[DoctorZIn]

Iranian Alert -- DAY 15 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

Live Thread Ping List | 6.24.2003 | DoctorZin
Posted on 06/24/2003 1:00 AM PDT

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/934512/posts

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[DoctorZIn]

Power Moves May Be Uniting Hard-Liners in Iraq and Iran

June 19, 2003
The New York Times
David Rohde with Nazila Fathi

NAJAF -- In a step that may intensify a struggle between moderates and conservatives in Iraq, a hard-line Shiite cleric recently met with the leadership in Iran, according to his aides.

American military officials confirmed that the cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, had recently traveled to Iran. The trip comes after repeated American warnings to Iran not to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs.

Just what Mr. Sadr did in Iran is uncertain, other than attending the June 4 anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's theocracy.

However, two of Mr. Sadr's senior aides said he had met with Ayatolloh Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader; Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of Iran's judiciary; and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's former president.

"Yes, they offered help," said Ahmed Shehbani, a senior aide who said he had traveled with Mr. Sadr. "Either humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people or moral support."

The three Iranian leaders could not be reached for comment. But Iranian newspapers recently reported that Mr. Sadr had met with Mr. Shahroudi and Mr. Rafsanjani.

Mr. Sadr's aides also said Kadhem al-Husseini al-Haeri, a prominent conservative Iraqi cleric who lives in exile in Iran, had agreed to return to Iraq. His return could represent a move by hard-liners to challenge the moderate Shiite clerics who now dominate Iraq. Sixty percent of Iraqis are Shiite Muslims.

Attempts to reach Mr. Haeri in Tehran were unsuccessful. His daughter said he had no plans to return to Iraq.

The significance of the contacts is not yet clear, but they could mark an attempt by conservative forces in Iran to maintain power and for their Iraqi counterparts to achieve power after many years of brutal suppression under President Saddam Hussein.

A senior American official said earlier this month that the existence of a prosperous and democratic Iraq next to Iran would undermine Iran's clerics.

"Elements of the Iranian government have determined that they must defeat us here," said the senior American official, who was speaking in Baghdad. "Najaf threatens Qum."

The official was referring to the struggle between two cities holy to Shiite Muslims — Qum in Iran and Najaf in Iraq.

Clerics in Qum, broadly speaking, endorse the rule of society by religious leaders, in obedience to to religious law.

Najaf, the center of the Shiite world for 1,300 years, is where the body of Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet and the founder of the Shiite faith, is buried. The city represents a more moderate Shiite tradition, which holds that politics corrupts religion and the two should be kept strictly separate.

The battle between the doctrines is centered in Najaf, in two nondescript houses less than 200 yards apart. In one sits Mr. Sadr. In the other sits a man who wants nothing to do with Western materialism, politics or wealth. Yet the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sestani, in his 70's, has proved to be one of America's crucial allies in southern Iraq.

His fatwas, or religious edicts, have discouraged clerics from engaging in politics. During the war, he urged Iraqis to remain neutral.

At the same time, Mr. Sestani is suspicious of American intentions. "We feel great unease over their goals," Mr. Sestani's son and spokesman, Mohammed Rida Sestani, wrote in response to questions from The Washington Post on Saturday. "We see that it is necessary that they should make room for Iraqis to rule themselves by themselves without foreign intervention."

Nearby, Mr. Sadr, back from Iran, fights for a Shiism much more like that which rules Iran. Only 30 years old, he is the son of Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, a revered Iraqi Shiite leader assassinated in 1999 by men believed to be acting under Mr. Hussein's orders.

Mr. Sadr's supporters have already established a small number of Sharia courts, where Islamic law is administered, and called for clerical approval of any new Iraqi government. They have been accused of involvement in the April killing of a moderate Shiite cleric hacked to death by a mob after returning to Iraq. They are also accused of threatening women who do not wear veils, store owners who sell alcohol and theater owners who show what clerics deem to be pornography.

Mr. Sadr's main patron is Mr. Haeri, the exiled cleric in Iran. Last week, he issued a fatwa ordering Iraqis not to sell land to Jews in Iraq. And in April, Mr. Haeri, who is based in Qum, issued a fatwa urging Iraqis to resist American influence.

