TEHRAN - Khamenei on Sunday formally ordered parliament not to debate a move to liberalise the country's harsh press law, speaker Mehdi Karubi told the assembly.

Karubi said at the opening of the session that Khamenei had used his constitutional powers to demand that the proposed amendment to the existing law be withdrawn from the parliamentary agenda.

Revision of the law, passed by the previous conservative-dominated parliament in one of its last moves before stepping down in May, was not in the interests of the regime, Khamenei said.

In a brief speech, Karubi defended Khamenei's decision despite protests from some members of the reformist majority.

Later IRNA reported that a brawl erupted in the parliament after Khamenei ordered the legislature not to debate liberalising the nation's press laws.

It said a fight broke out between several angry MPs while others stormed out of the session to protest Khamenei's order, on what was to have been a historic day for the new pro-reform parliament.

One deputy, journalists' association head Ali Mazrui, said that withdrawing the proposal was illegal.

The proceedings were broadcast live on Radio Tehran.

[Reuters reported: Khamenei on Sunday gave reformers a lesson in democracy, Iranian-style. "If the enemies infiltrate our press, this will be a big danger to the country's security and the people's religious beliefs. I do not deem it right to keep silent," the leader said in a letter to parliament.]

["The present press law has succeeded to a point to prevent this big plague. The (proposed) bill is not legitimate and in the interests of the system and the revolution."]

[Political analysts said the unexpected and forceful intervention by the leader was designed to draw boundaries -- what Iranians call "red lines" -- around a reform movement that now controls both the executive and legislative branches.]

[It also reflected Khamenei's determination to act personally, rather than leave it up to other conservative administrative bodies to counter the reformist parliament.]

["This points up the limits of the reform movement, no matter how many votes it collects," said one Western analyst. "The clerical establishment still has a lot of power at its disposal, and the leader showed he was prepared to use it."]
 

Rajavi: Dismissal Of Motion To "Amend Press Law" On Khamenei's Orders And Scuffles In Mullahs' Majlis Are Signs Of Eruption Of Clerical Regime's Internal Strife And Crises, Iran Zamin News Agency, August 6

Commenting on the scuffles that broke out today on the floor of the mullahs' Majlis and the dismissal of the motion to amend the Press Law on Khamenei's orders, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance, said: "What happened today before the eyes and ears of everyone on the floor of the mullahs' Majlis, which is the regime's tribune, was the eruption of profound internal strife and crises within the mullahs' regime as it heads toward its inevitable downfall. This development again confirmed the Iranian Resistance's viewpoint that the regime's parliament is a rubber-stamp body and that any talk of 'reform' in this theocratic dictatorship is pie in the sky."

"The inevitable intervention by the mullahs' Supreme Leader signaled how critical the mullahs' internal strife has become," Rajavi added. "This was a nail in the coffin of the sixth Majlis."

He emphasized: "Khamenei's order, Karrubi's remarks and the fact that almost all Majlis deputies and the Khatami faction complied with Khamenei's decree clearly show that reform, rule of law and elections have no meaning in this regime. All those who want to portray this Majlis as a force of reform pursue no aim other than legitimizing their ties and dealings with this anti-human regime."

"Today's developments show that this regime and all its factions have no legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people, just as the election masquerades and the Khatami faction's claims to reform have nothing to do with the Iranian people and belong to the dustbin of history," NCR President added.
 

Mullahs’ Suppressive Forces Punished By Local Residents In Three Provinces, Iran Zamin News Agency, August 4

A young man opened fire on members of the clerical regime’s State Security Forces in the southern city of Borazjan on Tuesday, August 1, after they harassed and manhandled a group of youngsters outside the city’s Grand Hosseinieh, or prayers hall. The assailant fired several bursts of bullets with an AK-47 assault rifle, wounding two security agents. The regime’s agents arrested several young residents after the incident.

In the southeastern city of Zahedan, provincial capital of Iranian Baluchistan, Hassan Kambuzia, a notorious thug whose brother is the Majlis deputy for the region, was gunned down in an attack on Tuesday, August 1. As an agent of the mullahs’ regime, Kambuzia was reviled by local residents for his intimidation and coercion of the people.

A group of young people ambushed a member of the notorious paramilitary Bassij in the city of Torbat-Haydarieh in Khorassan Province, northeast of the country. They severely beat up and injured the Bassij agent before fleeing. The state-owned daily, Ressalat, reported on July 11 that the assailants had warned the Bassij agent: "All of you Bassijis must be killed and we will force you out of our city even if it takes guns to do it."

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