Family Security Matters
By Shahriar Kia
Widespread student arrests as anniversary of uprising approaches
Fearing the students’ role in the June uprising, the mullahs’ regime has resorted to widespread and arbitrary arrests of students and increasing pressure on them.
Benjamin Al-e Tayeb, a 20-year-old Electrical Engineering Student from Dezful University was arrested for unknown reasons and was transferred to the torture chambers of the regime’s intelligence headquarters in the city of Ahwaz, southwestern Iran.
Aydin Khajei, a Tabriz University student, was arrested on the same day. Aydin was arrested previously for operating a student weblog and was sentenced to one year in prison.
The whereabouts of Aydin Armankhah, another Tabriz University student, remains unknown since his arrest.
In Tehran, Masoud Kadkhodaei, Engineering student of Polytechnic University has recently been arrested. Ali Malihi and Mehdi Khodaie, while they have been in custody for the past four months, their situation remains uncertain.
There is no news of two Kurdish students of Tehran University, Amjad (Hazhir) Kurdnejad and Jamal Rahmati since May 31. It is said that they have been arrested by the agents of the mullahs’ Intelligence Ministry.
The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Special Rapporteur on torture, to take urgent measures to free all political prisoners in Iran.
21 Years after Ayatollah Khomeini’s death, low turnout at official celebrations
The anniversary of Khomeini’s death, held on June 4 in the presence of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, turned into a showcase of the clerical regime's isolation, internal schism and disintegration.
Khamenei personally supervised the event, which was meant to be a show of force. What transpired, however, demonstrated the public's disdain toward the clerical regime.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the para-military Bassij and other repressive organs had made every attempt to intimidate and terrorize the public in a thinly-veiled attempt to overshadow the protests expected on June 10 to 20.
The turnout, however, was far less than the regime expected. While most of the crowd consisted of Bassijis and Revolutionary Guards, many in the audience chanted against Khamenei when he was giving his sermon. A number of them were arrested by the security forces.
In his remarks at the Friday prayer congregation, which was also attended by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khamenei threatened the leaders of the rival faction with tough action and execution. Referring to two early Muslim leaders at the time of Prophet Mohammad, Talha bin Ubaidullah and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, he said, "Talha and Zubayr were no small people. Zubayr had a brilliant career, which few of Imam Ali's disciples had. But Imam Ali fielded an army from Medina and went to Kufa and Basra to fight Talha and Zubayr. So, that background evaporated and ended."
Khamenei also implicitly referred to Sadeq Qotbzadeh, one of Khomeini's confidants in Paris, saying, "Imam said frequently that one must pass judgment on individuals based on their current state, and not their past. Some people were in the same plane with the Imam and came to Iran. They were later executed in Iran for treason."
Unable to hide his anger over the uprising on Ashura (December 27) and his fear of the continuation and expansion of the uprisings, Khamenei accused the rival faction of silence vis-à-vis that uprising. He said, "It was very important that they created that fiasco on Ashura. And then some people stand with those who are opposed to the Imam and his way, or praise them or remain silent. And then, at the same time, say we are the followers of the Imam. This is impossible, unacceptable and the people understood this very well."
Before Khamenei's speech, those supportive of his faction and the Bassijis chanted slogans against the rival faction and in Khamenei's favor, preventing Khomeini's grandson, Hassan, from speaking.
The suppressive forces cut off telephone communications around Khomeini’s grave and prevented people from taking mobile phones or cameras to the area.
Rooftop Chants, Burning of Khomeini’s Picture
On Friday night, June 4, the anniversary of the death of the clerical regime’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian people rushed to their rooftops to chant “death to [mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei,” and “death to dictator” in order to show their hatred towards the clerical regime. The nightly protests peaked at 22:00 local time in various parts of Tehran, including Monirieh and Abu-Saeed.
Simultaneously, in the city of Shiraz, students at the Azad (Free) University of Shiraz and dormitory showed their protest by chanting “God is great.” Youths at Mali-Abad in Shiraz threw firecrackers and honked their horns to express joy and to celebrate the anniversary of the death of Khomeini, the founder of the despised clerical regime.
On the 21st anniversary of Khomeini’s demise, a group of young people also burnt his pictures, while a number of other youths chanted slogans against the mullahs’ current Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, as he was giving a speech during the Friday Prayers. Dozens of people were violently beaten and arrested. The detainees were sent to unknown locations with their fates unknown.
The Iranian People’s Uprising – Dawn of the Regime’s Downfall
The Iranian people’s year long uprising against the Iranian regime has caught the whole world off guard and changed the West’s political calculations on Iran, which in the past was affected by the mullahs’ propaganda and their lobbies in the US and Europe. The Iranian people's uprising proved regime's instability and the people’s demand for a change. Ruthless suppression of the opposition in Iran showed that until the velayat- e- faqieh (the religious supreme leader) is in power, free elections and change from within the regime is nothing but a dream. The demand of the Iranian people and their Resistance is the complete and unconditional overthrow of this regime's entirety and the establishment of democracy in Iran. True and deep understanding of this fact will make western policy makers able to reach a real solution for the current crisis with Tehran.
