Our Life and Times
June 2000
Discontent and repression deepen in Iran
The February elections in Iran, in which the majority hard line faction of
the Islamic Republic candidates lost in favor of "reformist" Islamist
candidates, continue to have strong reverberations.
In April, the government started the trial of 13 Iranian Jews from the city
of Shiraz. They were arrested last year on charges of "espionage for
Israel." It is notable that anytime the Islamic regime has faced a major
crisis, it has persecuted religious minorities, especially Bahais and Jews,
as agents of foreign governments. It should be mentioned that none of the
so-called "reformists" has ever taken a stand to defend the rights of these
minorities in Iran. Eight of the defendants have "confessed" but four have
refused to accept these sham charges. The Islamic regime has a history of
"confessions" that were extracted by torture and threats.
Soon after Iranian TV broadcast the "confessions," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
gave a Friday sermon in which he once again defended Roger Garaudy, the
French former Communist and now Islamicist, for having denied that the
holocaust of Jews ever took place. This use and intensification of
anti-Semitism have resulted in acts such as the burning of two Jewish-owned
stores in Tehran and the harassment of Jewish students in Shiraz.
To circumvent the legitimacy crisis the regime faces, during the month of
April the government also banned 16 newspapers based on charges that they
had offended Islam.
Two significant developments reveal the discontent that exists in the country:
On May Day, thousands of workers marched in Tehran to protest the new labor
law which denies labor rights to workers in workshops with less than five
workers. This is a significant development for Iranian workers because
small workshops employ millions of workers in Iran. The reaction to this
law shows a spontaneous form of protest. However, most of the speakers at
the May Day protest were from The Worker's House, a governmental body that
held the speeches within the acceptable boundaries of the regime.
During the second round of the Iranian parliamentary elections, the votes
were once again overwhelmingly for "reform" candidates. So humiliating was
the defeat of the hard line candidates, that Hashemi Rafsanjani the former
Iranian president and a representative of Khamenei's faction, received the
minimum number of votes to be admitted to the parliament. In the meantime,
the Council of Guardians (one of several bodies created to preserve the
Islamic regime) did its best to nullify elections in those cities where
"reformists" won. Their efforts to undermine the election results resulted
in mass protests in several cities.
The crisis of legitimacy for the regime is so deep that the "Supreme
leader" Khamenei decided not to take the risk of causing further anger
among the people over the election results. He warned the Council of
Guardians not to nullify Tehran's election and bowed to the vote of the
people. Following further protests by students at Tehran University and
other expressions of hatred for Rafsanjani among the masses of people,
Rafsanjani announced his resignation from the parliament. He still
continues to wield enormous influence, however, as a member of the Council
of Expediency which arbitrates disputes between the parliament and other
branches of the government.
—Sheila Fuller and Bahram Teymoorian
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