The death of Farshid Haki, attorney at law and environmentalist, has become the biggest issue in the Iranian press. People close to him claim that he was murdered by multiple stabbing and his body was burnt. But the police and the regime’s official news media, Fars News, claim his death was due to self-immolation.

Hassan Rahimi, chief of Tehran police told Fars News that on Wednesday, October 17th, they received a report about a burning car.

According to Rahimi, self-immolation is clearly the cause of death. He rejected the idea that Haki was murdered before being set on fire and claimed that the forensics lab has clearly stated that he has committed self-immolation. He also claimed that Haki had talked about suicide with his family members. 

Meanwhile, the forensics lab office denied announcing any decisions and told IRIB that “any result on the cause of death will be reported to the judge.”

Mizan, the official website of the Judiciary had also denied “any speculation or announcement by the forensics lab about the body” and wrote: “The forensics lab has not made any comment about the case.”

This would suggest that the claims made by the chief of police about the clarity of the situation are in fact not true.

The news of Haki’s death first broke by Abdolreza Davari, who is among the former president Ahmadinejad’s inner circle. Davari claimed Hakki’s death was a brutal murder and asked the Judiciary to investigate.

Haki’s death has been compared to the serial murders of the Iranian intellectuals by the intelligence ministry in the 1980s and 1990s.