CONDEMN ARRESTS OF IFM MEMBERS AND SUMMON OF EBRAHIM
YAZDI
http://ghandchi.com/72-EbrahimYazdi.htm
Below is a news report from AP about the recent arrests of
over 40 members of Iran Freedom Movement (IFM) and the summon of Ebrahim Yazdi, the leader of IFM by the Islamic Republic's
judiciary, on some pseudo charges, such as finding firearms in his house, and
calling such "evidence" as reason of his activity against National
Security of Iran.
Personally I never cared for the political and economic
programs of IFM for Iran,
both before the 1979 Revolution and after that.
In fact, they were the main political force responsible for mixing state
and religion in the years of post-1953 CIA coup in Iran. They were able to turn a major part of
Iranian intellectuals to the support of some form of ideological Islamic
state. In a way, they impacted both
Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Republic and MojAhedin's
program of "Democratic Islamic Republic".
Nonetheless, elements of liberal approach in IFM's political view, has been always a reality. The last time IFM was attacked,
it started with hostage crisis and ended with the worst repression in Islamic
Republic's history. The attack against IFM, was attack against the little liberalism they support
and not against their support of theocracy which Islamic Republic has enjoyed
for over 20 years. The exit of liberal
cabinet of Mohandes Bazargan
was synonymous with wiping out of the freedoms that had followed the democratic
movement of 1978-1980.
I believe this new attack against IFM is the start of
another all-round attack against democratic forces in Iran. This should be condemned and regardless of
anybody's disagreement with the politics of IFM, this is an attack against
democracy and freedom in Iran
and indifference means supporting the start of all-out repression in Iran.
Hoping for a future-oriented and a democratic
Republic
of Iran,
Sam Ghandchi, Publisher
IRANSCOPE
http://www.IRANSCOPE.com
April 29, 2001
RELATED ARTICLES:
http://www.ghandchi.com/index-Page4.html
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* The above article was first
posted on SCI (soc.culture.iranian) Usenet newsgroup
on April
29, 2001
Attachment:
News Report. April 29 10:11 AM ET Iran Wants Dissident for Questioning
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI,
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Tehran's hard-line Revolutionary Court on Sunday charged a dissident leader with endangering
national security and possessing firearms and ordered him to appear for
questioning, state-run Tehran radio reported.
Ebrahim Yazdi,
leader of the Freedom Movement, is in the United States for cancer treatment. His group has been under siege
by hard-liners who arrested 42 leading members of the movement in a crackdown
in early April. Some were later released.
The radio said Yazdi is charged with
endangering Iran's national security and keeping firearms and
eavesdropping equipment. It did not say when Yazdi
was supposed to appear before the court. The official Islamic Republic News
Agency quoted a court statement as saying that if Yazdi
did not respond to the summons, it would ``act through international channels
to seek his extradition.'' There is no extradition treaty between Iran and the United States
Yazdi, 69, is receiving chemotherapy for prostate cancer in
Houston,
Texas. His Freedom Movement advocates peaceful democratic
reforms. Earlier this
month, Yazdi vowed in an interview with The
Associated Press to return home after treatment despite the crackdown. Commenting on the Revolutionary Court's
order, Esmat Yazdi, the
dissident's sister, said: ``Our people are wise enough to know what are the
reasons behind such organized politically motivated
statements in the name of justice.'' She
told AP that intelligence agents had searched her brother's house and then ''(claimed) to have found firearms in the house of a
political leader whose party has always rejected violence and seeks only
peaceful democratic reforms.'' Esmat Yazdi's husband, Mohammad Tavassoli, is one of the Freedom Movement leaders arrested
earlier this month on charges of seeking to overthrow the Islamic
establishment. The detentions are part of a growing crackdown by hard-liners
ahead of the June 8 presidential election, in which the hard-liners fear
another landslide victory by the pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami (news
- web
sites). He has not said if he will run for another four-year term. The
hard-liners, who control the courts and several other key institutions, have
closed down dozens of reformist publications, jailed and harassed Khatami's allies and brought serious charges against
dissidents in what is seen as a campaign to clear the field ahead of the
election. Khatami
has championed greater social and political freedoms - moves that conservatives
view as undermining the 1979 Islamic revolution.