He has also questioned President Khatami's handling of foreign affairs.
President Khatami, 53, was not always a challenger of the regime's orthodoxies.
The independent press has been an important vehicle for the reform movement since President Khatami's election three years ago.
President Khatami has said the murders were carried out by "rogue" intelligence agents.
Both said they voted for a list of candidates supporting President Khatami.
President Khatami has already proven that he is serious about changing Iran.
President Khatami himself calls the exclusion of candidates a threat to the nation and the system.
The election of President Khatami was a positive development, but one swallow does not make a summer.
In 1997 he led a demonstration against the newly elected President Khatami.
President Khatami once called him the theoretician of violence.