Thursday, December 31, 2009

Chinese Government Involvement in the Suppression of the Opposition Movements in Iran

Based on eye witness pictures from Bandar Abbas, Iran's southern large port in the Persian Gulf, China has started exporting new military type anti-riot vehicles to Iran.



 

Persian Language Web Bloggers have condemned the act of the government of China. As mentioned by Sohrabestan, a reformist blog, this act of the Chinese government is unforgivable, and people of Iran will respond to this act when time is come.

The Chinese government will certainly suffer from this wrong decision. This act is similar to the German and French governments' involvement in supplying chemical weapons to the Iraqi government in the 1980s. People of Iran never forgot the role of Germany and France in this matter.

Here is the cataloged picture of this military vehicle:




Regime Wages a Quiet War on 'Star Students' of Iran by Farnaz Fassihi: Wall Street Journal Dec 31, 2009

This article has been written by Farnaz Fassihi, and it has been poblished by Wall Street Journal. Here is the link:
Regime Wages a Quiet War on 'Star Students' of Iran

And here is the article:

Behind the drama unfolding in the streets of Iran, the regime is quietly clamping down on some of the nation's best students by derailing their academic and professional careers.

On Wednesday, progovernment militia attacked and beat students at a school in northeastern Iran. Since last Sunday's massive protests nationwide, dozens of university students have been arrested as part of an aggressive policy against what are known as Iran's "star students."

In most places, being a star means ranking top of the class, but in Iran it means your name appears on a list of students considered a threat by the intelligence ministry. It also means a partial or complete ban from education.

The term comes from the fact that some students have learned of their status by seeing stars printed next to their names on test results.

Mehrnoush Karimi, a 24-year-old law-school hopeful, found out in August that she was starred. She ranked 55 on this year's national entrance exam for law schools, out of more than 70,000 test-takers. That score should have guaranteed her a seat at the school of her choice. Instead, the government told her she wouldn't be attending law school due to her "star" status.

Ms. Karimi says she thinks she got starred because she volunteered in the presidential campaign of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi last spring. She also participated in several antigovernment "Green Movement" protests that are convulsing Iran.

"They tell me, 'You are not allowed to study or work in this country any more.' Why? Because I voted for Mousavi and wore a green scarf?" says Ms.Karimi in a phone interview from the city of Isfahan, where she lives.

More than 1,000 graduate students have been blocked from higher education since the practice began in 2006, according to statements by Mostafa Moin, a former education minister, in official media in September.

Star treatment is reserved for graduate students, although undergrads also face suspension for political activity, according to student-rights activists. Several hundred undergrads have been suspended for as many as four semesters, according to student activists and human-rights groups in Iran. Under Iran's higher-education law, students are dismissed from school if they miss four terms.

The phenomenon started in the summer of 2006, the first academic year in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first term in office. Some grad-school applicants noticed stars beside their names on the report cards issued by the government-run college-placement agency.

Students with one star could return to school after signing a consent to give up political activism, according to Iranian human-rights and activist groups. Two-star students faced semester suspensions and interrogation sessions, and three-star students were banned from education for life.

The regime identifies star students by tapping the same network of security forces and informants it uses to keep society generally in check. The intelligence ministry routinely monitors email and phone conversations of people it considers dissidents and activists.

In December, after riots broke out on university campuses, Kamran Daneshjoo, Iran's minister of education, told ISNA, the official student news agency, that the government would identify "students who are havoc-makers" with the help of campus security and loyal professors.

To tell their stories, the students interviewed for this article switched between various phone numbers, email addresses and online chat services to minimize the chance their conversations would be monitored and potentially blocked.

Mr. Ahmadinejad has publicly denied accusations that his administration discriminates against activist students. In late 2006, Mr. Ahmadinejad made light of star students in a speech at Tehran's Amir Kabir University, a top engineering school. "I've heard some students have received three stars," he said. "I announced later that these gentlemen have become First Lieutenants."

Members of a student-rights group, the Committee to Defend the Right to Education, say the president's quip helped spur them to organize, after having made individual attempts to resolve their own problems with star ratings. The group began collecting documents and staging sit-ins at the ministry of education. At least a dozen members have been arrested in the past six months.