"People have to be taught not to collapse morally before the means used by the Great Satan, if it stays in Iraq," Mr. Haeri wrote of the United States. "It will try to spread moral decay, incite lust by allowing easy access to stimulating satellite channels, spreading debauchery to weaken peoples' faith in schools, governments and homes."

Mr. Haeri, in his 60's, does not have Mr. Sestani's authority, but if he returned to Iraq, as Mr. Sadr's aides say he will, he could mount a challenge to the moderates.

American officials predict that after decades of dictatorship, the Shiite community will spurn any authoritarian rule, secular or religious. And in interviews, Najaf residents emphasized that although they wanted Islam to be part of the government, they also wanted democracy.

"We don't want another oppressive regime like the one we had before," said Laith Hasan Shamsi, the 38-year-old owner of a telephone store. He and other residents spoke of Mr. Sestani with reverence and called Mr. Sadr only a promising young leader.

But a senior aide to Mr. Sadr made it clear that hard-liners see this moment as just the beginning of a long campaign — a battle for the future of Shiite Islam — that will last for years.

"This conflict is not new," the senior aide said. "It won't stop tomorrow."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/international/worldspecial/24CLER.html

[DoctorZIn]

Family members of some of the arrested beaten up

SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 24, 2003

Several family members of those arrested protesters kept at the inafamous Evin Political jail were wounded, yesterday, as the Islamic regime instructed its enraged militiamen to attack them in order to smash their protest gathering held in front of the doors of the penitenciary's facilities.

Clubs and chains were used against mothers and fathers of the prisoners who were asking the release of their children. Several of them were seen with faces in blood or arrested at their turn.

The Islamic regime fears that such gathering will bring other residents to the area and might lead to the attack of the Prison.

Evin is notorious for its torture installations and most of Iran's political dissidents are kept in its premises.

Same brutal actions against the families of the detainees has been reported from the LEF center of Zandjan avenue as well as in many other cities.

Source: SMCCDI

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056461208

[DoctorZIn]

Blair: Iranian Student Protests Deserve Support

June 23, 2003
AFP
IranMania

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday said that student anti-regime demonstrations in Iran "deserve our support."

"I think people who are fighting for freedom everywhere deserve our support, yes," Blair said in answer to a question from an MP in the House of Commons.

"The exact nature of our support we are able to give, that is a different question. But I think that those people in whavever part of the world who try to have basic human rights and civil liberties deserve support all over," the British leader continued.

His comments echoed those made last week by US President George W. Bush, whom Blair supported during the war against Iraq earlier this year.

A small student demonstration over government education policy in Tehran on June 10 has spiralled into nearly two weeks of unrest throughout the country, marked by virulent anti-regime protests and clashes between protestors and security forces or vigilantes.

Scores of people have been seriously injured and hundreds arrested during the unrest, blamed by clerical leaders on the United States. Latest protests have largely fizzled out following a police crackdown.

The US has made no secret of approving of the demonstrations, while denying any direct involvement.

On Wednesday, Bush said of the unrest: "This is the beginnings of people expressing themselves toward a free Iran which I think is positive."

"I think that freedom is a powerful incentive, and I believe that someday, that freedom will prevail everywhere because freedom is a powerful drive for people," he told reporters.

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news_en.pl?l=en&y=2003&m=06&d=24&a=4

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[DoctorZIn]

I just heard form Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, a leader among the Student Protest Movement.

She asked me to publish this...

24 June 2003 (la version française suit)

IRAN
Two more journalists detained in current wave of arrests
Appeal court upholds three-year jail sentence for another journalist

The arrests of freelance journalist Amir Teirani on 16 June and Mohamed Reza Bouzeri, a journalist with Golestan-e-Iran, on 18 June - both for allegedly inciting students to demonstrate - has brought to the number of journalists detained since 14 June to at least eight.

They also brought the total of journalists held in Iran to at least 16, making it the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East. Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of all them.

Meanwhile, an appeal court on 17 June upheld a prison sentence passed in April on journalist Ali-Reza Jabari, a contributor to several independent newspapers including Adineh, but reduced the term from four to three years. As well as a prison term, Jabari had been sentenced on 19 April to 253 lashes and a fine of 6 million rials (about 1,000 euros).

