Movie starring Fereydoun Farrokhzad, 1971

Farrokhzad's grisly murder was widely seen as part of what became known as the "chain murders" -- a string of assassinations and disappearances of dozens of Iranian intellectuals carried out by Iranian intelligence from 1988 to 1998. Nearly three decades after Farrokhzad's murder, however, the crime remains officially unsolved, and German law-enforcement authorities have declined to comment on the case or its alleged political context, citing the ongoing investigation.