Posted on 07/04/2009 5:48:46 PM PDT by Hockey Mom II
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, driven by a thirst for revenge, is preparing a wave of show trials, public confessions and executions to crush the opposition which dared to refute the legitimacy of his election. The West, especially the Obama administration, hoping the bloody crackdown was over, can forget about re-engaging Tehran in talks on the nuclear controversy any time soon, when Mir Hossein Mousavi and the reformist ex-president Mohammed Khatami are denounced for "acting as America's fifth column."
Hossein Shariatmadari, writing in the conservative Kayhan daily Saturday, July 4, said Mousavi must be put on trial as a "US agent" who committed "horrible crimes and treason." The writer is a close adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and must be presumed to represent his boss's views.
Ahmadinejad is pointing the finger at "US and British instigators" in order to conceal the widespread popular disaffection which brought masses out to the streets to protest against the regime, and to trump up a pretext for sentencing accused ringleaders to death.
His pressure on the supreme leader to support harsh punishment seems to be working.
The announcement Friday, July 3, that some Iranian British embassy employees would be tried for acting against national security is part of this campaign. One was said to have confessed. Nine were originally detained and two remain in custody.
The latest DEBKA-Net-Weekly disclosed that last week, intelligence minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejee bluntly warned Mousavi that he and members of his family went in danger of their lives if they carried their opposition to the regime any further. He reminded him of the fate on Neda Agha-Soltan, the Iranian co-ed who was gunned down by the Basij militia.
Mousavi is therefore under enormous pressure to back down and send his supporters home. So far he has refused to do so, but claims he does not know who organized the latest demonstrations.
His home is under siege by security forces who say it is for his own protection. One of Mousavi's deepest fears is that Ahmadinejad will have him put on trial and executed on the charge of causing mass deaths, thereby making the opposition rather than the regime responsible for the bloodshed of recent weeks.
The chief of Iran's security forces, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, announced last Wednesday that 1,032 arrests had been made during the post-election street protests. Our Iranin sources put the number much higher - between 5,000 and 6,000. The first "confessions" have been broadcast by detainees who had obviously been tortured.
Obama’s buddy is the one doing the executing.
It would seem that Neda is a symbol for both sides now. Or a symbol and a warning. A friend of mine is is from Burma and now lives in Thailand, one he told me that the only reason the Burmese generals keep Suu Kyi alive is to show how weak and helpless she is. At best, Mousavi will share the same fate.
Considering that even by the governments count the opposition got around 14 million votes - almost exactly a third of the total - show trials of the major opposition leaders (as opposed to “demonstrators”) would amount to a declaration of all-out war on the third of Iran’s population.
Not saying that’s impossible - for example the current Burmese military dictatorship established itself in power against the will of the majority of voters (though it didn’t kill the top opposition leader, instead placing her her under indefinite house arrest) - but it would cost the current government its remaining international legitimacy - and more important its legitimacy amongst all but the most radical Muslims - for a while looked like Iran might be able to put together a reasonably stable theocratic government while paying lip service to representative government, that’s over now.
"The most important group of religious leaders in Iran has called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment."
Debka - 20% chance they are right.
I don’t believe nothing until I read it on DEBKA!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.