Vol. 73/No. 32      August 24, 2009

The official election results showed incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winning nearly 2 to 1. His closest opponent was former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who became popular among youth due to his statements in support of women’s rights and against censorship and other restrictions on political rights.

One of those killed in Kahrizak was Mohsen Ruholamini, the 25-year-old son of a close political aide to Mohsen Rezaei, who for more than a decade was the commander of the Pasdaran, or Guards of the Islamic Revolution. Rezaei also ran against Ahmadinejad in the election. Prominent parliament members who were once Ahmadinejad’s allies made a point of attending the youth’s funeral.

The government has tried to win support for its actions by claiming the protests and its leaders aim to overthrow it. On August 9 the head of the Pasdaran’s political bureau, Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani, said Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, who was another presidential candidate, and Mohammad Khatami, who was Iran’s president from 1997 to 2005, should be tried for backing “a Western-backed plot to topple the government through a ‘velvet coup.’”

Meanwhile, the government began a mass trial of some 100 people arrested during the protests. The charges against them include espionage, rioting, working with Israeli and American intelligence agencies, and conspiring to overthrow the government.

Iranian state TV broadcast “confessions” by former vice president Mohammad Abtahi and others who stated they promoted the post-election demonstrations as part of a foreign plot to overthrow the government.

The Association of Combatant Clerics denounced the trial as a “ridiculous show,” saying it was “aimed at demoralizing political activists who are protesting election results and to divert public opinion from the crimes committed against detainees.” The Association of Teachers and Researchers in Qom, the Islamic religious center, said the confessions were clearly made “under duress.”

Protesters disregarded a warning from the government not to demonstrate July 30, the 40th day of mourning for Neda Agha-Soltan, who was shot dead during post-election protests. Iranian news service Press TV reported that “thousands of people gathered in Tehran and other cities to commemorate those killed in the country’s post-election unrest.” Riot cops used tear gas and batons to disperse mourners gathered at Agha-Soltan’s grave. Cops prevented Mousavi from joining the mourners. Fifty were arrested.

Mousavi’s supporters submitted to parliament a list of 69 protesters killed in Tehran and other cities since the demonstrations started. An earlier parliamentary investigation found 30 dead. The police say the number is 19.

The political impact of the protests and the government’s attempts to suppress them are not only having an impact in large cities, a correspondent for the New York Times reported. A trip to villages surrounding Qom “turned up signs that growing segments of these rural populations, particularly the young and the educated, have lost faith in the current government,” the paper said August 4.

“I voted for Mousavi because I want change,” a 24-year-old college graduate visiting his home village told the Times. “All the young people like myself moved away because we do not believe in this lifestyle anymore.”

A 45-year-old farmer, on the other hand, told the Times, “Ahmadinejad did many good things for poor people. He gave us free fertilizers, loans to grow our crops, and gave money to those who were in very bad situations.”

At the same time the farmer said he was disturbed by the police attacks on young people in the cities. He learned about them from his nephew, who lives in a larger town and has access to international media. “Yes, I heard about the demonstrations,” the farmer said. “It really disappointed me to learn how the government had treated our own people.”

The Tehran Province Forum of Islamic Labor Councils, meanwhile, criticized the government for not paying “Justice Shares” promised to low-income workers, according to the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA).

The shares represent stock in companies that the government is privatizing. During Ahmadinejad’s first term, according to Press TV, hundreds of companies were placed in private hands. On July 28, the government sold off 40 percent of its holdings in another 14 companies, mostly in the energy sector.

The government says some 23 million working people in rural areas have received shares following these privatizations. But ILNA reported that Akbar Eyvazi of the Islamic Labor Council said, “Workers are still waiting for Justice Shares, while they are among the low-income groups of society.”  
 
 
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