Iran's Ahmadinejad Accused in Kurd Death; Austria Investigates

Austrian authorities are trying to
determine the accuracy of allegations that Iran's president-
elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had a role in the 1989 assassination
of an Iranian Kurdish leader in Vienna, Austria's Justice
Ministry said today.
Austrian Green Party politician Peter Pilz said an Iranian
journalist living in France told him Ahmadinejad was connected to
the killing of Adbel Aahmane Ghassemlou, Der Standard reported on
July 2 without identifying the journalist. Pilz told the Vienna-
based daily the journalist gave him details about who killed the
Kurdish leader and how the operation was planned.
``We have to verify whether the information this person has
is correct,'' Justice Ministry spokesman Christoph Poechinger
said in a telephone interview in Vienna. Poechinger said Austrian
authorities are trying to locate the journalist.
Austria's ambassador to Iran, Michael Stigglebauer, was
summoned to the Iranian Interior Ministry yesterday, the Foreign
Ministry in Vienna said today in a statement. Iran's government
said the accusation about Ahmadinejad is false, and that
officials would deliver a message of protest to the envoy, the
state-run Islamic Republic News Agency in Tehran reported today.
``Now the Iranian president has something to clear up before
a court in Vienna,'' Pilz, a specialist in security issues, said
on his Web site. Pilz said he doesn't expect Ahmadinejad to come
to Vienna to respond to the allegations.
It is the second time since winning a runoff election on
June 24 that Ahmadinejad, the former mayor of Tehran, has drawn
international attention over allegations of misdeeds.
Some former U.S. hostages, held in Tehran for 444 days after
the Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, say the president-elect
was one of their kidnappers. Ahmadinejad has denied the
allegations. His swearing-in has been scheduled for Aug. 4.