants, who broke intohis house, tied him up, and staged a burglary.
The family learned of the murder on Oct. 22, several days after itoccurred.
80-year old Mohammad Reza Baharlou was in his home in Shiraz witha cleaning woman, who apparently let the burglars in the front door,on the day he was killed. "This happened in broad daylight, at 11AM," said Ahmad Reza Baharlou, a Voice of America televisionproducer. "Those who murdered him had inside information, and knewhow to get into the house. My father never suspected a thing."
The elder Baharlou was a sportsman and was in such good shape "wecouldn't keep up with him," his son said. "It's hard to imagineanyone wanting to kill him, he was so well-liked. I just can't seethe motivation."
The Baharlou tribe is based in the city of Darab, some three hoursoutside of Shiraz. On hearing of the tribal leader's death, the wholecity of Darab went into mourning, family members told the youngerBaharlou.
Opposition leader Manoucher Ganji, who heads the Flag of FreedomOrganization which ran opposition broadcasts into Iran for more than10 years, called the murder an act of intimidation by the regime."This was a political assassination," Ganji said. "It was a cleareffort to intimidate Mr. Baharlou, who has interviewed the son ofGeneral Rezai on his television program." Ahmad Rezai, the formerPasdaran commander's 22-year old son, defected to the United Statesearlier this year, but recently has disappeared (see separate storybelow).
Baharlou said he was less convinced that his father's murder was apolitical act. "I cannot believe this. I've been doing the show fortwo years. They knew they could not pressure my father in this way.Our family is too influential. In our part of the world, theywouldn't dare to do this. I hope there is no connection."
Asked if he felt intimidated by the murder, Baharlou said no. "Iwill do my show tomorrow," he said. "I knew he wanted me to do it,and I will do it."