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Commentary
by U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran
Iran’s
Simple Math:
Less
IRGC Equals Less Terror, Tyranny
The president of Columbia University, Lee C.
Bollinger, criticized by some for his treatment
of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, depicting him as a
“petty and cruel dictator”, has found new allies
where it most matters: Iran’s university
campuses.
In at least three student protests in college
campuses of Iran since Ahmadinejad’s return from
his disastrous trip to New York, he has been
called “a petty and cruel dictator” who lacks
spine to face dissident students and their
pointed questions.
In the most recent of these protests, students
at Allameh University in Tehran staged an
anti-government rally this week. Under attack by
a multitude of different security forces, they
shutdown all classes chanting "Death to
dictator," "University is not a military camp,"
"This is the final warning, University students
are ready for uprising," "Free minded
professors, join us" and "Students, professors
unite." They were protesting jail terms for
three student activists as well as the arrest
and imprisonment of dozens of students and
professors.
Late last month, at Amir Kabir University - one
of the most politically active college campuses
in Tehran and the site of a major rally against
Ahmadinejad last year where his pictures were
burned and he was booed out – a similar rally
shook the campus. Again, “Down with the
Dictator” could be hear loud and clear
throughout the campus.
In tandem with Tehran’s rising belligerence, the
crackdown at home has been increasing. Student,
women, union, and labor activists have been put
in jail in growing numbers. The state-run news
agency ISNA reported on Wednesday that Mansour
Osanlou, head of the executive committee of the
Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus
Company (SWTBC) and his deputy Ebrahim Madadi
have been sentenced to five and three years jail
terms on the charges of "acting against national
security.”
The European Union has also criticized Iran for
right violations. “The EU remains deeply
concerned at the growing repression against all
groups which exercise their right to freely
express their opinions, and at the escalation of
restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom
of expression in the Islamic Republic of Iran”,
said an EU statement.
According to the findings of Philip Alston, the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions,
Iran is the only country in the world that
"systematically" uses the death penalty against
juveniles. Alston’s report which was submitted
to the General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian
and Cultural Committee said that currently there
are at least 75 juveniles in prison "on death
row basically".
So, it should come as no surprise that the last
week’s designation of the Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards Corps by the Bush administration has been
well received and welcomed by the Iran’s
democracy movement for whom the IRGC embodies
the savage guardian and suppressive arm of a
theocratic tyranny.
The new commander of the IRGC, Mohammad Ali
Jafari, stressed last month that presently the
Guards’ main task is to safeguard the regime by
confronting the internal political, social and
security threats. His statement comes in light
of huge rise in the number of anti-government
protest by the students, women and workers.
Far beyond the financial impact that the
targeted sanctions imposed last week would have
on the IRGC, they would send a vitally important
political signal to freedom-seeking Iranians.
The punitive measures would tell the people of
Iran that the United States is indeed taking
practical steps in recognition of the
suppressive and terrorist nature of the IRGC.
It is a simple math: The more the IRGC is
politically and financially undermined, the more
empowered the democratic movement. Less IRGC
equals less “Velayat-e Faqih” regime and that
equals less tyranny and less terror. (USADI)
USADI
Commentary reflects the viewpoints of the US Alliance
for Democratic Iran in respect to issues and events
which directly or indirectly impact the US policy toward
Iran |