An international human rights group is alleging that Iran's new interior minister has been involved in grave human rights violations over the past two decades, including the massacre of thousands of political prisoners.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch made the allegation Thursday in a briefing paper titled "Ministers of Murder: Iran's New Security Cabinet." It also called for an investigation of Iran's new information minister for possible involvement in the killing of a dissident.
Human Rights Watch details what it calls credible allegations that Interior Minister Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi served on a three-person committee that sentenced thousands of political prisoners to death in 1988. It also implicates him in the killings of dozens of opposition figures in foreign countries in the 1990s.
The rights group also quotes pro-reform activists who link Minister of Information Gholamhussein Mohsein Ezhei to the killing of a political activist Pirouz Davani in 1998.
There has been no official comment from Iran.