http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=21278
Anniversary of Disputed Iran Vote Passes Quietly
13/06/2010
A protester marches with the Solidarity Committee to Protect the Iranian
People's Will and Iranian-American Youth to mark the first anniversary of
Iran's disputed presidential election. (AP)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures at a press conference
during his visit at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. (AFP)
Tabby Za joins a march with the Solidarity Committee to Protect the
Iranian People's Will and Iranian-American Youth to mark the first anniversary
of Iran's disputed presidential election. (AP)
TEHRAN, Iran, (AP) - The one-year anniversary of Iran's disputed election
passed quietly Saturday with little more than a subdued Internet appeal by
opposition leaders for supporters to speak out on the Web against government
repression.
Fearing bloodshed and calculating that it would gain them nothing, the
movement's leaders called off a day of mass protests, reflecting their
increasing powerlessness against the government's military muscle. Witnesses
and the opposition reported a few isolated confrontations in the capital.
"We have to expand social networks, websites, these are our best means," said
Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister who maintains he was robbed of the
presidency through fraud in the June 12, 2009, election.
"These work like an army. This is our army against their military force," he
said on his website, Kaleme.com.
The retreat from Iran's streets and university campuses to the Web is certain
to be seen as a victory for the ruling hard-liners and for the armed forces
that preserved their grip on power with a harsh crackdown on postelection
protesters.
The anniversary passed with no signs of major disturbances or large public
gatherings.
Witnesses reported sporadic but minor clashes at Tehran's Azadi Square between
a few dozen protesters and anti-riot police swinging batons.
At Tehran's Sharif University of Technology, students scuffled with hard-liners
and plainclothes paramilitary personnel on campus, according to Mousavi's
website. "Liar, liar," students chanted in a denunciation of President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
Security forces arrested a political ally of Mousavi, Davoud Roshani, and labor
union activist Reza Shahabi, Kaleme.com reported.
Authorities were also seen taking one person away near the entrance of Tehran
University, where no gatherings were allowed to form, another witness said.
A top police official, Ahmad Reza Radan, said a small number of people were
arrested in Tehran, but gave no details, the semiofficial ISNA news agency
reported.
In some Tehran neighborhoods after nightfall, people went to their rooftops and
shouted "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," reprising a cry of protest from last
year's unrest.
Hundreds of police were deployed at main junctions in the capital. The
government warned that any unauthorized gatherings would be harshly confronted.
The scene was in stark contrast to a year ago.
Then, hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest alleged fraud, which
they said deprived them of a Mousavi presidency that might have brought a
measure of political and social change. Mousavi had campaigned on promises of
economic reform, freedom of expression and a review of laws that discriminate
against women.
Abuses against detained activists - which the government at least partially
acknowledged took place - pushed some opposition supporters to go even further
and challenge the ruling clerical establishment itself. But trials - some of
which have resulted in death sentences - and threats to put down unauthorized
demonstrations have left the movement with nowhere to go.
Even on the Web, Iranian authorities chase them, blocking sites and jamming
Internet and mobile phone service at times.
The tightening controls have led to criticism of what Mousavi on Saturday
called "an inclination toward dictatorship" by Iran's leadership - a potent jab
from a man once considered a regime insider and who played an active role in
the 1979 revolution that brought clerical rule to Iran.
"Those at the top (of the ruling system) think they are special creatures of
God almighty and that God pays special attention to (him); that whatever he
says must be carried out ... and there is no belief in collective logic,"
Mousavi said, in an apparent reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei.
Mousavi pledged Saturday to continue a peaceful struggle against the government
of Ahmadinejad, whose presidency has coincided with a sinking Iranian economy
and growing international isolation as a result of the defiance over the
country's nuclear program.
"We need to spread awareness," Mousavi said. "This is the point of
vulnerability of those who are after despotism. If awareness is spread, there
will be a huge popular force behind the demand for change."
He and fellow opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi have declared the price of more
direct confrontation to be too high.
The opposition says at least 80 protesters were killed in last year's street
clashes. Authorities have put the figure at around 30.
Mousavi urged Iranians to distribute films, photos, video clips and cell phone
footage of what is really going on in the country.
Dozens of such Web posts and proclamations against Ahmadinejad and the ruling
system are issued each day - but all they amount to is words against muscle.
The past year, however, has not been without moments of deep change for Iran -
a year ago, it would have been unthinkable to chant slogans against Khamenei,
who has the final say on all matters in Iran. The chants are now common and
have punched holes in the political firewall that once separated the theocracy
from the people.
At the same time, Iran's rulers have retrenched and handed more control to the
Revolutionary Guard, resulting in a far more aggressive hand at home and a less
compromising attitude aboard - including a hard line over Iran's nuclear
program, which brought a new, fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Wednesday.
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