Iranian Alert -- DAY 29 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

Live Thread Ping List | 7.8.2003 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

Authorities all out to prevent anniversary protests

Jul 8, 2003, 12:00pm

TEHRAN, July 8 (AFP) - Iran's authorities are hoping that Wednesday's fourth anniversary of bloody student riots here will go off with a whimper rather than a bang, having taken almost every measure within their powers to avert a resumption of anti-regime demonstrations.

In a bid to prevent student activists from even thinking about staging a rally to mark the 1999 unrest, during which at least one student was killed and hundreds were injured or arrested, the government has slapped a ban on all off-campus gatherings. University authorities have also banned any on-campus events, with the Tehran university faculty -- the epicenter of the 1999 unrest as well as last month's 10 days of virulent demonstrations -- closed off for a week and students lodging there told to stay away until next week. The ban has angered student activists, although it remains to be seen how determined they are to challenge it -- especially given that embattled reformist President Mohammad Khatami appears unable to follow through with his assertion that peaceful demonstrations are a "natural" part of democracy. However, one of the main pro-reform student groups, the Office to Consolidate Unity (OCU), issued an open letter condemning the ban and announcing a plan for a sit-in outside the United Nations offices here. In the eight-page letter, the group issued a "plea for help" to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, denouncing what it said was a "dark chapter" in Iran's history and a "political and social apartheid" that it argued deserved UN invesigation. Listed as examples were the murder of dissidents in 1998 and alleged cases of torture, widespread arrests and the ban on the right to protest. But while authorities have been tough in preventing more expressions of the widespread public frustration over the seemingly intractable reformist-conservative deadlock, steps have also been taken to ease the mounting tensions.

On Tuesday, the local press said the judiciary -- a bastion of the right and seen as one of the stiffest opponents of reforms -- had released some 20 students detained during the June 10-20 protests. "Following demands from several student groups, a certain number of students have been released on bail," Tehran's hardline public prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was quoted as saying. The judiciary has also reportedly cancelled a number of court summons related to last month's unrest. In total, however, some 4,000 people were arrested last month. Observers therefore believe there will be little room for protests on Wednesday, given that any steps to organise gatherings have been nipped in the bud. Furthermore, the anti-regime protests movement has only been able to gather steam on the back of spontaneous demonstrations, the timing of which have been difficult to predict.

In 1999, a small Tehran university dormitory gathering to protest the closure of a pro-reform newspaper spiralled into riots after police and Islamist vigilantes violently raided the campus gathering. And last month's unrest was kicked off by a tiny demonstration by students opposed to reported government plans to privatise some university facilities. As for the main campus in the capital, it has been hardline students who have attempted to seize the initiative for the anniversary of the 1999 unrest: a mosque opposite the campus has been tagged as a centre for seven days of religious events, while state television has been urging massive participation in the week-long fest.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1003.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

Iran hardliners act to curb anniversary protest

By By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Jul 8, 2003, 12:56pm

Iranian clerics hope to prevent the revival of anti-regime protests on Wednesday, on the anniversary of the student unrest of July 9, 1999, which was brutally suppressed. Measures introduced to try to calm public sentiment include price cuts on some essential goods, such as sugar, and intensifying the interference used to distort US-based opposition television stations. Last month's protests, led by students and accompanied by thousands of others in Tehran and other major cities lasted for 10 days. No permission has been given to students to hold rallies on Wednesday, but student leaders said they would stage a sit-in outside the United Nations office in Tehran. Sporadic gatherings and clashes are expected in the capital and other cities. The US backed the protests at first, but Colin Powell, secretary of state, backed off last Wednesday, calling events in Iran a "family fight" in which the US should not intervene. "People are seriously seeking political changes, but not at too high a price," said Hamid-Reza Jalaei-Pour, an ex-editor whose papers have been closed down. The main pro-reform student organisation, the Office to Foster Unity, has appealed to Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, in an open letter to intervene. It expressed a lack of hope in the efforts of reformers, who dominate both government and parliament, to challenge the conservatives and reform the Islamic establishment. Differences between the two - mainly in non-elected bodies - over the fate of reforms promoted by president Mohammad Khatami have reached crisis point. Reformers insist on implementation of two controversial bills, introducing free parliamentary elections and increasing the president's powers to stop unconstitutional acts by the hardline judiciary. Some moderate conservatives indicate a willingness to accept the bills but hardliners are reluctant to accept any challenge to their power. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, said on Wednesday he expected Iran would sign a UN protocol permitting more intrusive nuclear inspections, Reuters reports. Speaking at Frankfurt airport before heading to Tehran, he said he believed Iran would realise it was in its best interest.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1006.shtml

[AdmSmith]

The Chinese connection on the possible jamming from Cuba:

In mid-1999, it was reported that the main Chinese intelligence collection facilities in Cuba were located northeast of Santiago de Cuba and in Bejucal, in the province of Havana [located at 22° 55' 43" N 082° 23' 19" E ]. Reportedly China signed an agreement in 2000 with the Cuban government to use Cuba’s satellite intercept facility at Bejucal, southwest of Havana. The facility, located near the Russian facility at Lourdes, was built in the early 1990’s with Russian equipment. (source John Pike)

[DoctorZIn]

Interesting...

