ARREST OF STUDENTS LEADERS CONFIRMED (Second Lead)
TEHRAN 26 Nov. (IPS) Officials in the Islamic Republic confirmed Tuesday the arrest of several students activists of the Office to Consolidate Unity OCU).
The official Iranian news agency IRNA, quoting un-named "reliable source", said four leaders of the OCU were detained on Tuesday.
"The activists Sa'id Razavi Faqih, Abdollah Mo’meni, Akbar Atri and
Amir-Hosyn Balali were arrested around noon, IRNA confirmed, adding that the arrest had taken place on "authorisation" by an Islamic Revolution Court in Tehran.This means that the arrested students are suspected of political activities of security nature, as in principle the Islamic revolutionary courts deals with security problems.
Ebrahim Reza'i Baba'i, an official in charge of security and political affairs at the Tehran Department Administration confirmed that the arrests were in relations with the latest wave of students protests.
The arrests took place in the morning by unidentified plain-clothe men, who almost abducting some of the activists like Mr. Mo’meni, who was taken away in a street near his residence. A friend of Mr. Mo’meni was sprayed with a special gas by the abductors.
All the named students had been very vocal in the last three weeks of student’s protests movement, talking frequently with foreign-based radio stations with services in Farsi, like the BBC, the RFI, Voice of America or Radio Free Europe.
Observers said the arrest of the four students leaders shows conservative’s determination to deal with iron fist with the latest wave of students unrests, after some senior clerics, including Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, respectively the Chairman of the powerful Expedience Council and the Speaker of the Assembly of Experts accused the protesters of acting on orders from Washington.
Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, reported to be under intense pressures from the ultra conservatives, also had warned the students to put off their protest movement or face the intervention of popular forces, meaning basij volunteers and thugs of Ansar Hezbollah.
The arrests took place even though the students had put off their daily protests at university campuses while the Judiciary would decide on the death of Mr. Hashem Aqajari, the university professor and Islamist thinker condemned to death by a court in the western city of Hamadan on blasphemy charges.
The death verdict triggered the wave of students and international protests. Mr. Aqajari said he would not appeal to the verdict, but a judge in Tehran warned that if he refuses to appeal, the verdict would become irrevocable after 20 days.
Bowing to popular pressures, Ayatollah Khameneh'i had instructed the Judiciary to review the case of Mr. Aqajari. The order was interpreted as a sign of the leader’s weakness and a victory for the student’s movement and for this reason, the Judiciary ignored the order for more than a week.
Observers noted that this is the first time that the judiciary, which is under the direct control of Mr. Khameneh'i, opposes an order from the leader.
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