Manager of JamTV Network Killed by Gunfire
Various news sources have reported an assassination attempt on Saeed Karimian, CEO of JamTV networks group, and his death as a result of this incident.
One of Mr. Karimian’s relatives confirmed in an interview with Radio Farda website the assassination attempt on Mr. Karimian and his death.
These reports, which have been reflected in media outlets such as Al-Alam television network, belonging to the Iranian government, have referred to this incident as an “assassination” that took place in Istanbul, Turkey, and the perpetrator or perpetrators fired dozens of bullets at Saeed Karimian.
Al-Alam television network stated that Mr. Karimian was assassinated in a shopping center, but some reports suggest he was attacked at his office or while leaving his office.
Reports from Turkish media, including Anadolu News Agency, provide more details about the incident. These reports indicate that one of Saeed Karimian’s partners was also with him at the time of the assassination and was also killed.
Anadolu News Agency writes that the assassination took place on Saturday evening at 21:00 local time, and Saeed Karimian along with his partner, who was a Kuwaiti national, were in their car.
However, it remains unclear who the perpetrator or perpetrators of this assassination were and what motive they had. Istanbul police have begun investigations into the matter.
Mr. Karimian was one of the cultural and media activists outside the country who was tried in absentia at Tehran’s Revolutionary Court last month and was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of “propaganda against the system.”
At that time, the sentence against Mr. Karimian and other cultural and media activists, which included figures such as Googoosh, Nik Ahang Kosar, and Farshte Ghazi, was published as an announcement in Hamayat newspaper, affiliated with Iran’s judiciary.
Meanwhile, media outlets affiliated with Iran’s security institutions, in their reports about Mr. Karimian’s activities, attempted to link him to the People’s Mujahedin Organization.
After the assassination attempt on Mr. Karimian’s life, these media outlets, by publishing a forged image, claimed that Mr. Karimian met with Maryam Rajavi and accused him of television cooperation with this People’s Mujahedin Organization.
The People’s Mujahedin Organization, however, on Sunday in a statement, by publishing the original photo, announced that the media of the Islamic Republic had replaced Mr. Karimian’s photo over an image of a Belgian senator next to Ms. Rajavi.
The organization also attributed this assassination attempt to the agents of the Islamic Republic in its statement.
JamTV networks group includes more than 50 television networks, most of which are in Farsi, and some are also in Kurdish, Turkish, and Arabic languages.
