Iranian Students are reportedly holding 3 Hebollah hostage demanding release of 80 students

Interview with Iranians in Tehran | 6.13.2003 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

I just heard from friends in Tehran.

They are telling me that the Students have taken three memebers of Hizbollah hostage. They are demanding the release of the eighty students that had been arrested by the regime four days ago.

They are very optimistic that things are going to change soon. They can hear the protests and see the courage of the people to stand against the regimes forces.

It was also reported that the students had taken over the televison station in the city of Shiraz.

Also of interest, most of them watch LA based Iranian TV for news. These are the same satilite stations that are struggling to stay on the air for lack of support among US business or government. It appears they are doing for Iran waht we can't even do for Iraq. In case you don't know this, the US still does not have broadcasts in Iraq, while the Iranians do.

Finally, the Tehranians were asking “why they haven’t heard from President Bush?.”

[oceanview]

and I would also imagine the CIA is active there. a couple of well placed drone attacks might do wonders over there.

[dogbyte12]

The counter-revolution is a beautiful thing.

I grew up with several emigrees from Iran who fled when the Shah was toppled. Really hard working nice people. I am proud of the youth of Iran for trying to fix the mess the youth of Iran a generation ago helped create.

[jacquej]

I am ashamded to admit to ignorance of the entire situation in Iran. I have been focused on Iraq, Israel, and SARS.

Could some kind soul please fill me in on the details of this situation, why it is so important, etc? I know that is probably too much to ask, so perhaps you can send me to links that give me the info I need to get up to speed.

There isn't much on cable news except a scrawl or two, a brief mention in passing. No background info, no explanation of the politics, etc..

It looks like it is going to be a long hot summer. I worry about the strain on Geo. W.

[abner]

Iran- powderkeg of Democracy that will soon go off. It has been ignited by the young people that have had enough of the Islamonazi government.

About a year ago, someone signed my email address up for updates on the students fight to free their oppressed. Normally people sign me up for unsavory things but this seemed to be people that really appreciate freedom.

[bert]

....HELLO, SPEAK UP.....

The man can accomplish more without speaking than most world leaders can by blathering boasts they can't accomplish.

The prisioners are the result of our efforts..... believe it.

[M Kehoe]

How do you spell 'freedom' in Farsi? Abeerzan?

5.56mm

[jacquej]

Thanks, Abner. I am going back through the threads here to try to get myself oriented to the issues there, using Iran as a keyword.. It is helping me, and your info also has helped...

How come such sparse info from cable news? Seems like a pretty important story to me, but probably the mess in Israel is dominating.

[Eala]

Invitation for a National Gathering Commemorating July 9th [LA & DC rallies for Iranian freedom 7/05]

[Freebird Forever]

This was posted on another Iran thread last night.

Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran website

[abner]

Actually, I think the less coverage there is, the more the students will accomplish. Keep it below the radar, and just maybe the 'International Community' will keep their noses out of it. It is a very important story though, and I think a part of Bush's overall plan on the war on terror.

[jacquej]

That is an interesting take on it, and one that wouldn't have occurred to me. Thanks for the insight!

I will watch the situation much more closely here on FR, and not get my panties in a twist that it isn't on Fox! (lol)

[timberlandko]

The student unrest in Iran has been going on quite some time now. There have been news articles over the past couple years referencing the issue. The latest round began late last year, more or less coming to the current head over the past week or so. Significant and escalating challenge to The Mullah's authority is now centered in youth and in the academic community, the same quarters which in the late 'Seventies gave rise to the toppling of The Shah. The implications should not be dismissed.

[don-o]

Only one had a story of the protestsin Iran and it was buried deep in the site. Big surprise.

If you are relating first hand knowledge from Iran, this may become a thread like the shuttle crash, when Freepers were ahead of all the media.

Please post all you hear.

Unfortunately, I cannot stay. Family reunion to attend.

[don-o]

I will watch the situation much more closely here on FR, and not get my panties in a twist that it isn't on Fox! (lol)

Exactly. See my #33

[Constantine XIII]

Women of Iran - throw off your burqas!!! Men of Iran - Woo hoo!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Here is an interesting link on Bush strategy in the whole of the Middle East :

Sun Tzu visits the Middle East

[stlnative]

Pro-Clergy Militants Arrested in Iran
9 minutes ago


TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line judiciary arrested "scores" of pro-clergy militants Saturday, including a vigilante leader, over attacks on a Tehran student dormitory sparked by attacks on pro-reform supporters, state-run radio reported.


"Scores of people who suspiciously attacked a dormitory and inflicted damages have been identified and arrested," Tehran Radio quoted a judiciary statement as saying Saturday.


Students said dozens of armed vigilantes — who pledge allegiance to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — attacked students sleeping in their rooms in the Hemmat dormitory of Allameh Tabatabai University and Tehran University's Chamran dormitory before dawn Saturday. More than 50 students were reportedly injured.


Tehran Radio said among those arrested was Saeed Asghar, a vigilante leader who two years ago shot and seriously wounded a top adviser to reformist President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites).


The arrests came after police authorities, under pressure from reformers, demanded legal action against vigilantes who have taken the law into their hands to punish demonstrators and onlookers in the capital since protests broke on Tuesday.


"Most of detainees are ruffians with previous (police) records," the radio quoted the statement as saying.


The broadcast gave no further details.


"We were sleeping in our beds. Suddenly we heard windows being smashed. Fists and kicks by hard-line vigilantes woke up some of the students held up in their rooms," Allameh Tabatabai University student Mojtaba Najafi said.


The Tehran dorm attacks followed overnight clashes between hundreds of pro-cleric militants and security forces with Iranians throughout the capital.


Friday's standoffs were the most intense and widespread of four consecutive nights of protests in Tehran, which were sparked by university students and snowballed into broader displays of opposition to Iran's clerical establishment.

[eleni121]

2500 years ago a small Greek army defeated Persia's massive army (Marathon) and kept the West out of the clutches of despotic Asia.

Now is the time for Persians themselves to destroy the tyrants of Islam by doing it themselves finally democratizing the nation by using the example of the west (America)

[stlnative]

Link to my last post

[Semper Paratus]

Got to the newsgroup soc.culture.iranian to get a flavor of whats going on.