The official charge against Jabari was "consuming and distributing alcoholic drinks, adultery and immoral acts" although his real offence was to belong to a writers' association and contribute articles to news websites based abroad.

Following expressions of concern by Reporters Without Borders about the location of journalists detained in the past 10 days, Tehran state prosecutor Said Mortazavi reported that Teirani and Taghi Rahmani, a journalist with the weekly Omid-e-Zangan, Reza Alijani, editor of the monthly Iran-e-Farda and winner of the Reporters Without Borders - France Foundation press freedom prize in 2001, and Hoda Saber, a member of Iran-e-Farda's senior staff were being held in Evine prison in Tehran.

The daughter of Ensafali Hedayat, a journaliste with Salam arrested on 16 June in Tabriz university in the north of the country, learned that he was detained in Tabriz's main prison. He was beaten by police at the time of his arrest.

Prosecutor Mortazavi also told the family of journalist Amin Bozorgian, which had received no word of him since his arrest on 15 June, that he was officially detained. The prosecutor threatened the families of detained journalists (including the wives of Rahmani and Alijani) for saying they had been detained illegally.

Mohsen Sazgara, the editor of the website Alliran and the (closed) reformist daily Jameh, has been on hunger strike since his arrest on 15 June. He has a heart ailment and the state of his health is a matter of concern. His wife has also started a hunger strike to protest against her husband's imprisonment.

All of these journalist are alleged to have incited students to revolt. Many anti-government protests have been staged around the main university campus in Tehran and other major cities since 10 June, in the course of which police and militiamen in civilian dress have targeted journalists. The regime has also put heavy pressure on the ISNA and ILNA news agencies, which have been covering these events closely.

The relatives of Abbas Abdi, a journalist with Salam who has been imprisoned since 4 November 2002, have meanwhile voiced concern about his health. Abdi, who is being held in a separate cell and who was in poor health at the time of their last prison visit, told them he nonetheless planned to go on hunger strike if he was not granted a few days of release, as required by the Iranian law.

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[nuconvert]

bump

[DoctorZIn]

From Banafsheh...

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to make it clear that the demonstration organized by SECULAR-minded Iranians who support the movement of the people of Iran who are not necessarily partisan is on WEDNESDAY, JULY 9th. PLEASE note that the demonstration organized on the 8th is organized by a young man, GHOLAMREZA MOHJERNEJAD, who is NO LONGER a part of the student group. The student movement disaccosiated themselves from him in a written statement, issued 7 weeks ago, due to alleged involvement with extremely questionable characters and behavior that have cost the group dearly. The correct sites to refer to for any and all student movement in formations is:

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org
http://www.jonbesh.org

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS...IT IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT THAT EVERYONE IS CLEAR WHEN TO SHOW UP. THANK YOU.

BANAFSHEH

[DoctorZIn]

Here is one of the fliers for the Official July 9th demonstration in Washington DC in support of the Iranian Protest Movement.

If you can join them it would be great. People are flying into Washington from all around the country. The organizers hope to have a large gathering that will remind our elected representatives that we are watching the events in Iran and support the demonstrations in Iran and expect them to support it as well.

Additionally, the people of Iran will be able to see our support for them via satellite broadcasts into Iran.

It will be very encouraging to them to see US citizens supporting their cause.

WebSite of the Flyer

[DoctorZIn]

This is an important report on the demonstrations is Iran....

Defense & Foreign Affairs
Strategic Policy

Volume XXI, No. 97 Monday, June 23, 2003

Protests Escalate in Iran; US Support Now Clearly Impacting Opposition

Analysis. By Jason Fuchs, GIS staff, and sources in Iran. Anti-Government demonstrations in Tehran and almost all Iranian cities continued on June 21, 2003, with every indication that they were gaining momentum. A pattern of escalation showed that demonstrations were now routinely starting at nightfall and continuing each night until about 03.00hrs, with the clerical leadership moving squads of plain-clothes combatants — some from the Ministry of Intelligence and some believed to be Basij and other “irregulars” — from one sector of a city to another to try to clamp down on the unrest.

Despite massive arrests and attempts to control the crowds by the Administration, it seemed clear that international pressure was causing the clerical leadership to hesitate before instigating widespread shooting of demonstrators, although there had been numerous deaths in more than a week of protests up to June 21, 2003. It seemed likely that the protests would continue to escalate until at least the July 9, 2003, anniversary of the killings by police of students in 1999.