[piasa]

Snip: I was told that the FCC believes the jamming is coming from within Cuba.

fyi bump

[Burkeman1]

I thought they had already been jamming that station?

[DoctorZIn]

...I thought they had already been jamming that station? ...

They have been jamming all of these stations in Iran. The difference now is that they appear to be jammimg the US uplink signals.

I have just been told that within the next few hours, the FCC is going to reveal the source of the jamming. Some have said the jamming was coming from Cuba, other Canada, while others are saying it is being done within the United States. Whatever their report you will hear it here on FreeRepublic.

[DoctorZIn]

Boucher Says Iranians Demonstrating for Positive Changes

July 07, 2003
U.S. Department Of State
The Washington File

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters that the kinds of changes called for by Iranians demonstrating against their government "would be good for Iran and good for Iran's place in the world."

Speaking at the July 7 State Department press briefing in Washington, Boucher called on the Iranian authorities to listen to the demonstrators.

"[T]he Iranian people are calling for much more democracy and for real democracy and open democracy," he said. "So that remains the area where we express our support...."

Following is an excerpt from the July 7 State Department briefing:

(begin excerpt)

QUESTION: I know last Thursday it was brought up about Secretary Powell's comment that President Khatami is freely elected, but I'm a little confused. I mean, it seems a bit like a game of pinball. Back in February, Armitage called Iran a democracy. Phil, last month, in response to a question, said that Iran actually has elements of democracy, but is not a democracy. And now we find out that President Khatami is freely elected.

How, exactly, does the State Department view the Government of Iran?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, first of all, I would say that there is an exhaustive discussion of how we view the state of democracy, or lack thereof, in Iran in our Human Rights Reports, and that's a much more extensive discussion than any of us are able to give in comments at a podium somewhere.

We certainly have seen elements of democracy. We've certainly seen some democratic voting, democratic processes in Iran. But we also know that the Iranian people are calling for much more democracy and for real democracy and open democracy. So that remains the area where we express our support, and we've been quite clear in expressing our support that the desires for greater democracies by the Iranian -- greater democracy by the Iranian people, that those desires are heeded.

QUESTION: A follow-up on that. As you pointed out, a lot of the students are -- and the other demonstrators -- are calling for real democracy, as you say, and many of them don't see a distinction between Khatami and the mullahs, given that he was only one of four candidates out of 238 who was considered acceptable to run --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we've tried to draw any great distinction there, either.

QUESTION: Well, it would seem that there was a distinction made by Secretary Powell, and maybe that was unintentional, in his radio interview last Wednesday.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think he was making a distinction. He was just noting the fact that there have been, more or less, democratic elections conducted, that there's --

QUESTION: Right, but freely elected and (inaudible) freedom (inaudible) isn't there.

MR. BOUCHER: -- truly a desire for greater democracy, and we've made very clear we stand on the side of those who desire greater democracy.

QUESTION: Fair enough. So do you have a message, then, for the students who do not believe that President Khatami is, or was, freely elected and who are going to be demonstrating, most likely, in two days on the anniversary, on the July 9 anniversary --

MR. BOUCHER: Our message has been and remains that we support democracy in Iran, like we support it everywhere; that we believe that the calls of the Iranian people, including the students who are demonstrating, need to be listened to, need to be heeded; and that the kind of change that they are asking for would be good for Iran and good for Iran's place in the world.

(end excerpt)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news_en.pl?l=en&y=2003&m=07&d=08&a=13

DoctorZin Note: It looks like were are making progress.

[DoctorZIn]

THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC IS "A POLITICAL APARTHEID", STUDENTS SAY

TEHRAN 8 July (IPS) As Iranians are taking their breath and the world is watching carefully what will happen on Wednesday 9 July, a crucial date that the clerical authorities have mobilised all their forces for preventing any demonstrations or meetings, leaders of Iranian students, in an open letter to Mr. Kofi Annan, the General Secretary of the United Nations, have complained from the present regime in Iran, one that they described as a "political apartheid that ignores systematically the right of its citizens for human rights and deny them any freedom".

"We are complaining to you because the political apartheid has taken all hopes from the Iranian people, because it is denying us self rule and the right of choice, the right to be master of our own destiny, because it has lowered our expectations to the lowest limits possible and also because we are worried to see the experience of our neighbours be repeated here", the signatories, representing students associations from thirty Iranian universities said.

