Source: RFE/RL

Official Iranian news agencies report that Payam Fazlinejad, a journalist with the influential hard-line newspaper "Kayhan," is in the hospital following an attack by unknown assailants. The details about the attack and his condition remain sketchy.

Payam Fazlinejad on hospital bed

According to a report by the semiofficial Fars news agency, Fazlinejad was attacked late last night (around 9:00 p.m. Tehran time) by assailants on motorcycles. The agency says Fazlinejad was hit in the head with a "sharp object."

The official news agency IRNA has quoted a nurse at the Baghiatollah hospital where Fazlinejad is being treated as saying that he was attacked with a "cold arm."

IRNA also quote an unnamed police guard at the hospital as saying that that "the assailant or assailants" were able to escape.

The hard-line "Rajanews" has reported that Fazlinejad was attacked and badly injured on his head by "a team of terrorists that included seven members on motorbikes." The website as also posted a picture of Fazlinejad at the hospital.

www.kayhannews.ir

Fazlinejad reportedly used to be a reformist journalist. More recently, he has been working with "Kayhan" and attacking reformists and accusing them of being foreign agents. The hard-line Fars news agency report that Fazlinejad's book "The Knights Of Cultural NATO," which according to Fars unveiled information about "those working to overthrow the Iranian establishment within the reformist camp," was a political bestseller. IRNA says the work of Fazlinejad, who is also a member of "Kayhan"'s research institute, focuses on "Western intelligence agencies and the velvet coup project" in Iran.

... Payvand News - 02/23/10 ... --