Luciole Press Blog: New articles on Iran: "Iran warns opposition against staging street rally" -- TIME article: "Could Khameini's Ominous Sermon Be a Turning Point?" -- and articles about the Basij militia
New articles on Iran: "Iran warns opposition against staging street rally" -- TIME article: "Could Khameini's Ominous Sermon Be a Turning Point?" -- and articles about the Basij militia
But that vision also sent another signal to Iranians: that in the battle of the streets, those who take Ahmadinejad's side are justified because the Supreme Leader has reiterated his support for the President. It was a thundering warning to the hundreds of thousands who wear green: Get off the streets. (TIME article)
In a first sign of possible resistance to Khamenei's orders came shortly after nightfall in Tehran Friday. Cries of "Death to the dictator!" and "Allahu akbar" — "God is great" — rang from rooftops in what's become a nightly ritual of opposition unity. (AP)
Iran warns opposition against staging street rally
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writers 53 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's opposition leader received another stern warning Saturday not to encourage his supporters to take to the streets a day after the country's top leader sought to end the deepening election crisis by effectively declaring President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.
Supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi had planned a massive rally in Tehran later Saturday. But it was unclear if the rally was going forward, if Mousavi would attend or how large it would be after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered opposition leaders on Friday to end street protests or be held responsible for any "bloodshed and chaos" to come.
A top Iran police official, Ahmad Reza Radan, warned Mousavi Saturday that if people take to the streets, "their leaders will be arrested."
Iran's Interior Ministry also reiterated the warning to Mousavi on Saturday, saying he would "be held responsible for the consequences of any illegal gatherings." The ministry also accused the 67-year-old former prime minister of supporting protests that "have lead to the disruption of security and public order," State Security Council secretary, Abbas Mohtaj, said in a statement on the ministry's Web site.
The warnings place Mousavi at a pivotal moment. He can either back down or risk a crushing response from police and the forces at Khamenei's disposal — the powerful Revolutionary Guard and their volunteer citizen militia, the basij. One of Mousavi's Web site's said he planned to issue a statement "soon." It did not elaborate.
There also are questions about Mousavi's ability to control his own followers, many who are waiting for a clear response to Khamenei's edict on Friday before Saturday's planned rally.
Mousavi, who accuses the government of widespread voter fraud in the June 12 election, and the two other candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad were slated to meet with Iran's Guardian Council on Saturday. The council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Khamenei, investigates voter fraud claims.
But state-run Press TV said Mousavi, and the reformist candidate Mahdi Karroubi did not attend. There was no other details.
The council has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. It not clear, however, if they have initiated any investigations.
Hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters have flooded Tehran streets during several massive marches earlier this week that recall the scale of protests during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In a first sign of possible resistance to Khamenei's orders came shortly after nightfall in Tehran Friday. Cries of "Death to the dictator!" and "Allahu akbar" — "God is great" — rang from rooftops in what's become a nightly ritual of opposition unity.
Since the June 12 election, Mousavi has become the figurehead for a broad collection of demonstrators — from the most liberal-leaning reformists to religious conservatives. Some could be prepared to take their protests to the limit, but many others have no interest in an all-out mutiny against the country's Islamic system.
Khamenei was blunt Friday about what a wider fight would bring — warning those who "want to ignore the law or break the law" will face the consequences.
Police clashed with protesters in running battles around Tehran immediately after the election and the basij militia had a reported role in attacks at the university. Gunfire from a basij compound in Tehran also left at least seven people dead Monday.
But the full force of the police and Revolutionary Guard has remained in check. And this was Khamenei's implicit message since the Guard and the vast volunteer militia force it controls is under direct command of the ruling clerics.
A spokesman for Mousavi said Friday the opposition leader was not under arrest but was not allowed to speak to journalists or stand at a microphone at rallies. Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf told the AP from Paris it's even becoming difficult to reach people close to Mousavi. He said he has not heard from Mousavi's camp since Khamenei's address.
