Islamic Vigilantes Seize Three Iran Student Leaders

Reuters via Yahoo! ^ | Wednesday, July 9, 2003 | By Jon Hemming

[Momaw Nadon]

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Armed Iranian Islamic vigilantes seized three student leaders on Wednesday as they left a news conference where they announced they had canceled protests to mark the anniversary of 1999 university unrest, witnesses said.

Authorities have banned off-campus rallies, closed campus dormitories, postponed summer exams and vowed to deal strictly with any unrest after arresting 4,000 people during 10 nights of sometimes violent protests across the country in June.

"After the news conference when some of our friends wanted to leave, armed plainclothes men in three cars attacked the students and kidnapped three members of the Office to Consolidate Unity," Matin Meshkini, a student leader, told Reuters.

Other witnesses said some 15 people armed with handguns and with the trademark beards, walkie-talkies and untucked shirts of Islamic vigilantes pushed aside uniformed police who tried to intervene as they bundled the three into waiting cars.

"We cannot call it arrest, it was a kidnapping," Meshkini said.

Remaining student leaders barricaded themselves in the Office to Consolidate Unity, Iran's main student organization, and said they would not come out until reformist parliamentarians arrived to guarantee their safety.

Students said they canceled protests in front of the Tehran United Nations headquarters and a campus sit-in, fearing a backlash from security forces and after an appeal for calm from five reformist parliamentarians close to the student movement.

The plainclothes militiamen are fiercely loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure, and are outside the control of the elected government of moderate President Mohammad Khatami and the official police hierarchy.

A number of student leaders have been seized by unidentified assailants in recent weeks and their whereabouts are still unknown, another student leader said.

ANNIVERSARY OF CLASHES

The canceled demonstrations had been planned to mark the day four years ago when hardline vigilantes fiercely loyal to conservative clerics attacked a Tehran University dormitory, killing one person and sparking five days of mass protests.

Many ordinary Iranians, frustrated by Khatami's failure to advance reforms in the face of hardline opposition, pledged to join any student protests on Wednesday.

The June demonstrations, though dwarfed by official marches, went one step beyond previous pro-reform protests. Chants broke the taboo against insulting Khamenei and also condemned reformist leaders.

The United States strongly backed the demonstrations and was accused by Iran of blatant interference in its internal affairs.

Witnesses said police and military units were posted outside the Tehran U.N. headquarters on Wednesday and photographers and camera crews were prevented from taking pictures of the scene.

Khatami has remained largely mute on last month's protests, limiting himself to words of support for the democratic right to protest, while praising the actions of security forces.

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance told foreign news organizations not to go to any demonstrations.

"It is expected that you do not attend any possible illegal gatherings," a faxed statement said.

[Momaw Nadon]

FYI and discussion

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[egomeimihi]

ping

[Numbers Guy]

What's sad is that the networks are totally ignoring this story. Because they can't easily get images to broadcast, they're not covering it, even though the Iranian anniversary is certainly the most important story of the day.

[Trust but Verify]

Doesn't seem like the way to put down these protests, but more the way to incite larger protests. I hope it backfires on the hardliners.

[Smile-n-Win]

an appeal for calm from five reformist parliamentarians close to the student movement.

No parlamentarian in Iran can possibly be "close" to the student movement and still alive.

[Texas_Dawg]

Khashayar,

Do you know anything about this report?

[Ronnie Radford]

Doesn't seem like the way to put down these protests, but more the way to incite larger protests. I hope it backfires on the hardliners.

I hope so too. It certainly seems possible that the students (citizens) of Iran come to the conclusion that if they get kidnapped for calling off the demonstrations they have nothing to lose from demonstrating. However, it is also possible that this sort of action discourages many Iranians from assuming a leadership role in demonstrating against the mullahs. That is certainly what the government is hoping for.

[dr_who_2]

Gee, bet the Iranian government officials are pacing the floors wracking their brains over what they can do to bring these "vigilantes" under control.

[dr_who_2]

I'm not holding out much hope for demonstrations. These people need weapons.

[genefromjersey]

To all of you folks who think a few - or a few thousand - or a few hundred thousand student protesters will make a difference in Iran : Greetings, and welcome to the real world !

Iran is, for all practical purposes, run by the Ayatollah and his council of Imams. The Shiite Muslims believe their clerics are divinely inspired, and that anyone, or anything that dares oppose them is Satanically-inspired heresy.

The clerical rulers PERMIT the elected or appointed government to handle the administrative chores of government; but reserve to themselves the absolute right to set aside the rulings of the government and the courts;and, to this end,they maintain their own militia and religious police - some reportedly reruited from the deposed Shah's dreaded secret police (SAVAK )- over whom NOBODY in government has power of any sort.

ANYONE who represents ANY threat to religious authority has a way of winding up in front of a firing squad-if lucky-being strangled slowly in a hangman's noose if unlucky.

If Iran is ever to be free, it will probably be necessary to kill every Shiite cleric,every one of their bearded enforcers, and a goodly proportion of their overall population.

[Frank_2001]

I agree with you, if not for Free Republic I would not know what was happening there. BTW I wish they would stop referring to those crazy mullahs as "conservatives"!!!