Iranian Alert -- DAY 18 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The Iranian regime has been threatening a major crackdown on the protesters. In just 11 days (July 9th) the people of Iran are planning massive demonstrations events and strikes. On this date, 4 years ago, the regime brutally attacked peaceful student demonstrators while in their dorms. The result was the loss of life and liberty of hundreds of students, many of which are still unaccounted for.

Iran is a country ready for a regime change. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a country. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary.

Tehran Crackdown: Student protests are subsiding after a wave of arrests ordered by Iran’s clerical hard-liners

By Babak Dehghanpisheh
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

June 26 — Abdullah Momeni knew his time was up. Last night, Momeni and two fellow students left Tehran’s Tarbiyat Moalem University around 8:30 p.m. They had come to the campus to join approximately 40 other representatives from the Office for Fostering Student Unity, an umbrella organization of student activists, to discuss the fallout from the recent wave of protests against Islamic clerical rule in Iran. The trio had only walked a little way up Mofateh Street when they noticed two plainclothes men, armed with pistols, walking toward them.

TWO OTHERS WERE shadowing them on the opposite side of the street. Momeni, an outspoken student leader, made a break for the university gate, knowing that security officials do not have the power to make arrests on campus property. Two of the plainclothes men drew their pistols and cornered Momeni at the gate. He was slapped into a pair of plastic handcuffs and, according to one of the students who witnessed the event, put into a white Pride, an Iranian compact car, and driven away.

Momeni’s arrest was just one of dozens in an intensifying state crackdown on student protesters. Over 100 other students have been detained in similar circumstances in Tehran and smaller cities around the country since violent street protests broke out two weeks ago. Police officials say they have arrested 1,280 people around the country, including vigilantes who attacked students. Certainly, Momeni’s detention couldn’t have come as a surprise. Earlier in the evening, he had turned to his fellow students and said, “In case I’m arrested, my views aren’t going to change. Any announcement that I’ve changed my views will have been extracted under torture and pressure.”

So far, nearly a quarter of those arrested have been released on bail. Privately, some Western officials in Tehran say the detentions are a cause for concern. They point out that the official police numbers don’t include people who were detained by overlapping security services, some of whom operate with a great deal of autonomy. “The regime knows that there’s a threat and they react,” says one Western diplomat. “But it’s difficult to know how many people have been arrested.”

During the past week, worried family members have been gathering outside Evin prison in Tehran for news about their loved ones. Many don’t know if their relatives are inside or what charges they are facing. “When the arrests are violent, with some people even getting pepper sprayed in the face, then what are the conditions of detention going to be like?” Reza Yousefian, a parliamentarian from Shiraz said at a press conference yesterday. Yousefian and a handful of fellow parliamentarians also announced the formation of a committee for investigating student arrests. Among the committee members is Ahmad Shirzad, a parliamentary representative from Isfahan, whose son was picked up in the recent sweep. Frustrated parliamentarians have also been collecting signatures for a motion to call President Mohammad Khatami before the majles (parliament) for his inability to control the crackdown on protesters.

For their part, hard-line clerics have been sending out warning signals about how far they are willing to be pushed. During a Friday prayer speech last week, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi asked that protesters be classified as mohareb—a person who actively fights against Allah—rather than the lesser mokhalef—a person who opposes Allah. If convicted of being a mohareb, the accused could face execution. Members of parliament have also been put on notice. “Whoever crosses the line will be confronted,” Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the head of security forces, said in a parliamentary address yesterday. “Even parliamentarians who are encouraging student activism.”

So far, the arrests have had the intended effect: Kuye Daneshgah, Tehran Pars and other Tehran trouble spots have been largely quiet in recent nights. Police and members of the Basij paramilitary group, who have been given jackets stenciled with the word “Police,” staff informal roadblocks in neighborhoods where protesters gathered. Large buses have also been parked on the side of the road in these neighborhoods to haul off troublemakers. It is widely believed that detainees will be kept in custody until after July 9, the anniversary of a large student protest four years ago. All protests have already been banned on that day.

Meanwhile, not all young Iranians are sympathetic to the activists. “Students who were protesting because of their own political agenda should have been arrested,” says Mehdi Ahmadi, a nursing student and member of the Basij student branch at Tehran University. ”[When] there were huge protests in Michigan [after last week’s death of a motorcyclist during a Benton Harbor police chase,] the American police arrested many people and nobody thought that was inappropriate,” said Ahmadi at a counter demonstration to show support for the government earlier this week. “Why was this a big deal?”

