Student protesters warn leaders to allow free speech or risk confrontation
Dan De Luce in Tehran
Monday June 30, 2003
The Guardian
Student leaders, defiant after a wave of street demonstrations, are warning Iran's political leadership that they will face full-blown confrontation unless political prisoners are released and a protest rally is allowed to go ahead.
"We openly declare that these words are the final words of dialogue between the student movement and the ruling establishment," a group of students said in a letter addressed to the reformist president, Mohammad Khatami.
Signed by 106 prominent students, the letter condemns the arrest of dozens of student activists and a ban on street rallies to mark the anniversary on July 9 of a raid on a Tehran University dormitory four years ago.
Following protests which erupted across the country earlier this month, the letter sets the stage for further possible unrest as the July 9 anniversary approaches.
The students are also running out of patience with President Khatami, once hailed as their hero but now increasingly considered too timid to stand up to the conservative clerics who wield real power in Iran. Mr Khatami's failure to speak out clearly about the suppression of the student movement was "painful and disappointing", the students said.
The letter told him: "We call on you... to react before it is too late and adopt a reasonable solution, or otherwise have the courage to resign so that you do not justify oppressive policies and allow students to settle their accounts with the establishment."
Protest
While city streets have returned to normal, the protests that erupted on June 10 and persisted for more than a week shocked the authorities in the level of anger that they expressed against the country's clerical rulers.
"The protests were a serious alarm bell for the system," Abdullah Momeni, a prominent student leader, told the Guardian. "Two years ago, it was an open secret that the system was dysfunctional. Now people are saying it openly."
The disorganised and chaotic nature of the protests showed the need for a coherent opposition leadership which could harness public anger, said Mr Momeni.
"The authorities have to learn to allow people to voice criticism or there will be more protests. The huge number of arrests they have carried out shows how nervous they are," he said.
A day after speaking to the Guardian, Mr Momeni was detained when he walked out of the university campus in Tehran's city centre.
In an apparent attempt to pre-empt rallies on the July 9 anniversary, some 1,000 people - including dozens of student activists and the son of an MP - have been arrested in the past week.
The detentions are carried out by plain-clothes security agents operating outside regular legal authority, reformist MPs say. Most of those detained are being held without access to lawyers or their families, and their whereabouts are unknown.
"I am worried my husband is being tortured right now," said Aidin Hassanlou, 26. Her husband, Mehdi Aminzadeh, is another student leader who was detained a week ago and has not been heard from since.
"I am really anxious about this situation. I don't know where he's being held. After seven days they won't let me see him or talk to him," said Ms Hassanlou, who was warned by the authorities not to speak to the press.
Initially reported as a demonstration by university students, this month's protest was more of a family event, with teenagers leading the way while Iranians of every age came out to watch and blare their car horns in solidarity.
Criticism
As quickly as they exploded on June 10, the protests faded after 10 days. The demonstrators had no leadership and no clear demands. A newspaper story that helped spark the protests, which suggested that privatisation of universities might be in the offing, turned out to be inaccurate.
But the tidal wave of frustration continues to grow among a new generation who are less willing to tolerate a theocratic system that they believe is defying the popular will and the modern world.
Conservative officials and police say the protests do not represent any serious political protest, but are merely acts of "hooliganism" orchestrated by foreign governments.
They have no shortage of evidence, if the statements of the White House are anything to go by. The Bush administration has accused Tehran of helping al-Qaida, of developing a clandestine nuclear weapons programme and of undermining US attempts to rebuild Iraq - all claims which Tehran has denied.
The clerical leadership in Iran does not deny the existence of protest. Rather, they point to the sharp political disagreements between the conservatives and reformers as proof of the country's democratic credentials.
Unlike in previous street protests, the club-wielding, bearded vigilantes who came out to crush the demonstrators met fierce resistance. Instead of running away, teenagers fought back, throwing stones and torching the militia's motorbikes.
While previous demonstrations had called for free speech, this time there were hostile chants against clerical rule and even the supreme leader himself, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Criticising the supreme leader, who wields ultimate authority, is normally a taboo that risks imprisonment.
For the first time, demonstrators also openly castigated President Khatami, who was elected six years ago amid high hopes for dramatic change. He and his allies in parliament have tried to introduce democratic and social reforms, but have been repeatedly blocked by unelected clerics who wield blanket veto power.
To distract a restive young population, state television has announced an extensive schedule of Iranian soap operas and European football matches. Free outdoor concerts, with free food, are also being organised in the capital to coincide with the July 9 anniversary.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,987617,00.html24 students arrested by militant forces in the north western city of Tabriz.
The arrestes were not a legal action, according to sources at university of Tabriz.
www.iran-emrooz.de ( A Farsi website )
We still have checkpoints at night and they check and verify all passengers of the cars, especially youngsters and single men.
They set up many check points in the most important junctions of the city of Tehran.
