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IRAN: Mullah dictatorship warns protesters - "You risk execution as enemies of God"
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You risk execution as "enemies of God", Iran warns protesters
Date: 06 January 2010
By Ramin Mostafavi
[link to thescotsman.scotsman.com]
IRAN'S interior minister warned opposition activists yesterday that they risked execution as enemies of God if they continued anti-government demonstrations.
Mostafa Mohammad Najjar made the latest threat after the intelligence ministry said several foreigners, engaged in a "psychological war" against the Islamic Republic, were arrested on 27 December in the bloodiest unrest since the aftermath of a disputed 12 June presidential poll.
Iran's government also yesterday banned its citizens from co-operating with foreign organisations, including the BBC, which it says are trying to destabilised the government.
The opposition says the vote was rigged to secure President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election. The authorities deny the accusations, which they say were part of a western-orchestrated plot to overthrow the Islamic system.
Eight people were killed in clashes between security forces and supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi on the Shiite mourning day of Ashura. More than 40 leading reformists, including four advisers to Mr Mousavi, have since been arrested.
"After Ashura, anyone who takes part in riots will be considered as mohareb (waging war on God] and an opponent of national security," Mr Najjar said, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Despite such warnings, the opposition has shown no inclination to back down, and street protests have continued sporadically in the six months since the vote. Thousands of protesters were arrested after the election. Most have since been released but more than 80 reformists have received jail terms of up to 15 years. Five people have been sentenced to death but none has been executed so far.
Police said more than 300 protesters detained on 27 December were still in jail. The authorities have repeatedly accused opposition leaders of having links to "foreign enemies".
The foreign ministry said yesterday those held included foreigners and Iranians with dual citizenship. It gave no details of their nationalities or identities.
Iran also released a list of 62 international organisations it said were planning a "soft revolution" by supporting the opposition in Iran.
The intelligence ministry list includes George Soros's Open Society Institute, the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the Brookings Institution and US National Defence University. It includes TV networks such as BBC Persian and Voice of America in Farsi as well as the East European Democratic Centre in Poland and the British non-profit group Wilton Park.
The intelligence ministry said any link with the organisations would be "illegal".
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton voiced dismay on Monday at the way the authorities have cracked down on pro-reform protests.
Mr Mehmanparast criticised her remarks, saying the West was "siding with a group of troublemakers" in Iran.
"Over the long run, such mistakes will jeopardise their … countries' interests," he said.
Hardline clerics and lawmakers have urged the judiciary to punish opposition leaders for igniting tension, branding them enemies of God, liable to execution under Islamic law. "Holding an open trial for the leaders of the sedition will disgrace the leaders of the grand sin in history," said Gholamhossein Elham, a close ally of Mr Ahmadinejad.
The authorities have arrested relatives and aides of Mr Mousavi but stopped short of detaining or prosecuting the most prominent political opponents so far.
The unrest that erupted after the June vote was the most serious since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
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