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This just in from the Student Movement...

Torched mandatory veils put lights of freedom in Tehran
SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 16, 2003

Tens of females protesters have burned torched their mandatory veils in the center of Tehran, this evening, under to heavy protection and cheers of their male colleagues, brothers and husbands.

Torching the mandatory veils destroy not only one of the main restriction placed the regime but undermine as well, over 1400 of female discriminatory principles instated in Iran after its Arab invasion which lead to the establishment of the Islamic religion in a country which was already monotheist.

This is not the first time that iranian women are torching the veil as same action started last 7th January, during the demonstrations held for the commemoration of the banned "Iranian Women Freedom day".

It is to note that several women were wounded on that evening but also in the last 3 days of unrests by doing same kind of brave action.

TEHRAN, June 16 (AP) - More than 250 university lecturers and writers in Iran signed a statement calling on supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to abandon the idea that he is God's representative on Earth.

In a statement made available to The Associated Press on Monday, the intellectuals say they stand behind liberal legislators' call last month for democratic reform.

The statement comes after a week of protests and riots in Tehran that saw pro-democracy demonstrators clash with police and vigilantes who support the hard-line clerical regime. Protesters said Khamenei should be hanged, an unprecedented call in a land where criticism of the supreme leader is punishable by imprisonment.

Khamenei has the final say on all matters. The ruling clerics regard him as God's representative and say his word cannot be challenged.

"Considering individuals to be in the position of a divinity and absolute power ... is open polytheism (in contradiction to) almighty God and blatant oppression of the dignity of human being," the statement said.

"People (and their elected lawmakers) have the right to fully supervise their rulers, criticize them, and remove them from power if they are not satisfied," said the statement, which was published in the reformist newspaper Yas-e-nou on Monday.

On Sunday, President Bush said the demonstrations showed a yearning for freedom in Iran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi criticized Bush for the remarks Monday, saying the comments reflect a "lack of knowledge or animosity and deep hostility" toward Iran.

Iran accuses Washington of playing a role in the demonstrations, and Asefi said the government filed a formal protest Sunday to the Swiss Embassy, which represents U.S. interests in Tehran.

Prominent among the 252 signatories of the statement against Khamenei were two aides to President Mohammad Khatami, as well as Hashem Aghajari, a lecturer who was condemned to death last year on charges of insulting Islam and questioning clerical rule. Ebrahim Yazdi, the leader of the opposition Freedom Movement of Iran party, also signed.

Aghajari's death sentence was revoked in February after mass protests, but he remains in prison.

The statement said: "We, university teachers, students, writers and political activists, thank and support the letter by lawmakers addressed to the supreme leader that respectfully mentioned people's minimum demands and voiced national concerns."

Last month, 127 lawmakers wrote an open letter to Khamenei calling on him to accept reform before "the whole establishment and the country's independence and territorial integrity are jeopardized."

Conservatives answerable to Khamenei have used their power in unelected bodies such as the judiciary and the Guardians Council to thwart Khatami's reform program. The council has vetoed reformist legislation, judges have closed about 90 pro-democracy publications in the past three years, dozens of liberal writers and activists have been jailed.

In their letter, the legislators said such harsh measures had made elections meaningless.

They also warned that increasing U.S. threats against Iran since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq made the situation worse for the ruling clerics.

Source: SMCCDI