Already the situation mirrored the 1978-79 student and opposition protests which had been fueled by then-US President Jimmy Carter, who did not support the Iranian people, but only called on the Shah to honor human rights. In the current situation, the protests were now more widespread and the clear statements of support for the Iranian people by US Pres. George W. Bush were having a significant impact, largely because of new access to information through satellite television and radio, the internet and fax machines.

Calls broadcast on satellite radio and television by US-based opposition Azadegan Foundation leader Dr Assad Homayoun to the Armed Forces, Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard Corps) and Basij militia to abandon the clerics and support the population brought a flood of responses. Dr Homayoun’s message was being re-broadcast into Iran daily.

In Shiraz, 550 miles south of Tehran, some 80 people were arrested in anti-Government demonstrations on June 15, while about 500 people, mainly teenagers, had gathered in central Gohardasht chanting “freedom, freedom” and “death to the dictator”. Demonstrations had also been reported in Isfahan by several Los Angeles-based Farsi-language satellite television networks on June 13, 2003. On June 17, 2003, GIS sources confirmed these reports and, in addition, indicated that significant anti-Government protests were also taking place in the northern Iranian city of Tabriz, as well as in Mashad. Contrary to Associated Press and Reuters news dispatches, GIS sources maintained that demonstrations continued to gain momentum, with a prominent student leader of the Tehran protests declaring: “We are standing until the end of the regime.”

Major protests were being reported in Tabriz, Mashad, Isfahan, Shiraz and Orumieh (formerly Rezai), apart from Tehran, but there were also reports of demonstrations in other areas.

These reports distinguish the current protests from the demonstrations of July 1999, which, though larger in size, were mostly limited to Tehran. The protests of June 10-20, 2003, were also unique in that they marked the first anti-Government demonstrations which did not limit their call for change to the Iranian clerical leadership, but included verbal attacks on the elected Administration of Pres. Hojjat ol-Eslam Ali Mohammad Khatami-Ardakani.

The Iranian Government had, thus far, been careful in its response to the demonstrations. The conflicting responses of Iranian authorities indicated that Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamene‘i and his inner circle are well aware their reaction to the ongoing unrest would be closely watched by enemies and friends, both foreign and domestic.

To the demonstrators and their perceived allies abroad (US, Israel), the Iranian Government must show a strong front. Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi characterized the demonstrations as instigated by “local radicals and foreign agents” on June 12, 2003, and on June 8, as comparatively minor protests began taking place in Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamene‘i explained the cause of the growing protests within the strategic context of a US deception campaign aimed at the Iranian people, saying: “The United States is trying in various ways to tell the Iranian public that our decisionmaking bodies are confused.” By this measure it is, then, the job of the Iranian Government to respond to these “foreign” efforts by showing the Iranian populous and, in turn, the US and its allies, that Iran is unified in support of the Supreme Leader (Khamene‘i) and in the perpetuation of the Iranian Islamic Republic. The Iranian leadership has indicated that this objective can only be met with force, with Ayatollah Khamene‘i warning demonstrators on June 12, 2003: “Leaders do not have the right to have any pity whatsoever for the mercenaries of the enemy.”

Yet, the urge to resolve this matter by force is tempered by the realization that any response must not be so violent so as to alienate Western potential “allies”. Thus, while the Iranian Government sees no distinction between the US and Europe morally, they continue to evidence a keen understanding that there are significant differences between the two politically. To this effect, the Iranian leadership has applied a tool to domestic matters that has served them well overseas: the veil of plausible deniability. Recognizing both the need to respond strongly to the demonstrators, but also to appease “human-rights friendly” Western nations, the Ayatollahs dispatched the Basij and Ansar e-HizbAllah militias to violently deal with protestors, while “official” Government riot police have attempted to keep the peace between them. On June 12, 2003, Ayatollah Khamene‘i spoke out against the militias, calling on them to “not enter the scene”, and on June 15, 2003, a number of militia members were arrested. Efforts to create a degree of perceived separation between the Iranian Government and the militias had, by June 20, 2003, been a success, with Reuters and other international media referring to the Khamene‘i-controlled Basij and Ansar e-HizbAllah as “hard-line vigilantes”.

