Violent Protests in Iran

Even though what ultimately happens in the continuing struggle against Iran's theocratic government would have profound impact on the Middle East, for the most part the U.S. media has dropped the ball on coverage. The New York Yimes looks at the situation and has he has done consistently, Andrew Sullivan continues to report on happenings in Iran. Should the theocracy be overthrown and a democracy arise, it would reverberate all over the Arab world - even though Iran is by definition and Arab country. The Persian Empire long predates the rise of Islam and many Iranians are aware of their nations glorious, educated past. Yes, Islam is the principal religion, but culturally Iran is far different than other Middle East countries. Here are some highlights from the Times story:

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Iran’s broadest and most violent protest in months spilled over into a second day on Tuesday, as bloody clashes broke out on university campuses between students chanting antigovernment slogans and the police and Basij militia members.

The clashes took place on campuses in cities across the country, as students and opposition members took advantage of National Student Day to vent their rage despite a lengthy and wide-ranging government effort to forestall them.
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The violence continued Tuesday on the campus of Tehran University, where security forces were using tear gas and arresting students, according to reports and video clips relayed through Twitter and Internet postings. There were protests at large squares near the university as well, witnesses said.
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Monday’s protests showed a striking escalation in direct attacks on the country’s theocratic foundation and not just on the June presidential election, which the opposition has attacked as fraudulent.
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The new violence came as Iran’s chief prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehi, warned of even harsher measures if the protests did not cease.
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On Monday, protesters burned pictures of Ayatollah Khamenei, and even the father of the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. They held up Iranian flags from which the “Allah” emblem, added after the revolution, had been removed.
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The protests were timed to an official holiday commemorating the killing of three students by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s forces in 1953. Students have held a central role in the insurrections of Iran’s modern history.
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On Tuesday, the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi — who was prevented from attending Monday’s demonstrations — had a tense standoff with angry security men who had surrounded his office, according to opposition Web sites.
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[I]t has become unclear how much Mr. Moussavi speaks for the opposition, which includes many who appear to be taking a more radical approach and demanding an end to the theocracy. During Monday’s demonstrations, there were fewer people with clothing or banners in the trademark bright green color of Mr. Moussavi’s presidential campaign. And there were more chants aimed directly at Ayatollah Khamenei — a taboo that has increasingly eroded since the election. In addition to the now common chants of “death to the dictator,” some protesters chanted, “Khamenei knows his time is up” on Monday.

Meanwhile, More Gruesome News from Iran

It has been a while since I last posted on events in Iran, but my heart is still with those who seek democracy and an overthrow of the Islamic dictatorship that still controls the country. Disturbing stories of the brutality of the dictatorship officials and their thugs continue to seep out of Iran and - one can hope - will perhaps in time lead to the overthrow of these foul rulers. Stories like this one from niacINsight make me sick and remind me that it is critical to keep the stories of the victims alive:

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New information is emerging about another victim of the Basij’s post-election violence. Saeedeh Pouraghaei was arrested because of her chants of Allahu-Akbar on the roof of her house in Dowlat Ave, in north of Tehran. Saeedeh was the only child of Abbas Pouraghaei who died two years ago of injuries sustained during the Iran-Iraq war. Saeedeh was arrested by the plain-clothed agents, and about 2o days after her arrest her mother was summoned to identify her body. Saeedeh’s mother says that the body was partially burned, and she recognized her daughter with difficulty. She was asked to announce “kidney failure” as the cause of death.

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According the Saeedeh’s family it seems that the body was intentionally burned to hide the evidence of rape and torture. Her body was not even handed over to her family, and they were just notified that she was secretly buried in Behesht Zahra cemetery in one of the unknown graves in section 309. Mir Hossein Mousavi attended Saeedeh’s funeral ceremony on Saturday in a mosque in Dowlat Ave.

Iran Tries to Suppress Rape Allegations

It is very hard to believe that the accusations that detained protesters were in some cases raped and sodomized are untrue. These violent acts were no doubt one by some of the same thugs that beat protesters to death and/or shot them in cold blood. What better way to demean and humiliate detainees that to sexually violate them. And then there's the fact that like all religious based tyrants, the current Islamic leaders lie without a second thought and somehow expect that thinking people will buy their bullshit. My rule of thumb is that the louder people protest that fact based allegations are untrue, the more one knows that they are knowingly lying. One can only hope that the accusations will continue and that pressure will build to force and investigation that will expose the crimes of the ruling dictators. Here are some highlights from the New York Times on the ongoing issue:

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Iran’s clerical leadership on Friday stepped up a campaign to silence opposition claims that protesters had been raped in prison, with prayer leaders in at least three major cities denouncing the accusations and their chief sponsor.

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The accusations of rape — usually a taboo subject in Iran — have multiplied and provoked strong reactions in the days since a reformist cleric and presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, broached the subject last weekend. His allegations added fuel to an already volatile debate about prison abuse in the wake of Iran’s disputed June 12 election.

