Posted on 12/06/2003 12:12:57 PM PST by Pan_Yans Wife
Hard-line vigilantes attacked a close aide to Iran's president as he was about to give a speech Friday, repeatedly punching and kicking him, his wife and a witness said.
Mohsen Mirdamadi, a prominent reformist lawmaker who heads the parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, was treated at a hospital for a head wound after the attack in the central city of Yazd, his wife, Elaheh Mojarradi, said.
A witness, Mohammad Reza Raji, told The Associated Press by phone from Yazd, that ``as he took the podium, around 15 vigilantes rushed into the hall where Mirdamadi was to speak. They began punching him and kicking him from every side.''
Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi condemned the attack, saying it was part of the hard-liners' campaign before Feb. 20 parliamentary elections.
``The attack appears to be a new strategy on the part of hard-liners to intimidate reformers and disrupt their activities ahead of the elections. They have taken up arms now,'' Abtahi told The AP.
Iran is locked in a power struggle between conservatives, who regard themselves as defenders of the 1979 Islamic revolution, and liberals, who wish to relax the religious constraints and create a freer society.
Mirdamadi was in Yazd to meet local officials of his party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front. He is a senior member of the party, the country's largest reformist group.
Hard-line thugs have frequently disrupted gatherings of reformists but are rarely brought to court. Iran's judiciary is run by conservatives, who have imprisoned dozens of writers and political activists and banned scores of liberal publications.
In June, student-led protests against the ruling establishment were effectively halted by attacks from hard-line vigilantes.
Mirdamadi's wife said the assault showed the political situation in Iran ``where hard-liners have a free hand to commit crimes without punishment, while reformist intellectuals and writers are punished for expressing their opinion.''
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