Iranian Police Move to Break Up Mourning Ceremony

Iranian Police Move to Break Up Mourning Ceremony
By ROBERT F. WORTH and NAZILA FATHI
Copyright by The Associated Press
Published: July 30, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/world/middleeast/31iran.html?ref=global-home


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian riot police used tear gas and wooden batons to disperse thousands of opposition supporters in central Tehran on Thursday as they massed to commemorate those killed in the unrest after the disputed June 12 presidential election, witnesses said.

In what appeared to be the most serious street challenge by the opposition in weeks, the witnesses said, demonstrators gathered around a large prayer venue, the Grand Mosala, as well as in central Vali Asr square, where tens of thousands had gathered in the street demonstration in the days following the election.

Earlier Thursday, police and demonstrators clashed at a cemetery in the city’s southern outskirts where some of those killed in the post-election violence are buried, including Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman shot to death, whose bloodied image, circulated widely on the Internet, has become an icon of the post-election crackdown.

The opposition leader, Mir Hussein Moussavi, who has asserted that the election was stolen from him in a massive fraud, was among the thousands who arrived at the cemetery, but the police surrounded him and forced him to return to his car before he could offer prayers, news reports said.

Some in the crowd chanted Mr. Moussavi’s name and “death to the dictator!” according to videos posted on the Internet and witness accounts reported by The Associated Press. When another opposition leader, reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi, attempted to give a speech, the police moved in, firing tear gas and swinging wooden batons at the mourners, news reports said.

Thursday was a day of symbolic importance in Iran because 40 days have passed since the shooting of Ms. Agha-Soltan. The 40th day marks an important Shiite mourning ritual. Similar commemorations for dead protesters fueled the demonstrations that led to the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The authorities had denied permission to hold any formal mourning ceremonies.

The treatment of the detained protesters, some of whom have died in prison, has become one of the most explosive issues facing the Iranian authorities as they seek to restore calm in the country. The Iranian authorities have sought to defuse the issue by ordering the release of many of those held, but they have charged some with serious crimes and continued with arrests.

Mohammed Khatami, the former reformist president and an ally of Mr. Moussavi, made fierce comments Thursday in meeting with reformist members of Parliament, his Web site reported.

“Crimes have taken place and people have died. Our people, young, women and men have been treated in ways that if it had taken place in foreign prisons everyone was screaming that it should be confronted,” he said. “Such behavior is harmful for the revolution and society.”

Earlier Thursday, the police arrested two prominent Iranian filmmakers when they tried to lay flowers at Ms. Agha-Soltan’s grave, The A.P. said. One of them was Jafar Panahi, best known for his film, “The Circle,” which was critical of the treatment of women under the Islamist government and was banned in Iran. A female associate and documentary maker, Mahnaz Mohammadi, was arrested with him, The A.P. said.

At the late afternoon protests in downtown Tehran, many were arrested, but the crowd remained defiant even as they were sprayed with tear gas, a witness said.

“The crowd is still as large as it was weeks ago, and you see people from all classes and ages,” the witness, who spoke anonymously said. “When will the rulers see this? They cannot rule by killing and arresting people.”

On Wednesday, the police arrested two additional prominent reformists, Saeed Shariati and Shayesteh Amiri, opposition Web sites reported. Separately, an “underground network providing foreign media outlets with photos and footage of the post-election unrest” was identified and its members arrested, state-run Press TV reported, citing security forces.

The report said that the network was made up of “pro-reform extremists” and that at least two members had confessed to providing images of the unrest to Western news media in an effort to “stage a regime change” in Iran. The Iranian leadership has blamed foreign news outlets for encouraging the riots and rallies.

On Tuesday, the authorities released 140 detainees, amid accusations that jailed protesters had been tortured and killed. Prominent conservatives and senior clerics have joined the opposition in denouncing the abuses, and the release of the detainees appeared to be part of a government effort to defuse the issue.

Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, a dissident and one of Iran’s most senior clerics, issued a harsh statement on Wednesday on his Web site, saying the government’s closing of one notorious detention center was not enough. “Was the shah able to resist the protests by jailing, torturing, extracting confessions and lying?” he said, referring to the fall of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in the 1979 revolution.

There were some conciliatory gestures from the government on Wednesday, with Iran’s top police official, Brig. Gen. Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, saying some officers “went to extremes” and caused damage during the post-election protests, Press TV reported. The prosecutor general of Iran, Ayatollah Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, said that more detainees would soon be released and that a “serious judicial inquiry” was being conducted into prison deaths after the election, Iranian news agencies reported.

But the authorities have also said that their clemency is limited, and that protesters who crossed the line will be punished. On Wednesday, the authorities said that 20 protesters charged with serious crimes would be put on trial for charges including “attacking military units and universities, sending pictures to enemy media, carrying firearms and explosives, organizing thugs and rioters, and vandalizing public property,” state television reported.

Robert F. Worth reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Nazila Fathi from Toronto. Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris, and Sharon Otterman from New York.