Revolutionary Guards officer Hadi Mohebbi, commander of a battalion of the Guards' paramilitary Bassij forces known as "Ashoura Battalions" was killed yesterday in a clash with a group of young people in East Tehran's Iranmehr Street. In a statement, the Revolutionary Guards attributed his killing to "a number of thugs and villains

The Ashoura Battalions play a major role in the suppression of popular uprisings, the arrest of young people and Mojahedin supporters, and the harassment of women. In the July uprising in Tehran, the forces of Ashoura Battalions, armed to the teeth, brutally attacked the people and students, beating up and arresting thousands of them.

In a separate development, the daily Ressalat, close to the ruling faction, reported on Sunday, December 12: "A group of unidentified gunmen attacked a colonel of the Revolutionary Guards belonging to Imam Hossein Division of the Guards Corps in Isfahan. After wounding him in the shoulder and the leg, the gunmen fled."

Ressalat also reported that assailants had "thrown a grenade into the Islamic Revolutionary Court" building in Isfahan.

The rising number of clashes with the regime's repressive forces in the past few weeks indicate that young Iranians are increasingly resorting to armed resistance as the sole path of national liberation in the face of the religious dictatorship ruling Iran.
 
 

MULLAHS' REGIME PAYS PUK 660,000 DOLLARS FOR PLOTS AGAINST MOJAHEDIN, IRAN ZAMIN NEWS AGENCY, DECEMBER 14

The Mojahedin Command inside Iran reported today that the mullahs' regime paid a sum, equivalent of 660,000 U.S. dollars at the official exchange rate, to the Iraqi Kurdish group, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

The payment was made during a recent trip to Iran by PUK leader Jalal Talebani, the Command reports, who met with Ministry of Intelligence and Revolutionary Guards officials.

The report added that the payment was in return for the PUK's propaganda campaign against the Mojahedin and its commitment to carry out joint political and terrorist conspiracies in collusion with the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards against the Mojahedin.
 
 

SEVER BLOW TO WESTERN HOPES OF REFORM IN IRAN, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, DECEMBER 14

TEHRAN - Western hopes of reform in Iran took a severe battering in 1999 with violent scenes on the streets of the capital as the regime mobilized militiamen to put down student demonstrations.

A campus protest in July led to the worst unrest here since the aftermath of the 1979 revolution after security forces and vigilantes launched a bloody night-time attack on a student dorm.

When six days of unprecedented protests on the streets of the capital were marred by mounting violence, Khatami gave in to conservative demands for a massive security operation and a blanket ban on further unauthorized demonstrations.

Hundreds of protesters were picked up in a wave of arrests, many of them hauled off to impromptu detention centers by volunteer militiamen.

And while dozens of demonstrators have already been brought before the courts and death sentences have been confirmed against three of their alleged ringleaders, a promised court martial of top police officers accused of exceeding their orders in the original campus assault has still to be held.

A series of high profile court cases, in particular the prosecution of 13 Jews for espionage, again threw Iran's human rights record into the international spotlight, forcing European states on to the defensive in their relations with the Islamic Republic.

And Khatami remained unable to secure the big prize of a rapprochement with United States as relations with the "Great Satan" remained a prey to his domestic battles with the conservatives.

The conservative-controlled courts shut down no fewer than five leading dailies and ordered the detention of dozens of journalists as Mohammad Khatami proved powerless to prevent a crackdown on the fledgling press.

The year began well enough for pro-Khatami faction with a victory in local elections in February despite last-ditch efforts by the conservatives.

But their triumph sparked a backlash from conservatives fearful that they would lose control of parliament and the stranglehold it has given them over Khatami's faction.

Although hopeful of success in the polls next February, the opposition is fragmented and there is no guarantee it will give Khatami the majority he needs.

Iran also faces serious economic problems -- Khatami failed to get an ambitious five-year plan, involving privatization of key sectors, through parliament unscathed.
 

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