Soon after, Tesuo Yamahiro, 40, died from a blow to the temple.Police tossed tear-gas canisters into the crowd to break up the mêlée, and two policemen and two tourists, Esasika Takami and Ueda Kimiko, were roughed up No arrests have been made. A spokesman for the Japanese embassy said the incident was “lamentable” and noted that there were nearly 5,000 Japanese visitors to Guatemala every year.Mob justice is frequent in outlying Guatemalan towns: last year there were 71 lynchings by vigilantes.Todos Santos Cuchumatan is a rural weaving village some 90 miles north-west of Guatemala City. Outsiders are not unusual in the town of 25,000, which is internationally known for fine textiles.Backpackers frequently attend the weekend market, which draws hundreds of vendors and buyers from the hamlets near Huehuetenango. In addition, there are two Spanish-language schools in the town centre, although most people speak Mam, a Mayan language.”This attack takes me utterly by surprise,” said Robert Sitler, a professor at Stetson University, Florida, who has visited the town with his family and students every summer for seven years.

“The only explanation is that people might have perceived some threat. They are extremely protective of their children; they are nursed for a couple of years at least and carried at all times.” In recent years many babies, toddlers and teenagers have disappeared from Guatemala and southern Mexico.Big profits for arranging private adoptions have spurred abductions, particularly among Indian families with little political clout. In March the UN released a report about the problems caused by international adoptions in Guatemala. With foreign couples willing to pay $25,000 (£15,600) for a healthy baby, there is a growing black market for stolen children. Some 1,332 Guatemalan children were adopted by foreigners in 1998, compared with 50 in Ecuador, a nation with a larger indigenous population.Todos Santos Cuchumatan also witnessed brutalities during 36 years of civil unrest. Many breadwinners fled across the border to Mexico or to the capital, where rumours are rife.

A widespread belief is that Third World children are kidnapped and cut up to supply organs for Western hospitals. Although there is no evidence to support this fear, it is potent. Six years ago June Weinstock, a US journalist, was badly beaten when a Guatemalan crowd suspected her of baby trafficking.. Court Officials claimed yesterday that one of the main defendants in the trial of 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel had confessed. Court Officials claimed yesterday that one of the main defendants in the trial of 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel had confessed.
Hossein Ali Amiri, the head of the judiciary in Shiraz, southern Iran, where the trial is being held behind closed doors, said Hamid “Danny” Teflin confessed to spying for Israel in court and that his case was “finished”.Earlier, in the first foreign contact with the case, which is being closely watched by Western governments, a representative of the New York-based organisation, Human Rights Watch, was admitted to the court to speak to the judge and see one of the defendants. Prosecutors were laying out in detail the state’s case against the Jewish defendants for the first time yesterday.