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Ex-Iranian Agent: Photo Not Ahmadinejad
Las Vegas Sun ^ | July 02, 2005 at 10:52:25 PDT | ALI AKBAR DAREINI ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted on 07/02/2005 10:58:46 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -

A top Iranian former secret agent said Saturday that the hostage-taker in a 1979 photograph that has come under intense scrutiny is not President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but a former militant who committed suicide in jail.

Saeed Hajjarian, a top adviser to outgoing President Mohammad Khatami, identified the man in the photo dating to the 1979 U.S. Embassy siege as Taqi Mohammadi.

Iran's newly elected president has been accused of being a main participant in the taking of American hostages at the embassy. Six former U.S. hostages who saw the president-elect in photos or on television said they believe Ahmadinejad was among the hostage-takers. One said he was interrogated by Ahmadinejad.

The White House said it was taking their statements seriously. President Bush said "many questions" were raised by the allegations.

International media have compared photos of Ahmadinejad, who won a presidential runoff election last week, with a black-and-white picture of one of the hostage-takers, a young man with a thin, bearded face and dark hair that sweeps down across his forehead.

But Hajjarian told The Associated Press they were not the same person.

"This man is Taqi Mohammadi, a militant who later turned into a dissident and committed suicide in jail," he said, pointing to the 1979 photo.

He said Mohammadi was a militant who joined students in the embassy takeover. Mohammadi was later arrested on charges of involvement in the 1981 bombing in Tehran that killed the country's president and prime minister, and committed suicide in prison, Hajjarian said.

Hajjarian's comment follows statements by a number of the former Iranian students who carried out the U.S. Embassy seizure and held Americans hostage for 444 days that Ahmadinejad had no role in events.

Hajjarian, considered the brains behind Khatami's democratic reforms program, is a former top official in the Intelligence Ministry, or the secret service. Both supporters and opponents describe him as the "walking memory" of Iran's recent history because of his access to classified information and secrets within Iran's ruling Islamic establishment.

Hajjarian is one of many reformers who is at loggerheads with the hard-line Ahmadinejad.

He was shot by a hard-line vigilante in 2000 and is paralyzed and cannot speak fluently.

--


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ahmadinejad; iran; iranianpresiran; jimmycarter; mahmoudahmadinejad; mullahloversonfr; tehran; usembassy
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

It's quite possible, that they want to muddy the waters, create confustion, and then dismiss the whole thing, with "to the Westerners all Iranians look the same", therefore none of it is true.


41 posted on 07/02/2005 12:56:56 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I also saw an interview with Rob Sobhani. He was very good and his analysis was right on.


42 posted on 07/02/2005 2:05:35 PM PDT by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; nuconvert; DoctorZIn; F14 Pilot; All

http://rescueattempt.tripod.com/id28.html

There is a 3rd suspect not previously mentioned...


43 posted on 07/02/2005 2:47:46 PM PDT by RaceBannon ((Prov 28:1 KJV) The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

If this really is him, and it really resembles him a great deal, then he's got a butt kickin' coming to him from a long time ago.


44 posted on 07/02/2005 3:37:31 PM PDT by LoudRepublicangirl (loudrepublicangirl)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Oh dear. When I looked at the orignal photo (as in post #5) I was convinced everyone was talking about the guy holding the hostages arm - I could easily have bought he was the new president. However - the pictures (such as in #8 that suggest it is the guy next to the guy I thought everyone was taling about make me nervous. I never gave this guy a second look when I first saw the photo..... it seems to underline to me that as someone from a non persion culture - ALL THESE PERSION/IRANIAN folk look the same to my untrained aye! On the back of that bit of insight I'm going to stop making these claims to everyone and wait for the CIA or whoever to release something definitive!


45 posted on 07/02/2005 5:24:23 PM PDT by Brit_Guy
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To: wyattearp; Ernest_at_the_Beach
Big noses of the same person will look different on the same day depending on camera angle. Look at photos of Tom Cruise and his nose in different angles on the same movie set. He appears to have different noses depending on the side and camera angle. If one focuses on the nose, it will often appear to be different in photos taken on the same day of the same person. The chins in these pictures have too much beard to make a comparison.

What doesn't change is the fold/crease between the upper check and the nose.

Look at that crease/fold between the upper cheek and nose on all of the photos of the top row. The crease/fold appears to be same in the old pictures and the new pictures, from it starts from the nose, length of the crease and position on the face.

Last but not least is the style and grooming of the man 25 years ago is similiar to the man todya. The older photos show a man who had his hair professionally done versus the normal scraggy look of that area from 25 years ago to today. He is dressed in a nice sportcoat in many photos, and he wears a turtle neck which is coordinated. That was not very typical of the average university jihadist when our embassy people were held captive.

If the photos are not the same man over time, then the earlier photos are possibly photos of a cousin or brother. Remember how, so many of Saddam's cousins and brothers looked alike with similiar features. They came from the same city, Tikrit.

46 posted on 07/02/2005 5:25:09 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (The MSM has been a WMD, Weapon of Mass Disinformation for the Rats for at least 5 decades.)
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To: Political Junkie Too

"Especially note the high cheekbone lines that run from the center of the nose down around his mouth."

This to me is the same distinguishing feature from the early photos to the currrent ones. I discussed and posted a collage that shows this same feature over the years on reply # 46.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1435369/posts?page=46#46


47 posted on 07/02/2005 5:30:49 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (The MSM has been a WMD, Weapon of Mass Disinformation for the Rats for at least 5 decades.)
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To: Grampa Dave
I discussed and posted a collage that shows this same feature over the years on reply # 46.

I don't know if the similarities in grooming is due to being from the same city or if everyone groomed like Saddam to honor him and avoid being killed.

In this guy's case, I think you're right about the skin folds on the face. Grooming can be changed over time, just ask Scott Peterson.

-PJ

48 posted on 07/02/2005 6:55:57 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (It's still not safe to vote Democrat.)
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To: Political Junkie Too

"I think you're right about the skin folds on the face. Grooming can be changed over time, just ask Scott Peterson."

My point here re the grooming was that he was well groomed as a college student versus his Jihadist buddies and that has continued to today.

Our lunch guests yesterday were assigned to our Iranian Embassy in the early 1960's. We discussed this situation and the grooming. They said his hair style and clothing was rare for the Arabs in Iran, except those who came from wealthy families. His grooming was very normal for the educated and middle to upper income Persians living in Iran.

This couple predicted the Jihadist takeover in Iran in the mid 1960's. That was based on their observation of the Muslim families raising their young boys to hate everyone but other believers. I showed them the collage hoping that they might recognize someone, and they didn't. However, they both agree that his hair style and dress style as noted above was very atypical of the Arabic men in Iran.

The grooming choices and the skin folds as you noted above indicate that we are talking about the same guy in these pictures.


49 posted on 07/03/2005 7:46:31 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (The MSM has been a WMD, Weapon of Mass Disinformation for the Rats for at least 5 decades.)
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To: ASA Vet
Below are pictures of cousins to the new ruler of Iran.

Please notice the continuity of resemblance in the photos below:


50 posted on 07/03/2005 1:45:55 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (The MSM has been a WMD, Weapon of Mass Disinformation for the Rats for at least 5 decades.)
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