This was an achievement for the Ayatollahs in two respects; firstly, it allowed the militias greater freedom to respond as necessary to the demonstrators since violence on behalf of the Basij or Ansar e-HizbAllah would not reflect on the Government; and secondly, it intended to shift international perception of the conflict from that of Government-against-People to Vigilantes-against-Radicals, minimizing the protestors and marginalizing the supposed widespread support which many Iranian exiles and opposition leaders continue to claim the demonstrators reflect.

For the demonstrators, the events of June 10-20, 2003, showed signs of promise, but also of disappointment. Iranians who wanted to see a change of government in Tehran, needed to show the outside world that they were not a small faction or, as Ayatollah Khamene‘i dubbed them, a group of “radicals”. If anti-Government forces were to gain foreign backing for their efforts, they needed a dramatic demonstration of widespread sympathy for their cause. The thousands of protestors in Tehran, though significant and impassioned, had yet evoked vocal international backing outside of the US. European officials, notably UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, continued to advocate a path of engagement with the “reformist” elected administration of Mohammad Khatami. Most Western governments, Europeans in particular, decidedly do not see these protests as any sort of milestone in Iranian history, and certainly not as a stepping stone to an internally inspired “regime change” in Tehran. While US Pres. Bush continued to voice support for the protestors, Western skeptics continued to point to press reports indicating that the number of demonstrators, though significant, was less than that of the major 1999 demonstrations which drew more than 10,000 and did not bring about any notable change in the Iranian Government.

From the perspective of the US Bush Administration, there were two potential explanations for this as-yet less than anticipated turnout; one, it was the result of exaggerated anti-Government sentiment, or two, that it was the result of a lack of vocal US backing for pro-democracy Iranians. Dr Assad Homayoun, head of the Washington DC-based Iranian opposition group, the Azadegan Foundation and Senior Fellow at the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), has long maintained that clear, vocal support by the US for the Iranian people coupled with complete isolation of the Ayatollahs would suffice to affect a change in government. A student in Tehran, writing under a pseudonym for his protection in the June 12, 2003, online edition of The National Review, echoed Dr Homayoun’s assertions, writing: “We do not need military intervention in Iran. We do not need clandestine operations either. We need nothing but your resolve. Lend us a hand and we will take care of the rest.”

To that end, US Sen. Sam Brownback, Republican, Kansas, introduced the Iran Democracy Act on May 19, 2003. The bill called for increased support for the Iranian people, along with funds to expand pro-democracy broadcasting into Iran, increasing the amount of influence of Iranian-Americans in the US Persian radio service Radio Farda, and setting as US policy the support for “an internationally-monitored referendum in Iran to allow the Iranian people to peacefully change their system of government”.

On June 13, 2003, a senior US official told the Associated Press that US Pres. Bush was considering setting up Farsi-language websites to promote democracy in Iran.Dr Homayoun said that change could occur more rapidly in Iran than much of the international community believed. According to Dr Homayoun, the Iranian military was the key: “He [Khamene‘i] is not sure the armed forces will continue to support him. The situation is similar to that in Romania in which the armed forces suddenly changed loyalties and took the people’s side. This scenario may repeat itself in Iran.” In a Farsi-language statement issued on June 17, 2003, Dr Homayoun again emphasized the importance of the Iranian armed forces, in particular the historical continuity between them and their predecessors who fought to defend Iran under Persian leaders, such as Cyrus the Great, urging the Iranian military to disregard the orders of the clerics and hold true to their historic national duty, the protection of the Iranian people.

Yet, the US Bush Administration also appeared to recognize that with each passing day, Iran was growing closer to indigenously producing its own nuclear weapons. Defense & Foreign Affairs has consistently reported since 1992 that Iran had at least four nuclear weapons, purchased from Kazakhstan in December 1991. [It was believed that, by 2003, the number of acquired nuclear weapons had reached seven.] The key difference between Iran’s unacknowledged nuclear status between 1992 and the present and its potential indigenous nuclear weapons production capability was the related terrorist threat to the West.

All indications were that Pres. Bush was determined to prevent Iran from gaining indigenous nuclear weapons production capacity. Thus, efforts to support democracy and the Iranian opposition, while gaining ground in Washington, are potentially time-consuming and apparently in a race with the progressing Iranian indigenous nuclear weapons program.

