HESHMATOLLAH TABARZADI, VETERAN STUDENTS LEADER RELEASED
PARIS 29 Oct. (IPS) Mr. Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, leader of the banned Democratic Front of Iranian People (DFIP) was released Sunday night from prison, after serving more than six months in solitary confinement.
Tabarzadi was arrested on 17 April by special units of the Islamic Revolution’s Guards that attacked his office, after he had, in a speech, criticised the regime and called for revision in the Constitution.
In an interview from Tehran with the Persian service of Radio France Internationale, Mr. Tabarzadi confirmed that he had spent 200 days in the notorious Prison 59, believed to be under the direct control of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’I, the leader of the Islamic Republic and handled by the Revolutionary Guards.
He s aid while in prison and tortured, new charges were levelled against him, preventing his release.
"Our Judiciary has never smelled justice", he said, adding that he was charged on unspecific "security accusations".
Asked about the present situation of the country and particularly at the
universities, the DFIP leader warned the authorities that if they continue
clampdowns and intolerance with the dissidents, being students or politicians,
there will be
sever backlashes of unthinkable magnitude".
The Los Angeles-based Students Co=ordination Committee for Democracy in Iran said Mr. Tabarzadi intended to pursue his political activities and is planning the re-organisation of his party.
Coming from a Religious family and having lost 2 brothers, during the war with Iraq, he was on of the first students to call for a referendum on the controversial post of leadership and urged to limit both the mandate and the responsibilities of the leader.
Several other student’s leaders, including Mr. Manoochehr Mohammadi, of the Association of Nationalist Iranian Students and his younger brother and Ali Afshari, of the Office of Consolidating Unity are still in prison, accused of rebellion and propaganda against the State.
Authorities also eased restrictions placed on some of the relatives of the Grand Ayatollah Hoseinali Montazeri, Iran and the world's Shi'a highest religious dignitary.
Sources confirmed that several of his family and close followers, including his son-in-law, had been released between Saturday and Sunday.
The dissident Grand Ayatollah who was placed on house arrest four years ago on orders from Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, was the designated successor of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni but was digraced and sent teaching in Qom following his Public statement condemning the mass execution of Iranian political prisoners in 1987. ENDS TABARZADI FREED 291001