© 2003 Newsweek, Inc.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/931791.asp?0cv=KB10

Painting Iran's walls

SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 27, 2003

A wide scale effort has started by the Islamic republic regime in order to Paint Iranian homes walls as the number of revolutionnary graffitis and slogans, written with color sprays, have increased. Bassidj forces have been mobilized in order to cover these slogans.

Bassidji members are seen, in the middle of night, holding color recipient and brush by trying to hide these popular expressions while young Iranian freedom fighters are continuing their campaign of public awarness few blocks away.

It's to note that those who'll get arrested will
face terrible consequences and a young Esfhanai died, last month, as he was writing slogans.

Most slogans are, at this time, calls for participation in the banned rallies of July 9th and the overthrown of the Islamic regime, such as,
"Kareshan tamam Ast!" (They are Over!) or (Bayad Beravand!" (They Have to Go!).

Other slogans, such as, "Khamenei, haya kon, hokoomat o raha kon" (Khamene-i feel shame, leave power) or "Kahatami e bi kefayat, hamdast e jenayat" (Khatami the incompetent, accomplice of crime) are sen on many walls.

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056720338

THIS IS OUR LAST WORDS WITH A VANISHING REGIME: IRANIAN STUDENTS

TEHRAN 26 June (IPS) In a very strongly worded open letter to the lamed Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, some 106 Iranian students activists warned that a "calamity would engulf the entire Iranian nation" in case "the last bridge between the students and the clerical establishment break down".

"This is probably the last time that the student’s movement addresses the Islamic Republic’s establishment", the students said, protesting to the illegal arrests of students and protesters, their detention at undisclosed jails, suppression of basic freedoms, attacks on dissident activists’ meetings by plainclothes men, events that they say they hold the President for the person responsible to answer.

"We warn you solemnly that these are the last words in the series of dialogue between the student’s movement and the leadership of the Islamic Republic.. if this dialogue is also cut, no doubt a great calamity would befall over the whole of the nation", the signatories warned.

As the letter was published, one of the students leader and member of the Office for Consolidating Unity, Mr. Abdollah Mo’meni was reported arrested by plainclothes men believed to have acted on orders from Mr. Sa’id Mortazavi, Tehran’s Public Prosecutor better known as "The Butcher of the Press", for having ordered the closure of more than 90 independent and pro-reform publications in the past three years.

"You know well that confrontation between the student’s movement with a regime that its legitimacy is about to vanish what kind of destiny reserves for all those are sitting on un-elected, appointed powers, hence, do your best to avoid that fatal day", the students said.

One of the letter's signatories, Sa’id Razavi Faqih, said if Khatami failed to heed the students' warning, they would even stop recognising the legitimacy of elected reformists within Iran's ruling establishment.

The students and the young generation that forms 2/3 of the Iranian 70 million population voted massively for Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami twice in the 1997 and 2001 Presidential elections, but now they have almost "divorced" him, because of his continued silence in face of the hard liner’s open abuse of power.

Reformists around Mr. Khatami accuse the conservatives for blocking the reforms promised by Mr. Khatami, but students and many analysts believe that Mr. Khatami is of a too weak nature to be capable of confronting the hard liners, who are backed by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i and his immense powers.

"Your silence is painful and disappointing. As the second man in the regime, how do you explain open abductions in the streets; the existence of illegal jails, arbitrary detentions? We call on you to react before it's too late and adopt a reasonable solution, or otherwise have the courage to resign so that you don't justify oppressive policies (of hardliners) and allow students to settle their accounts with the establishment", the signatories told the President.

The letter came as after eleven consecutive nights of protest against the Islamic Republic and its leaders, including both Khameneh'i and Khatami, the movement had dropped to a low level, as the authorities had informed that they would not allow any demonstration for 9 July, the fourth anniversary of the massacre of the students by the ruling clerics.

Government authorities have said they arrested about 520 protesters, mostly "hooligans". But not only the students put the number at more than a thousand, but also say that most of detainees are students.

On Thursday, Mr. Mortazavi said more than 2.000 have been arrested in the last ten days, but he did not say how many of them are students.

The clerical authorities routinely describe the dissidents as "hooligans".

While protesters have regularly condemned un-elected hard line clerics and supported Khatami, the recent student-led protests had for the first time called for the establishment's ouster and denounced Khatami for failing to fulfill promises. ENDS STUDENTS OPEN LETTER 26603

http://www.iran-press-service.com/

4,000 arrested during Iran protests: report

Iranian security forces arrested 4,000 people during the recent wave of anti-regime protests, and half of that number are still being held, the prosecutor general says.

