Dark House of Ghosts

For the past year, Saeed Hajjarian's newspaper has boldly published reports about secret death squads. His daily, Sobh-e Emrouz (Today's Morning), coined the spine-tingling term Dark House of Ghosts to describe the powers deep inside Iran's regime who have reputedly ordered the killing of dozens of writers, intellectuals and other perceived internal threats. But it was no apparition last week when a short man with a leather jacket, blond beard and silencer-equipped pistol dismounted a red motorcycle outside city hall. He strode up to Hajjarian on the pavement, called out his name and, arm shaking, fired a bullet into Hajjarian's head. The shooting left Iranians stunned, almost as if the gun had been pointed at reformist President Mohammed Khatami. In effect, it was. One of Khatami's closest confidants, Hajjarian, 47, has been a main architect of the President's effort to transform the authoritarian Islamic republic into a tolerant democracy. Since Khatami's upset election in 1997, hard-liners have fought his reforms in the parliament and the courts. But the attempt to murder a presidential adviser, the key strategist behind the landslide reformist victory in last month's parliamentary election, was a warning from the militants: we won't give up power without a fight. "If this fascist behavior continues," says Ahmed Bourghani, another reform strategist, "no one will be able to govern."

Where is Iran headed next? No one, not even Khatami, seems to know for sure. But worries about the country's future direction often echo Bourghani's fears that the country is poised between repression and chaos. The White House is eager to see Iran rejoin the list of nations that play by the rules. For the past year and a half, it has been sending warming signals to Tehran, which have gone largely unanswered. But encouraged by the reformers' gains in last month's election, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright last week offered another olive branch. As Hajjarian lay in a coma fighting for his life on Friday, she announced that Washington would ease sanctions a bit to allow Iran to import luxury goods to the U.S. The gesture was designed to nudge Iran toward normalizing relations, which many Iranians want. But not all Iranians. Though Iran's Foreign Ministry welcomed Albright's speech, closer ties between Tehran and Washington would infuriate the same hard-liners who may have ordered the attack on Hajjarian.

Hajjarian's death might have brought--and could still bring--a violent protest by the legions of Khatami's youthful supporters, who are impatient for greater freedoms. Khatami returned from a provincial tour and went straight to Hajjarian's bedside. The sight of his unconscious associate strapped to a ventilator made the President speechless as he choked back his tears. While Khatami has been criticized for not standing up to the militants, he showed no sign of being intimidated by the shooting. After an aide phoned him with news of the attack, Khatami tore up a prepared speech and denounced the would-be killers. "They have no place among the people because the people hate them!" Khatami cried.

But Khatami's overall philosophy discourages showdowns with the hard-liners in favor of gradually strengthening Iran's democratic institutions. That's why close ties to the U.S. may be years away as Khatami slowly prepares the ground for relations. Explains Mohammed Ali Abtahi, Khatami's chief of staff: "The attack was a great blow. We must answer this at the ballot boxes, not with another bullet." Suspicions will continue to build that the Dark House ordered Hajjarian killed to silence his newspaper's investigative campaign. With its frequent reports on the alleged activities of death squads, complete with allegorical references to sinister Iranian officials as the "gray eminences" who inhabit the Dark House, Sobh-e Emrouz has raised the level of inquiry and debate in Iran. "If not for people like Hajjarian," says Tehran human-rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, "the serial killings would not have become a public issue. Whatever the motive for the crime, Hajjarian's fate highlighted as never before the great risks involved in Khatami's grand experiment. In an interview with TIME three weeks before his shooting, Hajjarian praised top investigative journalist Akbar Ganji, who has pioneered Sobh-e Emrouz's exposes and called to account powerful figures, including former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, for what they allegedly knew about the murders. "He has taken a candle in his hands to roam around the Dark House of Ghosts," Hajjarian said. "He has played a brave and invaluable role in trying to open up our political climate." Little did Hajjarian know that many Iranians would so soon be saying the same thing about him--as they offered up prayers for his health.

1. Sarah Palin's Breakout Night
2. Searching for Palin's 'Hot Photos'
3. The Man Behind Palin's Speech
4. Why Disasters Are Getting Worse
5. Mayor Palin: A Rough Record
6. Can Palin Escape the Parent Trap?
7. Call Of the Wild
8. In Wasilla, Pregnancy Was No Secret
9. Understanding John McCain
10. McCain's Prickly TIME Interview