Iran officials accused of dissident murders

A court in the Iranian capital, Tehran, is today Saturday hearing a landmark case against former government officials charged with complicity in murdering dissident intellectuals.

The killings took place two years ago, and triggered a political scandal when it emerged that senior officials of the Intelligence Ministry were among the seventeen suspects.

Campaigning journalists have argued that responsibility for the killings rests much higher than the accused.

The victim's families are boycotting the trial, doubting whether the full truth will come out. The BBC Tehran correspondent says the case is unlike any other during the Islamic republic, and a sign of changing times.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service