The student news agency ISNA and the semi-official ILNA agency report Ayatollah Abdolnabi Namazi says some of those arrested were freed immediately.

"In total, 4,000 people were arrested across the country, and 40 per cent of those arrested were immediately freed," he said.

"Currently there are 2,000 people who are still in prison, among whom there are not many students."

These are the first official figures for the number of arrests across the country.

In Tehran, epicenter of the June 10-20 demonstrations, the Ayatollah says 800 people were arrested.

The protests began after a small student rally against the privatisation of some university facilities snowballed into virulent anti-regime protests around Tehran university, sparking severe clashes between protesters and Islamist vigilantes.

The protests spread across the country, but fizzled out after a tough crackdown.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsnat-27jun2003-81.htm

Italians launch "Free Iran" campaign

SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 27, 2003

Responsible Italian Intelligensia and media have launched an unprecedented campaign named "Iran Day" in an effort to focus the Italians attentions on the plight of Iranian Nation.

This campaign is planning to ask from Italians to attach thousands of flags from their windows stating "Free Iran".

One of the main coordinator of this action is the well known media activist Mimmo Lombezzi of Studio Aperto. This responsible media has created a special section in its website for the supports of Iranians:
http://www.studioaperto.it/index.shtml

Also, several Italian parties, and especially the TransNational radical Party have started their active support of the Movement.

The SMCCDI coordinator, explaining this campaign and support, on the waves of the Iranian radio networks, asked, this morning, from the auditors to thank the Italians for their noble actions by hoping other Europeans to follow their example.

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056722894

DoctorZin Note: Perhaps we should do this in the USA.

Al-Qaeda Number Two and Spokesman is in Iran

June 27, 2003
AFP Yahoo News

DUBAI -- Ayman al-Zawahiri, right-hand man of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, and Suleiman Abu Ghaith, spokesman of the terror group, are among al-Qaeda members detained in Iran, Al-Arabiya news channel revealed.

Zawahiri, Abu Ghaith and one of bin Laden's sons are among a group of aides of the al-Qaeda chief held in Iran, the Dubai-based satellite television said, quoting "Western diplomatic sources."

Al-Arabiya, which did not name bin Laden's son, said the detainees included Saudis, Kuwaitis, Jordanians and Iraqi Kurds.

An upcoming visit to Iran by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will focus essentially on this issue, it said.

Iranian government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said Monday that some al-Qaeda members arrested in Iran had been identified but had refused to give any information about themselves, including the position they held within the organization.

Washington suspects Iran-based al-Qaeda members are implicated in last month's triple suicide bombings in Riyadh.

Iranian leaders said that a handful of members of bin Laden's network were arrested before the May 12 attacks, which killed 35 people.

Recent press reports said that Abu Ghaith, who was stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship, and Saad bin Laden, the Qaeda chief's elder son who is believed to play a key role in the orgnization, were in Iran.

Egyptian-born Saif al-Adel, thought to have taken over as al-Qaeda's number three from military operations chief Mohammad Atef, who was believed killed in Afghanistan, was also alleged to be in Iran.

So was Abu Mussab Zarqawi, a Jordanian national of Palestinian origin who is thought to have previously operated from neighboring Iraq.

Iran has brushed off the claims but has not revealed the identities of the al-Qaeda operatives it is detaining.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030627/wl_mideast_afp/iran_qaeda_030627154852

SMCCDI: Fresh protest and clashes rock Iranian Capital

Fresh protest and clashes rock Iranian Capital
SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 27, 2003

Fresh protest and clashes rocked, late afternoon, several areas of the Iranian capital and mainly the Amir-Abad and Tehran Pars areas where hundreds of residents gatehr to shout slogans against the Islamic regime and asking its overthrown

The islamic regime security forces enetred in action in order to smash the protesters who using guerilla tactics vanished at several occasion in order to appear in neighboring streets.

Many homes has opened their doors and giving hide to the protesters.

Buts despite this new tactic, sporadic clashes happened in these areas as young demonstrators were caught by the security forces.

More unrest is expecetd this evening.

DoctorZin Note: It sounds as if things are heating up again. I did hear a report that the regime was preparing to execute a dozen of the student protesters. No further confirmation on this yet.

Also, I have heard of numerous reports that the regime is attempting to keep people away from the protests by hosting concerts and on the television in the evening they are offering free movie tickets to viewers who stay home to watch these local broadcasts. Sounds rather desperate.

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"How we burned in the prison camps later thinking: what would things have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive?"

~~Alexander Solzhenitzen