The Iranian people’s uprising is the result of a seriously explosive situation in a society that has suffered years of dictatorship, suppression, corruption and crimes. The potential explosive state of the society is the result of 3 decades of resistance of the Iranian people and its organized alternative, passing Iran from a point of no return. 120 thousand executions of PMOI members and supporters have been the heavy price paid to keep alive the democratic change in Iran. By profiting from the rift resulting between the regime’s highest officials, the potential drive of the people’s uprising rose and found room to make its presence felt. With the escalation of crisis within the regime and fall of the velayat e faqieh talisman, staging protests and expressing hatred of this regime became possible.
Although the Iranian regime rounded up all its suppressive forces nationwide and used arbitrary arrests, torture and public executions in attempts to cause fear among the people, but demonstrations and protests in Tehran and many other major cities continued, showing the train of change has left the station and could not be stopped. The main maxim of this uprising is “Death to Dictator” and “Death to the velayat-e-faqieh principle”, targeting the regime’s foundations. As the time passed, this slogan has strengthened among the people. It is undeniably clear that the goal of the protesters is the complete overthrow of this regime and nothing less.
The Iranian regime has tried to distance the young generation from the political arena. Yet during the uprisings, this young generation has actually matured politically and has taken the course of an enduring opposition and the organized Resistance for regime change. On the contrary, the mullahs have intensified suppression domestically and the expansion of crisis and terrorism in its foreign policy. Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the mullahs established their front lines against the West in Iraq by supporting terrorism, meddling in Iraq and speeding their nuclear ambitions to obtain atomic weapons, all to sustain its internal and external crisis.
The uprising is of strategic importance for the Iranian people and their Resistance, directly or indirectly pursuing the mullahs overthrow. That is why the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance, have granted this issue the highest priority and aim to achieve the Iranian regime’s overthrow. The PMOI’s call for demonstrations and protests from June 10th to the 20th of this year, as the 1st anniversary of the uprising, is now being distributed among people and college students in cities across the country. Beside the PMOI's ability in organizing the people in Iran, and economic pressures that instigate the nationwide uprisings, families of 120 thousand members of the PMOI – executed by the regime – are an effective force and stimulant of resistance against the Iranian regime. Therefore, fearing the existence of such a force, the Iranian regime has taken serious measures to arrest and PMOI supporters and those who have family members in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, where members of the PMOI are residing. Unfortunately, the US terror listing of the PMOI legitimizes these atrocious acts of suppression by the regime. The FTO list has been the core of the US maintaining its appeasement on Tehran.
The Iranian Resistance has insisted on the mullahs’ internal instability for years and described the reason of this regime’s continued existence as being its two pillars of domestic suppression, and support of terrorism in its foreign policy. However, some Western analysts, and of course governments involved in profitable economic deals with the mullahs, approve and reiterate the Iranian regime’s words in this regard and actually claim the mullahs’ rule is firm and steady. Yet we see that the Iranian people’s uprising has made clear the fact that the Iranian regime’s irrational stability actually not existed. Mullahs are profiting from the West’s strategic mistakes in confronting this regime, particularly in Iraq.
To justify their economic relations with the mullahs, some argue that by sanctioning Tehran, nationalistic pride will rise in favor of the mullahs. Of course, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad delightedly welcome such arguments and provoke them in every possible way. However, the Iranian people clearly answered this issue. When Iranian regime officials provoke the people chanting “Death to America”, the people answer them "Death to Russia”! This is the most obvious expression of the Iranian people’s hatred regarding the appeasement policy toward the mullahs, showing they are willing to endure sanctions and resulting pressures, to gain freedom from the religious dictatorship.
The persistence of this wrong policy by the worlds’ major powers by any excuses, this time will not only render the Iranian people as the main losers, rather the international community will also suffer severely. Human rights violations and the killing of the people are nowhere in the world recognized as an internal matter that some people claim. Inaction regarding crimes and killings in Iran, apathy towards the demand of millions of Iranians that took to the streets and cried “Death to Dictator” and called for freedom, have created a very negative image of the West among the Iranian people.
On New Years’ Eve of 1978, President Jimmy Carter, being the guest for a dinner with the Shah in Iran said, “Iran is the island of stability.” One year and 16 days later, Shah was forced to leave Iran once and for all. However, Iran’s current political status is much more critical compared to January 1978.
Change is on the way in Iran. The West must stand with the Iranian people and their Resistance. The policy of appeasement with the mullahs must end and instead severe economic and diplomatic sanctions should be imposed on Mullahs.
