Post date: Aug 23, 2011 3:50:51 PM
Iranian Majid Jamali Fashi pleads guilty to the murder of nuclear scientist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi in an assasination the government blames on Israel and the U.S. Lindsey Parietti reports.
IRAN-SCIENTIST TRIAL - An Iranian man pleads guilty to murdering a nuclear scientist in 2010 with a motorcycle bomb.
Prosecutors say Israel paid Majid Jamali Fashi to assassinate Massoud Ali-Mohammadi in an effort to stop Tehran's development of nuclear technology.
But opposition reports that the physicist was an opposition supporter suggest other possible motives.
Fashi could face the death penalty.
DEFENDANT MAJID JAMALI FASH, SAYING:
"I came to know who he was the day after, through the news media and I got completely confused mentally and just then I found out what a big mistake I had made."
The attack was one of several on scientists, and Ali-Mohammadi's wife said she hoped all the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
Iran also accused the US of sponsoring the attacks.
Western analysts, however, say Ali-Mohammadi had little role in the country's nuclear program.
Lindsey Parietti, Reuters