Iranian authorities have placed strict limits on the ability of foreign media to cover recent events, banning reporting from the street and allowing only phone interviews and information from officials sources such as state TV.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other European Union leaders expressed dismay over the threat of a crackdown.
Both houses of the U.S. Congress approved a resolution condemning "the ongoing violence" by the Iranian government and its suppression of the Internet and cell phones.
In an interview taped Friday with CBS, Obama said he is very concerned by the "tenor and tone" of Khamenei's comments. He also said that how Iran's leaders "approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard" will signal "what Iran is and is not."
The crowds in Tehran and elsewhere have been able to organize despite a government clampdown on the Internet and cell phones. The government has blocked certain Web sites, such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites that are conduits for Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence.
Text messaging has not been working in Iran since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down.
Iranians protest the outcome of the presidential election in Iran, near the Iranian embassy in Paris, Friday June 19, 2009. Iran's supreme leader sternly warned Friday of a crackdown if protesters continue their massive street rallies, escalating the government's showdown with demonstrators demanding a new presidential election.
A woman, holding a photo taken during clashes following election results in Iran, takes part in a demonstration near the Iranian embassy in Paris, Friday June 19, 2009 to protest the outcome of the presidential election in Iran. Iran's supreme leader sternly warned Friday of a crackdown if protesters continue their massive street rallies, escalating the government's showdown with demonstrators demanding a new presidential election.
Shiite Muslim men sit in the shade of a tiled arch in the inner courtyard at the Imam Musa al-Kadhim mosque in the Kadhimiyah district of northern Baghdad in May 2009. Many Iraqi Shiites back the Iranian protesters who have turned out onto the streets in massive demonstrations over the past week to contest the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iranian men hold posters of the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, bottom, and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a rally in support of the supreme leader at the conclusion of the Friday prayers, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 19, 2009. Iran's supreme leader sternly warned of a crackdown if protesters continue days of massive street rallies, escalating the government's showdown with demonstrators demanding a new presidential election.
A injured supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi covers his face during riots in Tehran on June 13. Amnesty International says it believes that up to 10 people may have been killed in post-election protests in Iran.
(AFP/File/Olivier Laban-Mattei)
Could Khameini's Ominous Sermon Be a Turning Point?
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei gives his Friday Prayer sermon at Tehran University in this video grab on June 19, 2009
Iranians knew that Friday prayer in Tehran on June 19 would be a turning point. For those tuning in to watch, its significance could be approached visually, like the old May Day parades in Moscow under the Soviet Union. You scan the faces of the people present to see who is there and who is not, attaching meaning to attendance. Among those there to hear the pronouncements of the Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei were most of the top leadership, including powerful personalities like Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Parliament, and one of his predecessors, Gholam-Ali Hadad Adel (who also happens to be related to Khamenei through the marriage of their children). The President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was there too, as was one of his election rivals, Mohsen Rezaei. But dramatically absent were two other candidates for the presidency: Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Also invisible was Ahmadinejad's true nemesis: Ayatullah Hashemi Rafsanjani.
But Kremlinology was dispensed with once the Supreme Leader began speaking — and the country began to parse his words. He spoke of how "the enemy" had been plotting to declare the elections fraudulent even before the vote took place. He spoke of the illegality of street protests. The recent election, he said, was the most significant in the history of Iran, apart from the vote in 1979 that created the Islamic republic. Iranians, he said, should remember that their country represents a third way, the best way, between dictatorships and the false democracies that populate the rest of the world. (See pictures of Iran's turbulent election and its aftermath.)
Khamenei dismissed accusations that the election was stolen. He said cheating occurs by way of small numbers, a vote here or there, a few thousand or 10,000. He indicated that an 11-million-vote margin could not be manufactured. Still, he said, the Guardian Council, which must certify the results, would recount ballots with representatives of all candidates present. In the meantime, he declared that the way of the law, rahe qanun, had to be respected and the violence in the streets brought to an end. He condemned the violent excesses of both the Basij (the volunteer paramilitary that supports Ahamdinejad), and the green-garbed backers of Mousavi.