This past June, star students were a hot issue in Iran's presidential election. Mr. Ahmadinejad's rivals competed for the youth vote by pledging to return star students to school. At election rallies, some people chanted "Political students must be freed."

In a live debate on state television in early June between Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Ahmadinejad, the president again denied banning students from school. As the debate took place, a group of about 100 students -- wearing signs that said, "I am a star student" -- staged a silent protest outside the studios of Iran's state-owned TV network.

Phone calls by The Wall Street Journal to the public-relations department of the Sazman Sanjesh Amouzesh Keshvar, the government agency responsible for higher-education exams and placement, weren't returned.

Iranian students have a long track record of political activism. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979 toppled the then-king, Shah Mohamad Reza Pahlavi, universities underwent massive purges of students and professors considered disloyal to the Islamic regime. The process was known as the Cultural Revolution.

Students accepted to public universities (which are generally better and more competitive than private schools) were screened for moral behavior and for loyalty to Islam and the new regime. Still, the practice, known as gozinesh, didn't ban individuals. Applicants could reapply again and again.

Gozinesh ended in 1997 when new leadership came to power and rolled back some social restrictions. Today, activists blame Mr. Ahmadinejad not only for resurrecting the screening process but also for adding an element of punishment by imposing the lifetime education ban on star students.

"The government is extremely terrified of student uprisings because they are young and idealistic and have shown over and over that they are willing to stand up for injustice," says Saleh Nikbakht, a lawyer who represents several star students, reached by phone in Tehran. "Iranian universities are like a ticking bomb."

In the current academic year, about 89 students were given three-star labels, according to the student-rights group, including some of the nation's top performers on admissions tests. Dozens appear to have been banned because they participated in protests and volunteered for opposition presidential campaigns, the group says.

The student-rights committee made available to The Wall Street Journal report cards belonging to 63 star students from the past four years. The documents indicate the students' test-taking rank and the enrollment capacity in their chosen fields. In the cases reviewed, the students were comfortably within the bracket of acceptance.

Ali Qolizadeh, a 25-year-old with an undergraduate degree in engineering, ranked 43rd among 25,000 participants in the placement exam for an M.B.A. According to his report card, the M.B.A. program accepted about 3,211 students nationwide.

Mr. Qolizadeh was the spokesperson for his university's chapter of Fostering Student Unity, the country's best-known and most politically active student group. He was also the editor of a student publication called The Culture to Resist, which published with a permit from his university and was dedicated to essays about politics, economics and the arts.

The disciplinary committee suspended him for four semesters because of his political activity. He also was arrested and spent 21 days in solitary confinement, he says.

"Suspension is the worst feeling in the world. You are just spending your time idly as your friends go to school and you have no idea what will happen to your future," said Mr. Qolizadeh in a phone interview from the city of Mashad. As the only son of a working-class family, he says, he felt a particular obligation to finish graduate school and get a solid job to help support his family and three sisters. He is currently unemployed.

Over the past week, Mr. Qolizadeh says -- following last Sunday's major outbreak of street violence -- 25 of his university friends have disappeared with no news.

Contending with Iran's youthful population is one of the Islamic Republic's biggest challenges. Some 60% of Iran's 75 million people are under the age of 30, making the country one of the world's youngest. That means most citizens were born after the 1979 revolution that defines modern Iran and thus have no personal memory of it.

The student crackdown is part of a broader pattern of social control that is a fact of life in Iran. Mr. Ahmadinejad has tightened the rules since coming to power in 2006. Morality police patrols, which check people's attire for conformance to Islamic law, are back on the streets. Private social gatherings are at risk of being raided if drinking or dancing is observed.

Dissent can lead to loss of social status or jobs. Resentment over the tighter enforcement has helped feed the fires of protest.

This year, hundreds of students have been arrested and jailed. Three starred students not named in this article, but interviewed during its preparation, were arrested the Sunday before last while traveling to the city of Qom to attend the funeral of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, a revered cleric and outspoken critic of the regime.

Soroush Sabet, a 24-year-old from the southern city of Shiraz, ranked No. 1 in placement testing for a graduate degree in sociology that enrolled 3,386 students, according to his government-issued report card. But in August, he says, his applications were denied. He was told he is on this year's list of three-star students.

