supreme leader Saturday warned shadowy pro-government militias not to
interfere in the nation’s postelection unrest even as the head of the
notorious Basiji militia warned that his forces would “jump into the
fray” if authorities don’t act strongly against the opposition movement.
In his first public comments since protests last
month that coincided with a major religious holiday, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei made a rare attempt at easing tensions. Two days after gunmen
with suspected ties to
Revolutionary Guard allegedly opened fire on the car of opposition
figure Mehdi Karroubi, Khamenei urged all to abide by the law.
“Relevant bodies should fully respect the law in
dealing with the riots and the ongoing events,” he told clergy and
seminary students bused in to
“Those without any legal duty and obligations should
not meddle with these affairs,” he said. “Everyone should hold back
from arbitrary acts and everything should go within the framework of
the law.”
But Brig. Gen.
the head of the Basiji militia, warned that many people across the
country were ready to carry out their duties against what he called the
desecraters of religious holidays.
“Now, all our people expect the security and
intelligence organs as well as the judiciary to take action,” he told
the hard-line Fars news agency. “People will jump into the fray if they
feel these bodies are lax in their duties. People are critical of the
laxness of security and judicial bodies against conspirators.”
A sometimes violent 7-month crackdown on
burgeoning opposition in the wake of the country’s disputed June
presidential election has failed to quiet the movement. On Saturday,
students at
of Technology staged a peaceful rally demanding the release of their
classmates, video posted to the Internet showed. “Students would rather
die than give in to tyranny!” they chanted.
Some Iranians within the political establishment, including former Revolutionary Guard commander
have voiced alarm about the nation’s future and urged Khamenei to seek
a compromise amid escalating rhetoric and tactics by supporters of the
government and opposition.
They have been harshly criticized by hard-liners
close to the Revolutionary Guard, who have urged merciless retribution
similar to that meted out to the government’s opponents in the first
years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
On Saturday, Revolutionary Guard commander Brig. Gen.
“Most Basijis are not inclined to militarism, and so
we have trained those interested in military activities separately
within the framework of several battalions,” he told Fars. “The
most-trained Basijis are now with Imam Hussein Battalions and their
employment in security issues could be influential.”
But some interpreted Khamenei’s remarks as an
attempt to cool political tempers and backtrack on previous threats to
unleash the full power of the
Khamenei has rarely offered olive branches to the
opposition, which is gearing up for anti-government protests on the
anniversary of the
But on Saturday, Khamenei said it was up to the
judiciary, parliament and presidency to punish opposition protesters,
urging “prudence and finesse” in dealing with the unrest and speaking
out against arbitrary measures that might harm innocent people.
—
(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.
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