28 August 2003

Pullback By the Regime And Widespread Demonstrations in Dehaghan


Monday Aug 25th with the official announcement in order
to stop partitioning Vardasht from Semiram, once again Dehaghan was officially
declared as a small district instead of being elevated to a city status. Heads
of the state after encountering a heavy resistance in Semiran and then failing
to partition the region, now have decided to take away some of the very basic
rights of the people of Dehaghan.

While during the annexation of Vardasht to Dehaghan by the Interior Ministry,
the status of Dehaghan was changed to city status, but after the government’s
defeat in Semiran, officials have removed the city name form road signs and
have returned Dehaghan to its old district status. This made the people of
Dehaghan to shutdown the entire city on Monday and stage a widespread mass
demonstrations and protests allover the town. Even though, the security forces were
rapidly deployed to the scene, to prevent bitter repeat of the events which took
place in Semiran, they avoided any direct and violent confrontation with the
people.

Size and population of Dehaghan meet all the criterion of a city status, but
they always have been denied from getting any of the very basic benefits and
accommodations given to larger cities. This decision by the government have
caused a great tension in the region and opposition to this plan continues to
grow.

Now, some of the non-local security forces from neighboring city of Semiram
have been deployed to Dehaghan to put down any possible uprising. Sand
barricdes setup by the people of Semiram to fight against the government forces are
still in place. Most barricades setup on rooftops and trenches on the roadsides
are still visible and intact. Government forces still patrol the city with
great fear and anxiety and avoid causing any direct confrontation with the
people. Only local police is controlling the town and outside forces from Esfahan
and Shahreza are stationed in military bases outside of the town.

Popular uprising in Semiram has not subsided yet and people are urgently
demanding perpetrators of the August 16 nd killings be arrested and brought
to justice. General Zolfaghari from Pasdaran Revolutionary Guard and Elian
from armed forces are among the perpetrators and master minders of the killings.
Elian the local commander of the armed forces whose 150,000 $ luxury car was
set on fire during the takeover of the government office in Semiran, along with
Zolfaghai managed to escape.

Despite the pullback by the government, still there is no accurate report on
the large number of detainees who were arrested during the course of the events
in last few weeks. There is no report on the condition of those who were
wounded and later transferred to hospitals in Isfahan and Shahreza. The government
has prohibited any hospital visit by the relatives. In last few days
returning of the bodies of the ones who have lost their lives has been very slow and
pain taking. The regime is asking 5 million Toman, 6,000 USD ransom for each
body. People’s resistance and determination has forced the regime to lower the
cash amount to 1 million Toman, 1200 USD, and later give up on demanding any
money. The regime has temporary scalded down its heavy-handed crackdown hoping
to "win people’s heart" and try to secure the release of some of the members
of the Pasdaran Revolutionary Guard who were captured during the fighting and
are still in people’s custody.

In which pat of the world, and in which dictatorial regime, that we know of,
people are savagely shot and killed in this manner? In which part of the
world poor families are forced to pay random to get the body of their love ones
back . The very same poor families whose their entire wealth and income is below
the ransom that the government is demanding.

Organization of Iranian People’s Fedaii Guerillas (OIPFG).

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