An American fugitive, accused of murdering an aide to the late Shah of Iran in the United States, was made an editor of Iran’s English-language television network in Tehran, a report in the Times newspaper has revealed. Hassan Abdulrahman, who is wanted by the FBI for shooting dead Ali Akbar Tabatabai in Maryland, worked for Iran’s flagship broadcaster Press TV.
A Press TV journalist who resigned in protest over the channel’s coverage of the apparently rigged Iranian election in June told the Times Thursday that Abdulrahman was chief editor at the head office of the network. The journalist, who wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons, said that Mr Abdulrahman showed no remorse when quizzed by staff about murdering Tabatabai.
Some excerpts: [Link]
Abdulrahman, 58, admitted killing Tabatabai but tried to distance himself from Press TV when contacted by the newspaper. He admitted working for Press TV for three years as the chief online editor but said that he resigned two months ago after the election. He refused to reveal when he resigned and for what reasons, saying: “I’m living in a situation right now that’s a little bit difficult.”
Abdulrahman was as frank about his opinion of Press TV’s quality of journalism as he was about killing Tabatabai, a former press attaché at the Iranian Embassy in Washington. “No, I don’t think Press TV is about [real journalism]. By its nature, state journalism is not journalism. They have some programmes on there that might be, but generally it’s not,” he said.
Almost three decades after shooting Tabatabai three times in the stomach at his Maryland home on July 22, 1980, Mr Abdulrahman said that he felt no remorse. “I don’t regret that, no,” he said.
The FBI said last night that it was still pursuing Mr Abdulrahman for the murder. “He is still wanted by us and we still have the investigation going on him,” a spokesman said. “He is wanted for murder. The FBI wants him for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. The murder itself is a state violation that would be dealt in Baltimore, where the murder took place.”
Mr Abdulrahman — born David Theodore Belfield to African-American parents before converting to Islam in 1969 and changing his name initially to Dawud Salahuddin — became furious at the suggestion that he was lauded by the Iranian regime for the killing. “What’s great work about killing a man? It’s pretty easy in the modern age. You think it’s great that the Americans have killed a million people in Iraq? Or that they are getting killed every day and killing hundreds of people in Afghanistan and they’re gonna have their arses chewed up in the end and so are the British. What the f*** is great about that?”