A top performer for years, he graduated with an engineering degree from the prestigious Iranian engineering school, Shairf University, from which many U.S. universities recruit graduate students.

About two years ago, as an undergrad, Mr. Sabet became involved in a socialist student group. In December 2007, security agents raided one of the group's meetings and arrested 50 members, including Mr. Sabet. He spent 47 days in prison, 23 of them in solitary confinement, he says.

He was charged with threatening national security and released on bail, and allowed to go back to school after signing a form saying he would never take part in activism again, he says.

Mr. Sabet suspects he was starred at least partly because of his switch to social studies from engineering, combined with his record of activism. Iran's leaders have expressed deep skepticism toward social-studies curricula: In September, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave an unusual speech in which he said the social-studies programs at Iranian universities promote secularism and Western values.

In October, the Revolutionary Court sentenced Mr. Sabet to two years in jail, he says. He is awaiting an appeal hearing that he hopes will ease the sentence.

"My dreams for going to school are finished," he said in a telephone interview from Tehran. "I am now just praying I don't go to jail."

Since August, Mr. Sabet, as well as Mr. Qolizadeh and Ms. Karimi, have traveled to Tehran by bus to follow up, together and individually, on their application status.

In September, the three visited Parliament to seek help from lawmakers. On the way out of the building, they said, security forces detained and questioned them for two hours. "They told us we look suspicious and they thought we are handing out opposition fliers," says Ms. Karimi.

This month two of the lawmakers they spoke with wrote back, the students say, to apologize for not being able to help.

Ms. Karimi says that the first time a government official told her there was no hope she would ever return to school in Iran or obtain a government job, "It felt like someone had hit me on the head. I couldn't really hear what he was saying anymore."

"They basically told me that as far as they are concerned, I am a dead person," Ms. Karimi says.

In the face of protests, Iran's leaders are at an impasse by Ray Takeyh: Washingtonpost Dec 31, 2009

In the face of protests, Iran's leaders are at an impasse

The mayhem that has swept over Iran in the past few days is once more calling into question the Islamic Republic's longevity. Recent events are eerily reminiscent of the revolution that displaced the monarchy in 1979: A fragmented, illegitimate state led by cruel yet indecisive men is suddenly confronting an opposition movement that it cannot fully apprehend. It is premature to proclaim the immediate demise of the theocratic regime. Iran may well be entering a prolonged period of chaos and violence. In the aftermath of recent disturbances, however, it is obvious that the lifespan of the Islamic Republic has been considerably shortened.
This Story

In retrospect, the regime's most momentous, and disastrous, decision was its refusal to offer any compromises to an angered nation after the fraudulent presidential election in June. The modest demands of establishment figures such as Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, including for the release of political prisoners and restoring popular trust (via measures such as respecting the rule of law and opening up the media), was dismissed by an arrogant regime confident of its power.

Disillusioned elites and protesters who had taken to the streets could have been unified, or their resentment assuaged, by a pledge by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the next election to be free and fair, for government to become more inclusive or for limits to be imposed on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's prerogatives. Today, such concessions would be seen as a sign of weakness and would embolden the opposition. The regime no longer has a political path out of its predicament. Ironically, this was the shah's dilemma, as he made concessions too late to fortify his power and broaden the social base of his government.

Another irony is that the Islamic Republic today is led by a politician as vacillating as the shah was. Khamenei's forbidding posture conceals an uncertain personality. Like the shah, Khamenei seems reluctant to order a massive crackdown that would involve summary executions and random shootings of the thousands of protesters. Whether the regime's security forces have the strategic depth and willingness to engage in such conduct is unknown. Thus far, the regime has opted for a containment strategy: unleashing Basij militias to beat and intimidate the protesters while arresting many of its former loyalists. Yet this not only fails to quell the demonstrations but also erodes the cohesion of the security forces who have the demoralizing task of routinely confronting their compatriots. Meanwhile, as the movement continues to defy authorities, it is likely to become more radicalized. Signs of such militancy are already obvious: The slogans of some demonstrations have changed from demanding the sanctity of the vote to rejecting the entire Islamist enterprise.

