Islamic Vigilantes Seize Three Iran Student Leaders
reuters.com
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Armed Iranian Islamic vigilantes seized three student leaders on Wednesday as they left a news conference where they announced they had canceled protests to mark the anniversary of 1999 university unrest, witnesses said.
Authorities have banned off-campus rallies, closed campus dormitories, postponed summer exams and vowed to deal strictly with any unrest after arresting 4,000 people during 10 nights of sometimes violent protests across the country in June.
"After the news conference when some of our friends wanted to leave, armed plainclothes men in three cars attacked the students and kidnapped three members of the Office to Consolidate Unity," Matin Meshkini, a student leader, told Reuters.
Other witnesses said some 15 people armed with handguns and with the trademark beards, walkie-talkies and untucked shirts of Islamic vigilantes pushed aside uniformed police who tried to intervene as they bundled the three into waiting cars.
"We cannot call it arrest, it was a kidnapping," Meshkini said.
Remaining student leaders locked themselves in the Office to Consolidate Unity, Iran's main student organization, fearing for their safety. They left hours later after Tehran's police chief guaranteed they would not be harmed or arrested.
"We believe remaining here would give them a pretext for a worse confrontation with student activists," Meshkini said.
Students said they canceled protests in front of the Tehran United Nations headquarters and a campus sit-in, fearing a backlash from security forces and after an appeal for calm from five reformist parliamentarians close to the student movement.
The plainclothes militiamen are fiercely loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure, and are beyond the control of the elected government of moderate President Mohammad Khatami and the official police hierarchy.
One student leader said eight members of the Office to Consolidate Unity had been seized by unidentified assailants before Wednesday and their whereabouts were still unknown.
ANNIVERSARY OF CLASHES
The canceled demonstrations had been planned to mark the day four years ago when hardline vigilantes fiercely loyal to conservative clerics attacked a Tehran University dormitory, killing one person and sparking five days of mass protests.
Many ordinary Iranians, frustrated by Khatami's failure to advance reforms in the face of hardline opposition, pledged to join any student protests on Wednesday.
In June, demonstrations went one step beyond previous pro-reform protests. Chants broke the taboo against insulting Khamenei and also condemned reformist leaders. The United States strongly backed the demonstrations and was accused by Iran of blatant interference in its internal affairs.
Witnesses said police and military units were posted outside the Tehran U.N. headquarters on Wednesday and photographers and camera crews were prevented from taking pictures at the scene.
Khatami has remained largely mute on last month's protests, limiting himself to words of support for the democratic right to protest, while praising the actions of security forces.
The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance told news organizations not to go to any demonstrations. "It is expected that you do not attend any possible illegal gatherings," a faxed statement said. |
