FORTY MORE IFM MEMBERS AND ISLAMIST-NATIONALIST ARRESTED
TEHRAN 8 Apr. (IPS) On orders from Ayatollah Ali Khamenehe'i, the leader of the Iranian Islamic regime, the Islamic revolution tribunal of Tehran arrested 40 members of the Iran Freedom Movement (IFM) and personalities affiliated to the Nationalist-religious current, both considered by the ruling conservatives as their "dark horse".
Head of the tribunal Hojjatoleslam Mobasheri told the Iranian Students News Agency ISNA that about 40 National-religious activists have been arrested in Tehran and other cities accused of "plotting against the regime".
This brings the number of IFM and Nationalist-religious members arrested in the past month to more than 50.
He explained the mass arrests, saying it was based on confessions made by people who had been arrested earlier.
"On this basis other people have been arrested and, if the charges are proven, others may also be arrested and will be dealt with", he indicated.
The new round of arrests took place late Saturday afternoon, with agents of leader-controlled Islamic revolutionary tribunal raiding homes of leading members of both IFM and Islamist-nationalist groups as part of a severe crackdown on dissents opposed to the absolute rule of Mr. Khamenehe'i.
The Judiciary officially banned "all kind of activities" of the IFM and the Nationalist-religious "under any name and disguise" on the eve of the Iranian New Year "Norouz" when, in similar operation, 21 prominent personalities belonging to these movements were detained during a night raid on the house of Mr. Mohammad Basteh-Negar, an IFM activist.
In a statement released afterward, the leader-controlled Judiciary said the detainees were plotting to "overthrow" the present regime, but provided no documents.
Of those arrested in the first wave of repression against the Islamist-nationalists, nine had been released on bail.
Mr. Hashem Sabbaqian, Ahmad Sadr Haj Seyyed-Javadi and Mohammad Ali Tavasoli, respectively former Interior and Justice ministers and Mayor of Tehran in the first post-revolutionary government of Mr. Mehdi Bazargan, the leader of the IFM are among the arrested.
Mr. Sabbaqian chaired the "Committee to Welcome" Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on his historic return from exile to Tehran in February 1979.
Mr. Haj Seyed Javadi is 84 years old and in ill health, family sources said.
Founded in the sixties by Mr. Bazargan, the IFM played a substantial role in the victory of the Islamic revolution due to its popularity among Iranian middle class and moderate religious.
Though Mr. Khomeini did named Mr. Bazargan as his first Prime minister, but at the same time he denounced the organisation as a "seditious Islamist" current.
But because of its nationalist ingredient, a modernist interpretation and presentation of Islam, its support for the reform process while preserving its distances with President Mohammad Khatami, its opposition to the integration of politics and fate, the monopoly of the regime by a minority of clerics and particularly its rejection of the concept of "velayat faqih", or the absolute rule of the leader, both IFM and the Islamist-nationalists enjoys wide-spread popularity among the students, intellectuals, scholars and armed forces personnel.
IFM and the nationalist-religious often criticise Mr. Khatami for his silence concerning the hardship his friends, allies and supporters suffers from the conservatives.
"Because their defence of Iranian, culture, history and civilisation, the IFM and Islamist reformers enjoys a very great popularity among Iranians, a people proud of their past and known for their nationalism", observed Mr. Sadeq Saba, the BBC’s senior analyst on Iranian affairs.
In fact, one of the reasons a majority of Iranians hates Mr. Khamenehe'i is his total antagonism with nationalism, for, as a fundamentalist Muslim, he places the "Umma", or the "nation of Islam" and for this reason, in his speeches, he never refers to Iranian nationalism, but to Islam instead.
Like some other nationalist and secularist political forces that took an active part in the Islamic revolution, IFM was declared outlaw, but tolerated.
Newspapers said security forces had closed down Freedom Movement offices throughout the country, searched their residences and confiscated all their documents.
Leader of the IFM Mr. Ebrahim Yazdi condemned the measure as "utterly illegal and anti-Constitutional".
"As strange it looks, but the reality is that in Iran, people get arrested on accusation of defending the Constitution", he said, speaking to the Persian service of the BBC from the US, where he is going medical treatments.
"They (conservatives) started to accuse, then arrest and condemn us without any trial. This shows that they have made their mind", he added.
In a mild reaction, the embattled President Khatami expressed regret over the new round of arrests, saying "in light of the best interests of the society and the long-term security of the country, I have to express my regret".
"As far as I know about the public opinion, such measures are not in the interest of the political system and people", he said, amidst growing suspicions that he had secretly approved the measures against the Islamist-nationalists.
"If this assumption is wrong, then Mr. Khatami must say it publicly. If he does not, it means he agrees", observed Mr. Abolhasan Banisadr, Iran’s first elected President.
"I do not say that violators of law should not be dealt with or if an academic breaks the laws, he should not be prosecuted, but if anybody, whether academics or others are oppressed, it is regrettable", the official news agency IRNA quoted Mr. Khatami as having said referring to the arrest of some university students and academics.
Analysing the Tehran Islamic revolution tribunal’s laconic statement concerning the arrests, Mr. Ahmad Salamatian, an independent political analyst based in Paris observed that by ordering the detention of the dissidents both in the Capital and other major cities, the Judiciary had gone "much further than authorised by laws and Constitution".
"This wave of repression is purely a political action. By extending the scope of its prerogatives to the entire nation, the Tehran Islamic revolution tribunal has also replaced the Intelligence Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the security services, the Law enforcement Forces and above all the Supreme Council. It is acting as the arms in times of martial law", he noted.
According to Mr. Banisadr, the decision to crackdown the IFM and the Nationalist-religious was taken during the last session of the Assembly of Experts, when, "inspired by Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the Assembly pointed to the IFM, the students and (dissidents) outside Iran as the main treats to the position of the leader.
In an interview with ISNA, the wife of Mr. Sabbaqian identified some other detainees as:, Khosrow Mansurian, Mahmoud Tavassoli, Abolfazl Bazargan (a nephew of the late Mehdi Bazargan), Gholam Abbas Tavassoli and Bani Asadi in Tehran and Dr Aravi and Meskin in Esfahan Province.
She added: Revolution Court personnel entered our house yesterday with a warrant for Mr Sabbaqian's arrest and a house search which was dated 30 Farvardin (19 April). Although we requested that they come to search our house on the designated date, they searched the house for about three hours and also arrested Mr Sabbagian, she pointed out. ENDS IFM CRACKDOWN 8401