Unlike in 1979, the clerical state today has had the luxury of confronting an opposition movement that is incohesive and lacks identifiable leaders. The candidates who challenged Ahmadinejad for the presidency, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi, seem more like intrigued observers than masterminds of recent events. This should be cold comfort to the regime, however, because the longer the movement survives, the more likely it is to produce its own leaders. The most remarkable aspect about the events in Iran since June has been the opposition's ability to sustain itself and to generate vast rallies while deprived of a national organizational network, a well-articulated ideology and charismatic leaders.

Put another way, the Islamic Republic has reached an impasse; it can neither appease the opposition nor forcibly repress it out of existence.

As the United States and its allies wrestle with the issue of Iran's nuclear program, they would be wise to recognize the changes to the context in which their policy was framed. The Obama administration should take a cue from Ronald Reagan and persistently challenge the legitimacy of the theocratic state and highlight its human rights abuses. The notion that harsh language militates against a nuclear accord is false. At this juncture, the only reason Tehran may be receptive to an agreement on the nuclear issue is to mitigate international pressures while it deals with its internal insurrection. Even if the regime accommodates international concerns about its nuclear program, the United States must stand firm in its support for human rights and economic pressure against the Revolutionary Guards and other organs of repression. And Tehran's clerical rulers should know that in no uncertain terms. Reagan had no compunction about denouncing the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" while concluding arms control treaties with the Kremlin. The Islamic Republic, like the Soviet Union, is a transient phenomenon. America's embrace of individual sovereignty will place it on the right side of history as the fortunes of history inevitably change.

Heavy Police and Militia Presence in Tehran Dec 31st 2009



Valiasr Sq, Tehran, Iran




Azadi St, Tehran, Iran

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Iran Police Chief Denies the Police Truck Incident

Among several protesters who have been killed on December 27th 2009 during the Ashura protest, probably the most horrible scene was the one in which two police trucks passing a body of a protester on the ground. The first video of this incident posted on Youtube on the same day

From that day until Wednesday December 30th 2009, in two separate interviews, Iran's Police chief and his second in command, Sardar Radan, denied the involvement of any Police car in this incident.

These strange denies after 3 days of the incident, led BBC Persia to air the interview of the police chief and the video of the incident at the same time. Also CNN aired the video on Wednesday December 30th 2009.

Even though after airing of the video by BBC and CNN, the police came out saying the vehicle was stolen, but the question is how the police commanders in Iran allow themselves to be such a fool in denying an undeniable horrible scene.

I have thought of three possible answers for this question. First, the Iranian police and the Iranian government in general suffer serious degrees of ignorance. Probably, they have think that they have passed the point of damage control. Or they don't even care about their image anymore.

Second, I think they also lack of enough experience and knowledge of police work. After all, the commander was the head of Basij Militia without enough history in the police. This contributes to the degree of the ignorance that was mentioned before. These guys simply forget that almost any body on the streets of Tehran has a camera phone.

And third explanation is that they are trying to cover up something. One thing that they don't want to accept is that the police trucks were escaping from the scene. But I am afraid that they are covering up something more serious. If you look at the video aired by CNN again, one of the two trucks has a kind of tainted glass windows. Maybe it is the poor quality of the video that shows the windows in dark. But if we assume that the truck had unusual tainted windows, then it might be reasonable to consider the possibility of presence of some high ranks police officials in that truck. And probably that was the thing that the two police chiefs were trying to cover up.

Unless they explain who were driving those trucks, both Iran's highest ranks police chiefs are directly responsible for the killing in this incident.

Iran in Turmoil: The Beginning of the End? Economist_Dec 30th 2009

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15174473

Iran_Events_Dec 30, 2009

New Developments About Mr. Musavi and Karubi

Based on the reformist website rahesabz.net and based on an internal bulletin from the official Iranian News Agency, the intelligence section of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard has moved Mr. Musavi and Karbui to a village in the Northern Province of Mazandaran. If that is true, this means that they are in kind of exile.

Later by 10 PM Tehran time, the news was denied by Hossien Karubi, Mr. Karubi's son in an interview with sahamnews.org.



Iran_Mashhad_Azad University_Dec 30, 2009




A Picture that Shows the Total Number of Participants in the Pro Government Rally