In the letter, the students not only openly call for a secular, free, democratic State in Iran, but also the removal of all kind of discriminations, being it political, social, religious, ethnic and cultural and denounce the privileges the clerical cast and their families enjoy against the rest of the population, regarded as a second class cast.

Observers said this is the first time that such a direct, clear cut plea against the Islamic Republic is addressed to the international community, represented by the UN's General Secretary.

With the government having ruled out against students’ demands for commemorating the fourth anniversary of the 9 July 1999 uprising by the students, an event that was crushed ruthlessly on orders from Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic and the approval of President Mohammad Khatami, the students have decided to organise a sit in at the doors of the office of the United Nations in Tehran.

"We are complaining to you because the regime, with its huge apparatus of repression, does not consider itself responsible towards the people, because it sees its survival in the continuation of crackdowns, not even listening to any advise", the students told Mr. Annan.

Noting that the Islamic Republic does not respect any clause of the universal declaration of human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of opinion, freedom of the press, freedom for unions, groups, parties, associations, freedom to organise meetings and assemblies, freedom to chose one’s own religion, free elections, freedom for women, freedom to chose one’s dress and the way to wear it, freedom to immunity in one’s individual life, freedom to a just justice etc., the signatories add that "not only all the things that are related to the human rights are violated by the Iranian regime but also it behave in such a way as it has no obligations".

"The Iranian clerical regime has effectively divided the Iranian people in two categories of "ours" (Khodi) and "others" (Qeyr Khodi), separating the same way thinkers from the otherwise thinkers, the revolutionaries from the non-revolutionaries and the first class citizens from the second class that has no possibility to power, wealth, dignity and information but by obedience to the present authority", the signatories said, adding that the Iranian students are "well aware that reaching progress, development, prosperity, freedom and democracy is not possible but by respecting human rights and peacefull struggle".

Although the authorities have reiterated forcefully that they would not tolerate any commemoration of the 9 July massacre, the students have stressed on their determination to stage meetings and protest movements, in spite of repeated calls from some reformist lawmakers to refrain from provoking the government.

"This is a crucial test for both the regime and the clerical rulers who were badly denounced and criticised during the two weeks of continuous protests by the students and the people", one political analyst said, adding that if the students comes out from their campuses, they would "certainly" face the conservatives-led and controlled thugs "ordered to crush them mercilessly as enemies of God".

The authorities confirmed the arrest of at least 4.000 demonstrators, whom they described as "thugs, hooligans and trouble-makers hired by foreign powers" but independent sources say not only the number is much higher, probably the double of that announced by the public prosecutor, but also a dozen have been killed in clashes with the pressure groups such as the Islamist vigilantes of Ansar Hezbollah and the basij volunteers who have also abducted a hundred of demonstrators, mostly students, taken to "private prisons" controlled by the conservatives. ENDS STUDENTS UNRESTS 8703

http://www.iran-press-service.com/

[firewalk]

bttt

[nuconvert]

YES! I wonder who asked the questions? He/she was very good.

[McGavin999]

Any word yet DoctorZIn? I'm worried about what might happen, but then the US inspectors are supposed to be there on the 9th too, aren't they? Surely the mad mullahs can't come down hard on protestors with the UN observers there, can they?

[illumini]

It is time to "take out" the uplink in Cuba.

[nuconvert]

I don't believe they will be in Teheran.

[McGavin999]

I've been away from the computer all day and I've been biting my nails worrying about tonight and tomorrow morning. It's all going to come down to how courageous the vast majority of the population is. If they get out there with the kids, it's going to go and go big. If they stay home......who knows what can happen.

If they're going to stay away from the protests, they can at the very least not go to work. That's still more dangerous for the students, but it will send a message. I'm praying for the courage option.

[DoctorZIn]

... any word yet...

Not much at this time...
It is nearly 6am in Tehran.
The next 12 hours will give us a real clue.

You know what to do.

[nuconvert]

It is very tense. This stuff with the radio and satellite jamming devices is also scary.(going on in L.A.) I'm waiting for news from DrZ about that. I hope the demonstrators put up a united front.

[nuconvert]

It is very tense. This stuff with the radio and satellite jamming devices is also scary.(going on in L.A.) I'm waiting for news from DrZ about that. I hope the demonstrators put up a united front.

[nuconvert]

Sorry about the double post. Seemed to get stuck and not be doing anything.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Judgment Day is approaching for those who have shed the blood of tens of thousands of innocent Iranians. Judgment Day is approaching for those who have ordered the stoning of women. Judgment Day is approaching for those who ordered the bombing of the Jewish community center in Argentina. Judgment Day is approaching for those who ordered the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon and the Khobar Towers in Riyadh. Judgment Day is approaching for those who started the chant: "Death to America" and everything America stands for. Judgment Day is approaching for the Islamic Republic of Iran

And Justice Shall Not Be Denied.