See also:

Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, June 13, 2003: US Readying F-16 Deal With Pakistan to Consolidate Alliances in Preparation for Strategic Moves on Iran, DPRK.
Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, June 12, 2003: Terrorism in the Balkans and the Wider Ramifications for the Global “War on Terror”. [details Iranian response to internal and external pressure through activation of Balkan terrorism networks.]

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[DoctorZIn]

...for those familiar with the debate inside the White House, America’s policy on Iran is heading in one direction. “If things just drift the way they are now,” says Leverett, “the trend over time will be toward regime change.”

Newsweek: Stymied By Iran

[DoctorZIn]

An excerpt from today's FoxNews article by Ken Adelman.

The mullahs will crack down, as best they can, but eventually they too will face a “Ceausescu moment” -- the stunning instance when the decades-ruling tyrant of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu (search), stood on the balcony delivering another vapid speech when “his” people suddenly rose up. For a few seconds, Ceausescu tried to continue his babble. Then, suddenly, he and his dastardly wife froze, and fled. They too realized that their people had quite enough. A few days later, the pathetic pair were caught, and on Christmas Day 1989, tried and shot for their crimes against Romania.

But great historical events don’t just happen. They’re made to happen. Hence, the Bush administration has a big role to play in the third great liberation of oppressed Muslims (fourth, if you count Kosovo (search)).

The big “don’t” is to avoid legitimizing the Iranian government through State Department contacts. Playing “hawks versus doves” within the mullahcracy will work no better than did playing hawks vs. doves within the Sovietocracy. It gained us nothing, but gained some of those rulers legitimacy.

The main “do” is accordingly to legitimize, and assist, the Iranian liberators. The Bush administration should take the playbook used by the late Carter and Reagan administrations in Poland, when Solidarity (search) was getting going. Both presidents spoke directly to the oppressed people, subtly encouraging them.

FoxNews: Is Iran Next?

[ellery]

bttt!

[DoctorZIn]

This just in....

We are hearing reports that workers at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)in Abadan, Iran are on STRIKE! The oil refinery in Abadan, (south west Iran, near Iraq) was once the third largest oil refinery in the world. If this report is accurate it would be the first of the oil strikes we have been hearing were coming in support of the protest movement.

We are also hearing the the NIOC workers of Tehran and elsewhere in Iran are preparing to join them.

[DoctorZIn]

another interesting bit of news

Iranians warn regime they'll adopt radical and violent means towards democracy

Posted by Freedom44

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/935034/posts

[DoctorZIn]

SMCCDI: Students resist pressure and prepare closing regime's chapter

SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 24, 2003

The Iranian Student Movement is resisting against the official pressures and decisions by from one side refusing to participate in the end of the year exams and from the other side, by issuing an ultimatium to the regime on the fate of their arrested colleagues.

The ultimatum rejects as well the official ban on the commemoration of July 9th Student Uprising of 1999 as the students are declaring about their firm decision to oraganize rallies and protests "outside" the academic premises.

These actions and ultimatum which are issued by
"religious" student bodies, which were one of the supporters of the sham "reforms", is sounding the closure of the regime's chapter for the majority of Iranians and openning the doors to a wide scale rejection of the theocratic rule in Iran.

Already, secular groups, such as SMCCDI, were in the preparation of the banned commemoration in an effort to bring the population for the final action intending to show the rejection of the regime by Iranians tired of 24 years of religious dictatorship.

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/news/

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[DoctorZIn]

Interesting short news story. The regime seems particularly concerned about the Kurds?

Iranian security forces occupy the Kurdistan University in Sanandaj

24/06/2003 KurdishMedia.com - By Abdoulmajid Hakki
London (KurdishMedia.com) 24 June 2003: The security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have occupied the University of Kurdistan in Sanandaj (East Kurdistan) since Sunday night. The university is now under security forces’ control and the examination of students have been interrupted.

During the uprising of students in Iran during the last two weeks, the students have demanded freedom and referendum for the political system of Iran. The security forces have arrested hundreds of students.

http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=4029

[DoctorZIn]

This thread is now dead. For the new daily thread go to:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/935122/posts