Posted on 06/28/2003 5:40:11 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
ROME 28 June (IPS) On the initiative of a group of Iranian intellectuals and journalists in Italy and in collaboration with "Il Riformista" newspaper, a hundred of leading Italian personalities of all walk announced their support for the Iranian student’s freedom seeking protest movement.
"On 9 July, all of us we shall be Iranian", wrote Marco Follini, the General Secretary of the "Unione di Centro Democratice" (Union of Democratic Centre), referring to the fourth commemoration of the first major student’s protest revolt against the Islamic Republic, seeking freedom and democracy.
The 9 July 1999 rebellion, started as a peaceful protest by students against the closure of a reformist newspaper, was savagely clamped down on orders of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic and the blessings of President Mohammad Khatami, elected for the first time two years before thanks to massive votes of the students.
"On 9 July, all of us we shall stand proudly by Iranian students, supporting their struggle for democracy and freedom", Mr. Follini said, calling on the Italians to join in the support movement "regardless of their political stands".
The latest wave of anti-regime demonstrations started almost two weeks ago with the students protesting a government plan to privatise higher education, discriminating the poorer classes, but it quickly became full scale political, after Islamist thugs and pressure groups, controlled by the ruling conservatives, attacked the protesters.
The students were then joined by ordinary people, clashing with the vigilantes and basij (volunteer) militias, chanting for the first time slogans against the regime’s highest officials, including Ayatollah Khameneh’i, former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the regime’s highest personage after the leader and president Mohammad Khatami.
The protests intensified after Mr. Khameneh’i called on the Basij to deal "mercilessly" with the demonstrators and another hard line cleric demanded the Judiciary that the students and their supporters be punished as enemies of God, an accusation that carries death penalty under Iranian Islam-based laws.
"The fight of the brave young Iranians is not important for the Iranians alone, but also would have a positive implication for the future of the whole of the Middle East", he observed.
Answering the invitation of the Italy-based "Iranian Committee for Support of 9 July Protest Movement", Italico Santoro, the Editor of "La Voce Republicana" said not only he and all of his colleagues at the newspaper would come out on the occasion, "but I’m certain that most of our readers would also join the commemorative event".
"I shall be with you on 9 July, bringing a message not only for my friend and colleague Babak Payami, who was detained for 48 hours, but also for all Iranians, particularly the students, who, because of their courage, have been admired world-wide", said Paolo Virzi, a veteran Italian movie director.
As for Piero Fassino, the General Secretary of the "Democratice di Sinistra" (Democratic Left), Italy’s main opposition Party, "it is heart-warming" that "at last", some in Italy have decided "not to let Iranian students alone in their struggle for democracy".
In a letter sent last week to the leaders of the European Union, Mr. Fassino had urged them to "end their silence" concerning the Iranian students protest movement.
A former Justice Minister, Mr. Fassino, while announcing his "full support" for the democratic aspirations of Iranian students, said: "By backing the Iranian students, we also defend the interests of the European Union that cannot be separated from democratic movements in Europe".
"In our letter placed on some internet websites, we urged the Italian public not to remain silent in the face of what is boiling down in Iran or to explain why their indifference?" one of the original promoters of the letter, Mr. Ahmad Ra’fat, an Iranian-Italian journalist told Iran Press Service.
"Not only hundreds of people, among them some of Italy’s best known and respected intellectuals, journalists, artists and politicians responded almost immediately to our action, but also said they would suggest to celebrate the 9 July as "Iranian Students Day". ENDS STUDENTS UNRESTS 28603
Yes.. but not all who said that have turned back. Come July 9th, if there's anything happening in the Seattle area I will join in. "A^za^rak" == "Liberty", if I have it right.
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