By Rupen Savoulian
The secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the international representative of a coalition of exiled Iranian political organisations, reported rioting in the cities of Nayriz and Abadeh in Fars province, southern Iran, in mid-August.
One hundred people were reported killed and wounded during demonstrations on August 11-15 against the religious regime's dictatorial policies. The demonstrations occurred during the second week of the new President Khatami's rule.
The demonstrations climaxed on August 12-13 with demonstrators attacking the governor's office and burning down government buildings in Nayriz. Shopkeepers had closed several days earlier in a show of solidarity with the protesters.
The demonstrators in Nayriz chanted "Down with Khameini" (Iran's supreme jurist) and "Down with Velayat-e Faqih" (the "rule of the supreme jurist"). Ali Khameini is backed by the reactionary clerical rulers who ensure that the religious dictatorship's directives are obeyed by the Iranian parliament, the Majlis and the president.
Worried about the protests, the governing mullahs in Tehran despatched the commander of the state security forces in Tehran, brigadier general Yousef Reza Abolfathi, to Fars province. Abolfathi is a veteran in the torture and repression of Iranian activists.
The governor of Fars province and the regime's director of intelligence, flew to Nayriz to oversee the deployment of 3000 revolutionary guards to repress the opposition.
According to reports from the People's Mojahedin of Iran inside Iran, the regime is worried about the extent of resistance activities, particularly in the outlying provinces of Khuzistan (south-west), Kerman (south) and Ilam (west). The clerical regime has increased its military manoeuvres and put its forces on high alert in those provinces.
Authorities in Khuzistan and Kerman have admitted that there are increasing confrontations between the Mojahedin and the state security forces. Large numbers of intelligence agents and Pasdaran (Islamic Revolutionary Guards) have been killed or wounded during the most recent confrontations. The Pasdaran is a centralised anti-leftist militia which was formed in the early 1980s to monitor the activities of dissidents, attack and break up demonstrations and strikes, and enforce the rigid Islamic laws of the Tehran government.
Indicating that the repression is set to continue, President Khatami's nominee for intelligence minister, Qorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, has said that he intends to expand the ministry's network of spies and powers. During an interview with the Iranian Republic's News Agency, he spoke of restoring "strength and discipline" at government offices.
The intelligence ministry receives the largest share of the government's budget, and while other government-run industries have been privatised and suffered cut-backs, it has remained untouched. It receives orders directly from Khameini and is answerable directly to him.
Meanwhile, Israeli arms manufacturers encourage the repression of the Iranian people by continuing to sell products to the Tehran government. The Iranian democratic resistance has consistently condemned Israeli arms deliveries to successive Iranian regimes.