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Also on Friday, a group of reformist former lawmakers issued an extraordinary statement on opposition Web sites in which they denounced the government’s harsh tactics and appealed to a powerful state body to investigate the qualifications of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Although it was not clear who had endorsed the statement, or even if all of the lawmakers were in the country, it appeared to be the most direct challenge to the supreme leader’s authority yet in the unrest following the election.

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But Mr. Karroubi appeared to be undaunted, and he pressed ahead with more claims of jailhouse sexual abuse in a statement posted on his party’s Web site late Thursday. He said he had received testimony from former prisoners that they had seen other detainees “forced to go naked, crawling on their hands and knees like animals, with prison guards riding on their backs.” Others told of watching as fellow prisoners guilty only of marching and chanting slogans were beaten to death, Mr. Karroubi said.

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The former lawmakers praised Mr. Karroubi for publicizing the rape accusations and angrily dismissed the mass trial of reformists now under way as a Stalinesque show trial. They also echoed opposition complaints about the brutality of the crackdown that followed the protests.

Karroubi Demands Probe into Rape of Detainees

I always find it ironic that those who claim to be the protectors of religious purity - regardless of the faith involved - are generally the ones that inflict the most heinous treatment on those who challenge their authority or espouse a different belief system (e.g., the Catholic Church's Inquisition which tortured and executed "heretics"). Recent events in Iran confirm this pattern as charges of rapes and torture of detained protesters by the thugs of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei have come to light. Now, in an effort to secure redress - and expose Ahmadinejad and Khamenei for their true colors - defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi (pictured above left) has written to Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, head of the Assembly of Experts, demanding an investigation. Here are some highlights from Tehran Bureau:

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Defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi called on the Assembly of Experts to investigate the sexual assault of a number of young men and women arrested in the post-election unrest. In a letter to the head of the Assembly, Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Karroubi said,” Some of the detainees of the [post-election] unrest claim that the detained girls have been sexually assaulted with such brutality that they have all sustained intense vaginal tearing.”
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“The young men in detention were also sexually assaulted in a manner that some are now suffering from depression and other physical and psychological problems and are incapable of even leaving their homes.”

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Karroubi, the Secretary-General of the National Confidence party said, “The people who informed me about these events hold sensitive positions in the country… these officials told me that the things that happened in the detention centers [are so deplorable] that even if one count is true, it would be a tragedy for the Islamic Republic… and it would whitewash the sins of many dictatorships including that of the deposed shah.”

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“Given the importance of the issue, it is expected that an impartial and transparent committee be appointed by the head of the Assembly of Experts to investigate the issue until results are obtained and so that this will be a lesson for the future and hooligans will no longer dare to cause the Imam [Khomeini], the establishment and the Islamic Republic to lose face.” According to Mehdi Karroubi’s son Hossein, the veteran politician’s son had written the letter 10 days ago and due to the silence of Rafsanjani had been forced to make the letter public.

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I suspect that the rapes and torture and murder of detained protesters happened - and that it all was directed by Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. Nothing is more dangerous and lawless than religion fused with politics.

Leading Iranian Clerics Defy Ayatollah

I continue to follow events in Iran with the hope that ultimately the reformists will prevail. The Islamic extremist government has shown it self to be not only dishonest but also incredible brutal. All too typically, the forces of brutality are the ones who claim to have God/Allah on their side when in fact it's the exact opposite. Fortunately, some leading clerics are gaining some backbone and resisting the stealing of the election. It is hard to say where this will lead, but it is nonetheless encouraging. The motivation for this move is unclear, although it may be a simple recognition that siding with the people is the safer approach in the longer term. Here are some highlights from the New York Times:

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The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.

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A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult — if not impossible.

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“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

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The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president’s supporters, and as a close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami “foreign agents,” saying they should be treated as criminals.

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The documents, published on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site, accused supporters of the president of printing more than 20 million extra ballots before the vote and handing out cash bonuses to voters.

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The clerics’ decision to speak up again is not itself a turning point and could fizzle under pressure from the state, which has continued to threaten its critics. Some seminaries in Qum rely on the government for funds, and Ayatollah Khamenei and the man he has declared the winner of the election, incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have powerful backers there.

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But the association’s latest statement does help Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Khatami and a former speaker of Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, who have been the most vocal in calling the election illegitimate and who, in their attempts to force change, have been hindered by the jailing of influential backers.

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Perhaps more threatening to the supreme leader, the committee called on other clerics to join the fight against the government’s refusal to adequately reconsider the charges of voter fraud. The committee invoked powerful imagery, comparing the 20 protesters killed during demonstrations with the martyrs who died in the early days of the revolution and the war with Iraq, asking other clerics to save what it called “the dignity that was earned with the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs.”