Police: The Killer of Potential Parliamentary Candidate in Khorramabad Arrested

Mohammad Ghanbari, the commander of the police force in Lorestan province, announced the arrest of the killer of a potential candidate for the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections in Khorramabad. According to IRNA, Ghanbari stated on the evening of Friday, December 27, that the killer, Hosiyar Maleki Toleabi, was apprehended by the efforts of Lorestan's intelligence officers in "Doreh Chagni." The police commander added that investigations are ongoing to clarify the details of this murder, and the arrested individual will be transferred to the provincial center on Saturday under judicial orders. However, this police official emphasized that the motive for the murder of Hosiyar Maleki Toleabi was personal issues and had no relation to "political matters." According to "Young Journalists Club," affiliated with state television, Hosiyar Maleki Toleabi was one of the managers of the Technical and Vocational Organization of the province. Meanwhile, "Lorestan News," a local news website, reported that Hosiyar Maleki Toleabi, a resident of Khorramabad, was a university professor in Tehran and had traveled to Khorramabad at the "invitation of a relative" to discuss the parliamentary elections. According to this report, Hosiyar Maleki Toleabi traveled to Khorramabad without his family and attended a meeting at the home of his "cousin's daughter," where the attendees "sent the homeowner's wife out under the pretext of shopping to execute their plan." "Lorestan News" added that the attendees attacked Hosiyar Maleki Toleabi with knives to eliminate him before the arrival of the killer's wife (the homeowner) and pretended that he had returned to Tehran. However, Toleabi was injured and fled into the alley, telling people, "I am Toleabi, a candidate for this year's parliament, call and say I was killed," before the killers fled. While the news of the arrest of the killer of a potential candidate for the tenth parliamentary elections was published, earlier political and security officials in Iran had reported a red alert in 10 electoral districts. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran's Minister of Interior, stated on Saturday, December 28, that these 10 electoral districts are in a red alert status due to issues such as "specific regional conditions," "threats from enemies," and "some ethnic disputes that have even led to murder in the past." Hossein Zolfaqari, head of the country's election security headquarters, had also previously confirmed the existence of 10 electoral districts in a "red status" and announced the preparation of an "electoral security atlas" for the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections. According to Zolfaqari, out of 207 electoral districts in the country, 10 are in red status, 50 in gray status, 22 in yellow status, and 125 have completely normal and white status. The elections for the tenth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the fifth term of the Assembly of Experts will be held on March 7 of this year.