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UNITED MOLLAH PLACED IRAN UNDER VIRTUAL MARTIAL LAW, HUNDREDS ARRESTED
By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor
TEHRAN-PARIS 14TH July (IPS)
As Tehran and major Iranian cities were placed Wednesday under a virtual martial law, hundreds of students and political personalities rounded up in the last 24 hours risks their lives as the ruling conservative clerics, including the President, solidly united behind their leader ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, denounced them as "bandits", "saboteurs", "anti-revolutionaries", "corrupts" or "atheists", each of the charges punishable by death under Iranian Islamic laws.
Hojatoleslam Hasan Rohani, the main speaker of the "Renewing Allegiance to the Great, Wise Leader" demonstration had "happily" informed the crowd of the faithful that "most of the bandits, trouble-makers, anti-revolutionaries, atheists, criminals and saboteurs, some of then known to the authorities and others connected to the bankrupt, insignificant groups fed by dubious hands" had been arrested and will be presented to the people in due time".
"Those who had fomented the troubles of the last two days, who had participated in the destruction of public properties and revolted against the sacred State will be dealt by relevant tribunals and treated as enemies of God and corrupts", Mr. Rohani, the first vice-Speaker of the Majles and Secretary of the Supreme Council of national Security (SCNS) assured.
He said only revolutionary patience of the valiant people of Tehran and the authorities vigilance prevented the badly hurt faithful to lynch the bandits and the hooligans.
He also promised a "thorough clean up", adding that at some stage, the revolution need to be cleaned and purified. "The past days incidents have provided us an opportunity to proceed with a shake up".
Opposition sources reported that Mr. Khosrow Seyf, Mr. Bahram Namazi, Mr. Mofti Zadeh and Mr. Mehran Mir Abdolbaqqi, all senior leaders of the secularist Iranian People's Party (IPP), Mr. Mohammad Reza Kasrani, from the Association of Muslim Students and Miss Maryam Shansi, from the rival National Association of Iranian Students and Alumni were among those arrested by the authorities.
While Mr. Rohani nor any other official said how many people had been arrested, Dr Karim Lahiji, President of the Paris-based Iranian League of Human Rights said according to information his organisation has received, between 500 to 1000 have been rounded up.
The "Black Wednesday" for the students and the bulk of the nation and "National Solidarity" for the organisers of the rally had started "with "hundreds of thousands" of "revolutionary faithful people always present in the arena" demonstrated in Tehran their "total allegiance" to the "Great Leader of the Muslims, His Holiness the ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i", calling on the authorities to "punish with maximum severity" the "bandits, saboteurs, trouble-makers, anti-Islamic, anti-revolutionaries" who, in the last 24 hours, "threatened peaceful, Islam lovers" population of the Capital, destroyed their properties and insulted the Holy Leader.
Originally, the "dovvom khordadi (the people of 23 May, date of the victory of the ayatollah Mohammad Khatami in the 1997 presidential elections), meaning the supporters of the President - one can say his former backers - had chosen the day to stage a mass rally in support of both the students and Mr. Khatami, but following the Monday and Tuesday demonstrations that resulted in violent, bloody clashes between the protesters with the Law Enforcement Forces, Ansar Hezbollah (companions of God) vigilante and Intelligence Ministry's special anti-riots units and the speech of ayatollah Khameneh'i on Monday, the conservatives pre-empted, announced their own rally on the same day, to mark "Renewing Allegiance With the Leader".
Clearly, the plan was to engage the pro-reform forces, mainly the students, by provoking clashes between them and supporters of the leader Khameneh'i, to be followed by the authorities to officially impose martial law, curb the liberal press, ban all political activities for the months to come, and, as a logical result, postpone the forthcoming Majles (parliament) election, which is due in less than seven months.
In a message issued late Tuesday night setting the stage for the Wednesday rally in his support, the GLIR (Great Leader of the Islamic Revolution) ayatollah Khameneh'i had praised the action of the LEF, the Basij and Hezbollah in crushing the plots of the enemy, urged his "beloved Basiji children" to "stop at once any anti-State demonstration and cut the hands of the foreigners".
He also ordered government officials, particularly those in charge of the regime's security to deal firmly and mercilessly with all corrupt elements allowing no trouble-making to any enemy whoever".
"There are two days that a group of rioters, vicious people, supported by certain bankrupt political groups and encouraged by foreign enemies, have engaged in corruption and destruction of people's properties, creating an atmosphere of terror and intimidation and depriving people of their security and tranquillity in Tehran.