Khamenei demanded law and order over and over again. Qanun, qanun, qanun. But the real enemies in his eyes were still the U.S. and the West and the Zionists who wish to launch a velvet revolution in Iran. Those people are aqmaqha (idiots), he said, if they think they can undermine the Islamic republic. It was important to preserve the Iranian way created by the Ayatullah Khomeini in 1979.
Khamenei did not deny there was controversy in the ranks. Indeed, he cast the crisis as a debate between the President and Rafsanjani, the most prominent supporter of Mousavi and the chairman of the powerful Assembly of Experts, which has the constitutional right to choose — and perhaps remove — the Supreme Leader. Mousavi, Karroubi and Rezaei were described as good men, but they seemed to be almost incidental characters in the drama Khamenei depicted. In a clear attempt to be evenhanded, Khamenei lauded Rafsanjani. He spoke of Ahmadinejad's campaign charges of corruption against the other Ayatullah and declared that Rafsanjani was not corrupt. It was a slap on the wrist for Ahmadinejad, whom Rafsanjani had threatened to sue over the comments.
Yet in the end, in the wider debate between the President and the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, Khamenei took more of the President's side. That was the Supreme Leader's judgment, and it may be the guideline for his attempt to patch together the equivalent of a coalition government, one headed by Ahmadinejad but with substantial representation from Rafsanjani's political cohort. It was his vision of order. (See four ways the Iran crisis may resolve.)
But that vision also sent another signal to Iranians: that in the battle of the streets, those who take Ahmadinejad's side are justified because the Supreme Leader has reiterated his support for the President. It was a thundering warning to the hundreds of thousands who wear green: Get off the streets. And the usually cool Supreme Leader knew he was delivering an ultimatum. He appeared angry and hot, at one time telling people who seemed to be interrupting him to keep quiet. And the sermon ended with weeping, with the Supreme Leader telling his people that he loved them more than they know. The coming days will show what that love is made of.
— With wire reports
Correction: The original version said that the Supreme Leader had praised former Interior Minister Abdullah Nouri, a reformist politician; Khamenei had actually praised another former Interior Minister, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, who is also a critic of President Ahmadinejad.
The Basij militia answers to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei
Profile: Basij militia force
The Basij militia is an Iranian volunteer force of Islamic government loyalists which is often called out onto the streets at times of crisis to dispel dissent.
The force was originally set up by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 as a resistance force during the Iran-Iraq war.
They received limited training and were used for "human wave" attacks, for example being asked to clear Iraqi minefields by walking across them.
The size of the militia is an open question.
Many Iranian officials cite 20m - the number that Ayatollah Khomeini once suggested would be an invincible force - but independent estimates put the force at as little as 400,000.
A 2005 study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in the United States, estimated 90,000 full-time, uniformed, active-duty Basij members and 300,000 reservists. There are also believed to about a million affiliates who can could be mobilized if need be.
The Basij-e Mostaz'afin, (literally Mobilization of the Oppressed in Farsi), officially known as the Basij Resistance Force (Nirouye Moqavemate Basij), has branches in every town.
It is commanded by a senior cleric and is an auxiliary arm of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Women of any age can join the Basiji al-Zahra (all women) sections
Moral guardians
Historically Basijis (militia members) have been pro-regime and the force has seen a revival under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In past elections, large numbers of the rank and file in the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia were reported to have voted not just for hardliners like Mr Ahmadinejad, but also for reformist candidates.
But there is no doubt that Mr Ahmadinejad still has large support from within the Basij militia, which is made up, in large part, of boys from poor, religious families, often from rural areas, who have benefited from government policies in the last four years.
Aside from being used to quell civil unrest, Basijis are employed as overseers of civilian behaviour, enforcing dress codes, emergency management and the suppression of dissident gatherings.
In the days following the 2009 presidential elections, members of the militia were accused of being responsible for the deaths of seven anti-Ahmadinejad protesters after they fired at a crowd that had attacked a Basij compound.
