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A large group of young Iranians who totally ignored official mourning ceremonies on the anniversary of Khomeini's death and went to the northern Tehran district of Darband for mountain climbing on the morning of Friday, June 5, were attacked by a mob of pro-government club-wielders backed by the Revolutionary Guards, according to reports from Iran.
The mullahs' shock troops beat up the young men and women and broke the equipment they were carrying, such as cassette-players.
Hundreds of residents in the West Azerbaijan town on Sardasht rioted on May 25 and fought pitch battles with the Revolutionary Guards in a protest that began over government agents' confiscation of goods owned by some of the petty traders in the town. The crowd pelted the Guards with stones and the Revolutionary Guards responded by opening fire on the unarmed demonstrators, many of them women and children. Several people were wounded.
To terrorize the people after a spate of anti-government protests in the south-western city of Ahwaz, the mullahs' agents hanged a man in public on Saturday, May 30 at the city's Naderi Intersection. The man, Karim Hashemi, was 34. His body was left dangling from the gallows for hours.
Tehran Mayor Denies Corruption Charges As Trial Opens, Agence France Presse, June 7
TEHRAN - Tehran's mayor Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi rejected corruption charges and denounced "political scheming" on the opening day of his trial here Sunday in a case which has rocked the Islamic regime.
Security was tight for the start of the trial in the downtown Imam Khomeini judicial complex and police moved in quickly to disperse some 200 to 300 supporters and opponents of the mayor who tried to stage protests outside.
A number of anti-Karbaschi demonstrators shouted "Death to the mayor, death to inflation," while supporters cried "Long live Karbaschi, long live President Mohammad Khatami."
[Reuters reported from Tehran that:: Tehran's embattled mayor rebutted graft charges in a Tehran court on Sunday, challenging its competence to handle the case and denying any wrongdoing.
[The judge dismissed Karbaschi's charge against the competency of the court. Legal and political analysts said his challenge to the court's competence reflected a desire to politicize the case.]
Trial Threatens to Rekindle Factional Row In Iran, Agence France Presse, June 6
TEHRAN - The trial of Tehran's mayor Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, which opens here on Sunday, threatens to rekindle factional fighting within the Iranian government, just as it tries to put on a show of unity after bombings by the exiled opposition.
The trial of Karbaschi is unprecedented in the history of the Islamic republic and the newspaper Hamshahri warned Saturday that it could have "potentially harmful consequences on the population."
The trial comes just as the Iranian government has been trying to close ranks following a series of attacks here claimed by the People's Mujahedeen, the largest armed opposition group.
The April 4 to 15 detention of Karbaschi sparked Iran's most serious crisis since Khatami's election.
Demonstrations of support for the mayor were also held at Tehran Univerity, sparking clashes, giving rise to fears of unrest on the streets.
The judiciary's decision to press ahead with the trial even after Karbaschi had enjoyed two months' liberty during which he discretely resumed his mayoral duties, is a sign of their determination to continue their campaign against him.
The judiciary is also seeking indirectly to embarrass Khatami who made the enforcement of the rule of law one of the principal slogans of his election campaign.
Hamas Upgrade?, Us News & World Report, June 8
According to intelligence reports received in Europe, Iran's leaders are fed up with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his Gaza-based Palestinian Authority. Partly for internal Iranian political reasons, Tehran will soon designate Hamas, the radical Islamic Resistance Movement, as "sole representative of the Palestinian people." While this has no effect on Arafat's official standing, it certainly will give a boost to his rivals in Hamas.
According to the report, pressure for the move came from none other than Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious authority. Khamenei, Mideast intelligence sources say, believes that Arafat has completely abandoned the path of jihad (holy war) for the "mire" of a political peace process with Israel. Only Hamas, Khamenei has judged, can wage "true jihad against the Zionists" and establish an Islamic state in Palestine.
To cement the deal, Khamenei has pledged
to increase Iranian material, financial, and logistical aid to Hamas and
to increase Hamas's military training…