Back to Brief on Iran
One of the largest student groups in Iran has called on President Khatami to arrest Islamic militants responsible for attacking their rally in Tehran yesterday…
The group, Islamic Students Association, said if the government could not guarantee the security of authorized gatherings, its slogan of "the rule of law" was worthless…
The BBC's Iranian affairs reporter says that Mr Khatami's inability to deal with militant groups has disappointed his supporters.
Monday's violence in Laleh Park was one of the biggest clashes between supporters of the President Khatami and the conservative clerical establishment since he was elected a year ago…
It's generally believed that the group responsible for such attacks is Ansar-e Hezbullah… Because the group has several open publications and its leaders are known, it's suspected that it has powerful backers in the conservative establishment who are protecting them. It's also been suggested that some conservative organizations are deliberately using violent tactics to overthrow President Khatami.
Students and other supporters of Mr. Khatami have repeatedly urged him to curtail the activities of militant groups. But it appears that he is powerless to deal with them. The police force and the judiciary in Iran are both controlled by Ayatollah Khamenei. He [Khatami] is also in danger of losing control and being weakened by violence. His backers want immediate action; and Mr. Khatami cannot count on their support forever.
More Factional Fighting in Qom, Iran Zamin News Agency, May 27
On May 26, the faction affiliated with the mullahs' leader, Ali Khamenei, staged a demonstration in the holy city Qom. Chanting slogans against the primary opposition force, the Mojahedin, the demonstrators threatened to kill all opponents, warning that dissidents "would not be spared the divine wrath of Iran's Muslim and revolutionary nation."
Unrest continues in Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, Kermanshah and other Iranian cities, despite repeated calls and warnings by Khamenei, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khatami and other officials for the need to maintain unity in the face of the "enemy waiting in the wings on the other side of the borders."
Guard Corps Ground Forces' Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said that the force's elite units, armed with "artillery, tank and mini-Katyusha," had conducted military exercises in eastern Tehran on Monday. He described the maneuver's objective as "readiness to thwart any threats by the enemy."
Court Insists Arrested Mayor Be Dismissed, State-Controlled Iran News, May 27
TEHRAN - Tehran Mayor Golamhussein Krbaschi is to stand trial on June 7 in connection with a corruption scandal in the Municipality, informed sources told Iran News yesterday.
Despite Karbaschi's denial, these sources confirmed press reports that the mayor has been banned from leaving the country. The same sources said the special court for civil servants which is to put Karbaschi on trial, has issued an order for the mayor's dismissal.
Observers had predicted that the mayor's trial will be held after the World Cup 1988 but the announcement to hold the trial one week before the soccer games comes as a surprise.
Iran Denies Lifting Death Sentence Against German National, Agence France Presse, May 27
TEHRAN - The Iranian judiciary denied on Wednesday German television reports that it had lifted a death sentence on German businessman Helmut Hofer, accused of having an affair with a Moslem woman. A judicial official told AFP that an appeals tribunal had only sent the case back to the initial court to "correct certain defects in the investigation procedure."
Iran to Give Hamas $15m a Month, Dow Jones News, May 27
GAZA CITY - Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the radical Islamic group Hamas,… made the first public visit by a Hamas leader to Iran, which Arafat accuses of bankrolling the group. Al-Watan al-Arabi, a Paris-based Arabic-language newspaper, cited Iranian sources as saying Iran had agreed to give Hamas $15 million a month and help it train commandos.
Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Zahar, interviewed
in Gaza, refused to provide details about Yassin's activities abroad, other
than to say the sheik had been highly successful in soliciting money for
what he described as charitable activities.