They were also accused of attacking students at Tehran University and other academic institutions.
Despite usually being seen as beyond scrutiny, the interior ministry agreed to an investigation following a call from the parliament speaker, Ali Larijani.
Iranian women attend a rally in support of the supreme leader, under a painting of the late Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini, right, a Basiji (paramilitary force), center, and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the conclusion of the Friday prayers, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 19, 2009. Iran's supreme leader sternly warned of a crackdown if protesters continue days of massive street rallies, escalating the government's showdown with demonstrators demanding a new presidential election.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Feared Basij militia could transform Iran showdown
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 19, 6:23 pm ET
CAIRO – They're the most feared men on the streets of Iran.
The pro-government Basij militia has held back its full fury during this week's street demonstrations. But witnesses say the force has unleashed its violence in shadowy nighttime raids, attacking suspected opposition sympathizers with axes, daggers, sticks and other crude weapons.
At least once, the militiamen opened fire on a crowd of strone-throwing protesters. State media said seven were killed.
If supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei authorizes a crackdown on protesters calling for a new presidential election, as he warned on Friday, the Basij will almost certainly be out in force.
Formed during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Basij (buh-SEEJ) became one of Iran's most zealous forces in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, often leading charges through minefields.
The group, which is controlled by the elite Revolutionary Guard, also was unleashed on dissidents in the 1990s, when teenagers and young men in plainclothes beat protesting students with batons. It's an intimidation tactic opposition supporters say has been revived during this week's outpouring of anti-government protest.
"The Basij began as cannon fodder for the Revolutionary Guard during the war with Iraq. Now, they are there to do the dirty work for them: breaking up parties, hassling women about their hijab (head covering) and much more violent acts," said Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born independent analyst living in Israel.
The Basij has leaders based in mosques in every village and city throughout Iran, giving it the widest security network in the country, said Mehdi Khalaji, a senior fellow with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a specialist in Iranian politics.
The Iranian government says there are 5 million members in total, but Khalaji told The Associated Press on Friday that active members number around 1 million.
The Revolutionary Guard, a military force that answers to Iran's supreme leader, is considered a strong supporter of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Basij was used to mobilize support for him in the 2005 election as well as during last week's vote, Khalaji said.
In addition to their salaries, militia members — known as Basijis — get incentives such as easy entrance to universities and licenses and loans for businesses.
The most senior members are issued guns. But the majority use sticks, pepper spray and other crude weapons. "They carry guns, batons and they are driving motorcycles," Khalaji said. "With the motorcycles they go suddenly, they start to drive into the crowd with high speed. They beat people with electric batons."
Some Basijis shave their beards and wear jeans to blend in with opposition supporters, infiltrating a crowd and then attacking, he said.
Amateur videos and photographs from Iran posted online in recent days have shown what appear to be attacks on people and property in cities around Iran carried out by young men wearing ordinary clothing. The images cannot be authenticated because of Iranian government restrictions on the media and telephone and Internet communication in and out of the country.
Khamenei's personal bodyguards, who protect his home and office, control Tehran's Basij force, and his stern warning Friday of a crackdown if protests continue was an unambiguous threat to send the militiamen into the streets, Khalaji said.
Members of the Basij and the Revolutionary Guard were on the streets of Tehran after midday prayers Friday, though not in overwhelming numbers.
So far, the Basij has refrained from widespread attacks on demonstrators. But witnesses say the militiamen took part in a police raid on Tehran University dormitories on Sunday night after students hurled stones, bricks and firebombs at police — one of the few violent episodes during this week's rallies.
Basij members used axes, sticks and daggers to ransack student rooms and smash computers and furniture, wounding many students, according to witnesses.
A day later, students attacked a compound used by the Basij and tried to set it on fire. Gunmen on the roof fired on the crowd and killed seven people, according to state media.
Amateur videos that appear to be from that clash showed men carrying away the wounded on streets spattered with blood as fires burned in the distance and gunfire crackled.
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