Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page
Search the Web

KHATAMI FACES POSSIBLE COUP BY REVOLUTIONARY GUARD COMMANDERS

Slowly but surely, the Iranian ruling conservatives are tightening the pincer against the besieged pro-democracy students and reformists that the "defection" of their leader, the ayatollah Mohammad Khatami had made them orphan and leaderless. The hard liners fired Monday three big salvo into the reform seeking positions with the Judiciary and the Islamic Coalition League (ICL) warning the pro-reform press, individuals and groups against "provocative" articles and statements.

But the biggest shrapnel came in the form of a manifesto signed by 22 high ranking officers of the revolutionary guards, including the commanders of the force's Air, Land, Navy and Intelligence Unit and delivered "secretly" to the person of the President, informing him that their patience with the so-called reform programmes "has reached its limits".

"You either take now a revolutionary decision by stopping the unrest (caused by the reformists) or tomorrow would be late", they warned Mr. Khatami.

But what puzzled observers was the publication of the content of the unprecedented manifesto, supposed to be secret, in the afternoon daily "Keyhan", an extremist hard line newspaper known for its close relations with the Information (Intelligence) Ministry, with it's Editor, Mr.Hossein Shariatmadari, appointed by the leader, being a senior member of the regime's secret services.

"Our patience has reached its limits and we can no more tolerate any further disturbances. Do not Your Excellency hear the Western media's drumming and playing on the tune of the recent unrest provoked by foreigners? Does Your Excellency think that insulting the beloved leader of the Muslims is not worth the arrest of a student?" the signatories asked the President.

However, the officers did not specified what they will do if Mr. Khatami do not call the shot and meet their demand.

Noting the silence observed so far by Mr. Khameneh'i in the one hand and the persistence of rumours concerning the existence of both a coup against Mr. Khatami and plans to dismiss him on the other, one Iranian analyst speculated that the manifesto could have be signed with the leader's blessing. "Considering the fact that the ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i is the Supreme Commander of all the Armed Forces, it is very, very difficult to think that the Guard's commanders have taken such an unprecedented decision, that is to menace the elected president in such an unequivocal term without authorisation, or at least the blessing of their Supreme Commander. And when one consider that the letter was published by a paper like Keyhan, the obvious conclusion is that the psychological war against the reformers is taking new dimensions", the analyst told IPS.

Following the leader's "guidelines", the conservatives have gone out of their way by filling the waves with their theory of foreign involvement in the recent protest movement staged by students following the nightly raid on their dormitories by Islamic zealots backed by Law Enforcement Forces and special units of the Intelligence Ministry on 8^th July.

Charged by Mr. Khameneh'i to put down the student unrest, the Intelligence Ministry named Sunday Mr. Manouchehr Mohammadi, the secretary-general of the secularist Association of Nationalist Iranian Students (ANIS) and his deputy, Mr. Qolamreza Mohajeri-Nezhad as having travelled to Turkey, United States and some European countries where they met with "counter-revolutionary" groups, made speeches against the regime and received money and directives from foreigners.

Opposition sources inside and outside Iran expressed concern for the faith of the two students leaders, speculating that they may be forced to make televised confessions and executed afterward. In a telephone calls to IPS, brothers of both Mr. Mohammadi and Mohajeri-Nezhad voiced their fears to see them executed. During the six days of constant demonstrations, protesters broke a 20 years-old "sacred" taboo by burning posters of the leader and chanting slogans denouncing Mr. Khameneh'i as a dictator, supporter of the criminals and hooligans and urging him to step down and leave his godly throne.

Students say in the past ten days and particularly after the "Black Wednesday" pro-leader demonstrations organised by the conservatives, at least 1.400 people have been arrested and 2 others killed. Quoting an unidentified official, one Tehran newspaper said Monday that 750 people have been released but 450 other remain in detention, with their cases being "under investigation. That figure almost matches that provided by the students who, however, did not said how they had reached the number of 1400 arrested?

While the hunt for "foreign-paid trouble-makers, agents provocateurs, saboteurs, corrupts, counter-revolutionaries and rioters" continue unabated, the out-going Head of the Islamic Judiciary, the hard line ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, chairing a meeting of officials in charge of the fight against the students and other people who participated in the demonstrations menaced that ''such seditious acts no matter on whose part they are will be encountered legally and strictly'', the official IRNA news agency reported from Tehran.

In a stern warning to the pro-reform press to stop at once writing provocative and seditious" articles, Mr. Yazdi said the Judiciary will "independently and decisively" fulfil its duty in confrontation with any lawlessness, disturbance of public order and violation of the citizens' rights.

But observers noted that not only the Judiciary is directly controlled by the leader who appoints it's Head, but it is a political arm in the service of Mr. Khameneh'i. They also pointed out while the authorities have arrested hundreds of demonstrators, none of those responsible for the savage attack on the student's dormitories have been detained. Mr. Yazdi made the remarks as dissident sources announced the arrest, Sunday night, of Mrs. Elaheh Amir-Entezam by Intelligence Ministry's plain cloth agents.

Her husband, Abbas Amir-Entezam, a former Deputy Prime Minister under Islamic Iran's first Provisory Government headed by the late Mehdi Bazargan is in jail since 1980, charged, but never proved nor tried, for espionage for the United States, making him Islamic Iran, and probably one of the world's longest serving political prisoner. Dissident sources speculated that she might have been detained because of interviews given to some Farsi-language radio stations defending her husband, other political prisoners as well the protesting students "Under no circumstances will we allow insecurity or assault on the principles of the system or achievements of the Islamic revolution" Mr. Yazdi further assured the nation.

Almost at the same time, the secretary general of the notorious Islamic Coalition League Mr. Habibollah Asgarowladi warned against "plots of the enemy" and criticised Thursday edition of some dailies which referred to the "massive turnout" of the people rallies on the previous day as a "militia coup against the government", arguing whether people's allegiance with the leader should be interpreted as a coup. "The idea of coup is being suggested by those political groups which had hands in recent unrest. Such a stance not only should not be overlooked, but also should be interpreted as sort of confrontation with the people and the government", Mr. Asgarowladi added, as quoted by IRNA.

He called for a survey over the role that was played by that sector of the press and the people who were actively involved in the recent violence and urged the Supreme Council of National Security to find out the reason as why a press network inside the country focused on the same subjects that were also raised by the Voice of America and radio Israel?

Adding it's own voice to the anti-reform chorus, the English-language daily "Keyhan International", edited by the same group that publishes Farsi-language "Keyhan" that speaks for the Intelligence services "welcomed" Monday the second communiqué of the Ministry alleging that funds were provided to "the agents" (meaning Mr. Mohammadi and his friend at ANIS) by some foreign powers that "engineered" the turmoil either by "taking advantage of chaos" at the Tehran University dormitory or "brought about the tragic event which they duly exploited in the following days".

"Although the information ministry asserts that it cannot release complete details of the payers and the payees at the moment, it would prove greatly effective in clearing ambiguities and stopping circulation of distorted news, if some explanation is given as to whether last week's student unrest at Tehran University's dormitory was mainly a students' issue or was it an outcome of some non-student entities' provocation? asked the article.

Hinting that other pro-reform newspapers may have been created with foreign money, "Keyhan International" said "another issue worth paying attention to is the publication of so many newspapers in the country (as) those in the field of journalism are aware of the fact that starting of publication of a daily requires substantial capital investment and unless the new daily succeeds in building up a vast readership and gets enough advertisements, it would not be possible to continue its publication".