Iran crushing freedom, opposition says on poll anniversary

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Iran crushing freedom, opposition says on poll anniversary
IRAN - 13 JUNE 2010

TEHRAN – Iran's opposition issued fresh calls for freedom on Saturday as the anniversary of a presidential election that sparked deadly street unrest passed off without major anti-government protests.

Demonstrators stayed away after opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi cancelled plans for new rallies against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because of safety concerns.

But the authorities still deployed thousands of security personnel in Tehran to quell any dissent, with police and the feared Islamic Basij militia out in force, especially around Tehran University and Sharif University.

The opposition leaders have vowed to continue their struggle.

Late on Friday, Mousavi said Iran's rulers had distanced themselves from the goals of the 1979 Islamic revolution and were "shutting peoples' mouths, banning the media, holding elections as we saw last year and filling the prisons" with their opponents.

The security forces used deadly force to quell the massive demonstrations that erupted after Ahmadinejad was returned to power last June in what the opposition alleged was a massively rigged poll.

But no major protests were reported on Saturday, although Borna news agency said a group of pro-Mousavi students at Tehran University shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), an opposition mantra.

Borna, an offshoot of the state news agency IRNA, said the demonstrators soon dispersed.

Mousavi's website Kaleme.com reported that groups of students also staged a brief protest in the nearby Sharif University and clashed with Basij militiamen.

Late on Saturday the anti-Ahmadinejad chant "Death to Dictator!" was heard from rooftops in some parts of Tehran.

Earlier police and militiamen flooded Tehran University, Haft-e Tir Square, Azadi (Freedom) Square, Enghelab (Revolution) Square, and Valiasr Square -- all scenes of previous opposition protests.

Security forces could also be seen in buses parked in nearby alleys, while many -- some wearing masks -- toured the streets on motorcycles.

Iran's deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan told ISNA news agency that a "few people in Tehran" had been arrested, but "no other problems were reported in the country."

Kaleme.com reported that a reformist journalist, Abdolreza Tajik, had been arrested but did not say when, adding that this was the third time he had been detained in 12 months.

In Paris, Iranian Nobel laureate and rights activist Shirin Ebadi told France 24 television the protests have subsided "because whoever went to demonstrate was either killed or arrested.

"But people go on protesting in other ways. The gap between the population and the government is increasing daily," added the outspoken critic of the regime who left Iran on the eve of last year's election.

The June 12, 2009 poll bitterly divided Iran's political elite and dragged supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who openly backs Ahmadinejad, into the crisis.

He accused the West of masterminding the protests in a bid to topple the Islamic regime.

But Mousavi and Karroubi, who were close to Iran's revolutionary father Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reject such charges.

For them, the opposition "Green Movement" is a grassroots initiative pursuing revolutionary aspirations including free elections, freedom of expression and respect for human rights.

Mousavi urged that the opposition movement be kept alive and said demonstrations are not the only way to protest.

"We should... help expand websites... as films shot on cellphones... are our best instruments. They act like an army," he said on Sahamnews, Karroubi's website.

Former president turned opposition sympathiser Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called for unity "even if it has been slightly tarnished," in remarks reported by ISNA.

Dozens of people were reportedly killed in running battles between security forces and protesters, especially in Tehran, after the election.

The regime responded by rounding up politicians and journalists close to Mousavi and Karroubi amid reports of protesters being raped in custody.

The authorities reacted furiously to rape accusations but were forced to admit abuses at Tehran's notorious Kahrizak detention centre, which was closed after at least three protesters died of injuries there.

Iran has also sentenced 10 protesters to death and hanged seven people on security charges unrelated to the election but seen as a warning to the opposition.


Source: AFP

 

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Iran opposition leader vows to continue struggle
IRAN - 12 JUNE 2010

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's opposition leader pledged on Saturday to continue the struggle against the government, even though the mass protest on the anniversary of last June's disputed presidential election has been called off.

Mir Hossein Mousavi said the opposition will "continue our peaceful methods" to resist a government it decries as fraudulent. But the leader's subdued tone also reflected the movement's indecisiveness and powerlessness in the face of a violent government crackdown.

Mousavi and another top opposition figure, Mahdi Karroubi, on Thursday called off the plan to take to the streets on the anniversary of the June 12 balloting, citing fears of violence and concerns for the lives of the protesters.

The anniversary passed with no signs of major disturbances or sizable gatherings.

Witnesses reported sporadic but minor clashes at Tehran's Azadi Square between a few dozen protesters and anti-riot police swinging batons.

Security forces were seen taking one person away near the entrance of Tehran University, where no gatherings were allowed, another witness said.

The opposition says at least 80 protesters died last year in street clashes between security forces and protesters in the postelection turmoil.

Iran's worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The authorities have put the figure at around 30.

Hundreds of police were deployed on main junctions Saturday. The government, which had warned that any unauthorized gatherings Saturday would be heavily confronted, said the extra deployments were part of regular maneuvers in Tehran.

Since last June 12, the opposition has claimed that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected through massive vote fraud and that Mousavi was the rightful winner. It rallied for months against the election results but was met by a heavy government crackdown.

Mousavi's statement Saturday said that while the opposition "may put off its presence in one arena," it will persevere through other ways — a reference to staying away from street gatherings and attempting to find alternative ways for a political struggle.

The statement on Kaleme.com cited Mousavi as saying that spreading the truth about the nature of Iran's ruling establishment was the most potent weapon for the opposition now.

"We need to spread awareness, this is what they fear," Mousavi said. "This is their vulnerable point. If we can spread awareness, there will be a huge popular force behind the demand for change."

He urged Iranians to distribute films, photos, video clips and cell phone footage of what's really going on in the country.

"We have to expand social networks, websites, these are our best means," Mousavi added. "These work like an army. This is our army against their military force."

As with Mousavi's statement on Saturday, dozens of Web posts and proclamations against Ahmadinejad and the ruling system are issued each day — but all they amount to is words against muscle.

The Iranian leaders appear to be far more secure on the anniversary of the election than during the tense weeks after the vote last June, when hundreds of thousands of protesters followed Mousavi through Tehran streets after allegations of massive ballot fraud to sink his Green Movement.

Now, Mousavi and Karroubi's backpedaling is likely to be interpreted as another win for the Islamic state and its key protectors, led by the Revolutionary Guard and its network of paramilitary units known as the basij.

But the past year has not been without moments of deep change for Iran — a year ago, it would have been unthinkable to chant slogans against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters in Iran. The chants are now common and have punched holes in the political firewall that once separated the theocracy from the people.

At the same time, Iran's rulers have retrenched and handed more control to the Revolutionary Guard, resulting in a far more aggressive hand at home and a less compromising attitude aboard — including a hard line over Iran's nuclear program that brought a new fourth round of U.N. sanctions this week.


Source: Associated Press