The final three defendants to take the stand in the trial of 18 men charged with the 1998 murders of Iranian dissidents pleaded guilty to some of the killings Sunday, state radio said.
All those accused of having a role in the assassinations, which were blamed on "rogue" intelligence agents, have now been heard by the Tehran military court trying the case. Only two of the 18 pleaded innocent.
The radio said the three told the closed-door hearing that they were involved in the assassinations of outspoken writers Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh and Mohammad-Ali Mokhtari.
Ali Nazeri and Khosro Barati confessed in both cases, while Asgar Sayah pleaded guilty only to being implicated in the death of Pouyandeh.
The three denied any role in the deaths of nationalist leader Darisuh Foruhar and his wife. The court will hold its next session in the case on Tuesday, the radio said.
Two pro-reform journalists, both of whom have since been jailed, have alleged that more senior figures were responsible for the killings.
Authorities in January 1999 announced that a network of "rogue" secret agents had carried out the murders but had done so without the knowledge of their superiors in the intelligence ministry.
The intelligence agent named as the mastermind behind the killings, Said Emami, was reported to have committed suicide in prison by drinking a bottle of hair remover -- TEHRAN (AFP)