"The mean and wretched enemies of Islam and the revolution imagine that Iran's revolutionary people would let them pave the way for the dominance of the criminal US over Iran through their mischievous acts. They imagine that the people have grown tired of Islam and the revolution and thus ant to take revenge from the Islamic revolution", he added.
Mr. Khameneh'i then encouraged the youth to become the regime's informers by co-operate with security and intelligence forces to "check" the enemy's actions vigilantly in order to deprive the mercenary elements from any opportunity through their presence in the scene".
Ending the march at the end of an otherwise very quiet day compared to the last five days that shook the very foundations of the 20 years old Islamic Republic and made away with some of the regime's most sacred taboos like the sanctity of the position of the leader, elevated by his cronies and yes men to the rank of the Representative of God on earth, the "revolutionary Muslims of the Nation of Hezbollah" issued a prepared eight points resolution calling, among other demands, on the "beloved and meritorious" security, LEF, judicial and legislative authorities to deal "firmly with the bandits and trouble-makers attached to imperialism, saboteurs and atheists who had disturbed the peace of the population and destroyed their and public properties".
They strongly denounced the enemy's insulting and humiliating the sacred premises of the velayat, the refuses of imperialism and called for their most severe punishment.
According to several eyewitnesses, the number of marchers brought into the streets were "visibly much less" than one would have expected and "LCI" (Le Canal Info), a private French Television station said what they had received from the Iranian Television about the Wednesday rally was a mix of close up shots with rushes from previous demonstrations.
One eyewitness told the Persian service of Radio France Internationale that the atmosphere is generally calm, there are no more violent demonstrations, security forces are highly visible everywhere.
He said infiltrators had derailed the student's movements and changed their demands in such a way that it could harm the students themselves. The people we see today in front of the University are mostly drawn from Islamic associations. There were very few students. We were expecting much more people. Unfortunately, they (security forces and Islamic hooligans) would not allow photographers and cameramen to work, they would take their cameras except for a few authorised and officials ones.
One journalist on the scene said the whole of the area was full of security forces scrutinising all passer byes. The Ansar vigilante seating on powerful motorcycles, would drive up and down, in an obvious show of force, as telling the population "we are here and the regime is here to stay".
He confirmed that the nation's mobile phones network had been shut down.
Since the start of the students protest movement a week ago, journalists and ordinary supporters of the students had made an extensive use of mobile phones to report live from scenes of fighting between demonstrators and security forces.
Besides some conservative MPs, junior government ministers and mid-ranking officers, the most senior official seen at the rally was the ayatollah Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, the Speaker. Many marchers would carry posters of the grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor, the present leader, and a few of the president.
In a show of solidarity with and obedience to the ayatollah Khameneh'i, Defence Minister Admiral Ali Shamkhani warned all "counter-revolutionaries" that they will be dealt with "whatever mean at our disposal".
He listed three "red lines" crossing them would not be tolerated or permitted: Religious authority, allegiance and obeisance to velayate faqih and the very person of the leader, a reference to the insulting slogans chanted mostly on Monday and Tuesday against Mr. Khameneh'i.
Despite the serious threats, the students not only reiterated Wednesday their original demands, but added some new points, stating the dismissal of commander of law enforcement forces, brigadier general, Hedayatollah Lotfian they consider as the main responsible for the crimes committed in university campus; unconditional delegation of power of law enforcement forces to the interior ministry; dismissal of pressure groups from all military and law enforcement agencies; public court hearings of those responsible for ordering and executing of the crimes in the university campus; .turning over of the bodies of martyred students to the students council for burial ceremonies and full security and protection during the ceremonies; full restitution of the prestige of university and the students through apology from the supreme national security council (which has been received to a certain extent) and other responsible officials and removal the ban on "Salam" daily.
Explaining why President Khatami "betrayed" the students and "deserted" to the conservative's camp, one prominent political analyst said he had no choice but to give in to the leader's order to "come into line".
"The tragic events of the past days were a good opportunity for the conservatives and some of Khatami's own advisers who would warn him against his so-called reform programs, as they would warn him that such efforts would lead to unrest and chaos, weakening the very roots of the system" he commented.
However, the English language "Iran News" cautioned the authorities to be very careful about "students' just outcry" and take it "into account seriously" by finding "remedies" properly prepared for them. "
"Otherwise it may surface somewhere else and in another form. Then it is too late. "History repeats itself but no committed and wise Iranian should insist on this repetition", the paper warned.