TEHERAN, Iran -- In early July, just as Iranian officials were about to set ablaze more than 100,000 pounds of seized drugs as part of a much-publicized anti-drug spectacle, a small group in the audience began clapping and whistling as President Mohammad Khatami stepped up to the lectern.

In some quarters in Iran, clapping and whistling are considered un-Islamic behavior, an alien import from the West. So a rival group tried to drown out the sounds with religious salutes to the Prophet Mohammed and his descendants.

As the clapping and whistling and saluting grew louder, tempers grew shorter and fists started flying. And in full view of the President, visiting United Nations officials, the diplomatic corps and thousands of guests, security forces had to step in to drag away the rowdiest participants.

This is Iran's fledgling "civil society," where almost two decades after the 1979 Islamic revolution religious strictures still dominate and repression can be swift but where competing voices increasingly are heard…

Even Khatami's closest aides openly acknowledge the problems.

"Many of the levers of power are not in the hands of the President and since his rivals had a bitter defeat when he was elected and are holding some of the most powerful positions, they're not giving him any help," said Mohammed Ali Abtahi, Khatami's closest personal adviser, in an interview. "Compounding the problem is that many of the 20 million people who voted for him don't understand his limitations and are demanding speed and action. Some of them don't even believe in religion or the Constitution. So we're caught between fascism and anarchy..."

Despite all the emphasis on the rule of law, Mohsen Saidzadeh, an outspoken mid-level cleric who has written and spoken extensively on the rights of women, was arrested at his home in early July.

His wife was given no reason for his arrest.

The tension between the impulse to appear modern and the desire to remain faithful to ideals inherited from the revolution plays out in other ways… Hotel managers of Teheran's best hotels are industriously renovating for what they hope will be the invasion of American tourists. But certain rooms are still used occasionally for interrogating political prisoners…

A palace in north Teheran that is used by the presidency to receive important foreign visitors displays Western paintings of peasant girls and aristocratic ladies with exposed hair, neck and shoulders. But across town, an American female journalist was at first denied admission into the courtroom where the Mayor of Teheran was on trial not because her head and body were insufficiently covered but because she was wearing too many colors.

At Least 20 Killed 41 Wounded in Prison Fire, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 17

New reports on the suspicious fire on Tuesday, July 14, in Vakil-Abad prison in Mashad, capital of northeastern province of Khorassan, say that at least 20 inmates were killed and 41 injured in the tragic incident. So far, 17 of the dead have been identified.

Those injured, many of whom are in critical condition, have been transferred to Mashad's Qa'em hospital. Fearing a public backlash, the mullahs claimed only seven people died in the fire.

In another development, in recent weeks, the clerical regime has abducted 42 ex-political prisoners in city of Orumieh and refused to give any information about their fate to their families.

Top Mullah Admits to Regime's Unpopularity, Agence France Presse, July 18

TEHRAN - An influential Iranian cleric criticized his Shiite Moslem countrymen for not taking prayers seriously, a newspaper said Saturday.

"Unfortunately the situation of prayers is not good in the Islamic republic. In rural areas too we have not worked hard enough" to promote prayers, Mohsen Qara-ati, the head of the prayers promotion complained.

Iranians clerics often complain that the public here is not sufficiently enthused about their religious duties, notably mosques do not attract enough people.

Senior conservative cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, on his return from pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in April, wistfully spoke of the strong regard held for mass prayers in the conservative kingdom during the annual Hajj.

Rafsanjani Says Opposition to Peace Process Will Continue, Agence France Presse, July 17

TEHRAN - Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Friday his country has paid a "heavy price" for its hostile stand to the Middle East peace process but would continue its opposition.

"We are aware of the heavy price we have paid since beginning our serious opposition to the peace process… but we have this sense of duty and hope to be able to live up to it. We cannot compromise on this issue."

Rafsanjani complained that "the Moslem, particularly the Arab, world is not taking the issue seriously" and urged them to cooperate with Iran.

He said Moslem countries had yet to heed a call by Iran's President Mohammad Khatami last month for a special ministerial session of the Iranian-chaired Organisation of the Islamic Conference to discuss Israel's plan to "Judaise" Jerusalem.
 

 
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