Iran - History Repeating Itself?

"Dictatorship in the name of religion is the worst kind. The most evident manifestation of a continued tyrannical attitude is the abuse of parliament and the judiciary. We have completely lost hope in the judiciary."

Those are the words of Mir Hossein Mousavi about the latest round of executions of dissidents opposed to the current Iranian regime. The man who was defeated in last year's controversial Presidential elections has taken a more defiant role in recent days. His nephew was shot in the last major demonstration on 27 December.

When Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a hardline cleric at prayers last Friday twisted the usual words that are said over the dead the day after two more men were hanged saying:

"May God not have mercy on those who are lenient with the corrupt on earth. There is no room for clemency. It is time for severity."

He seems to forget the populist revolution that lead to the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, 11 February marks the 31st Anniversary of the toppling of the Shah. But the usual reshowing of the protests that lead to that revolution are not being shown this year on the orders of the regime. Mr Mousavi, who himself was prominent in that revolution, and Mehdi Karroubi (the other main opposition leader) are encouraging their supporters to protest on that Anniversary next Thursday. Mr Mousavi said:

"Stifling the media, filling the prisons and brutally killing people who peacefully demand their rights in the streets indicate that the roots of tyranny and dictatorship remain from the monarchist era. I don’t believe that the revolution achieved its goals."

He has declared that the reason that Iran rose up 31 years ago exist still in a different form. So when Ebrahim Raisi, a senior member of the judiciary, announced the death penalty on nine more yesterday saying, "They had participated in riots with the aim of toppling the system." In the eyes of one of the founders of the Republic, Mr Mousavi, that is just a continuation of the system he had fought long and painfully to overthrow once before. It is the same he suggests in all but name.

The Case of the Paranoid Ayatollah

If you're going to take militaristic action and fire on those that oppose you the least you could do is allow the families of the dead to take away the corpse for burial. Not however in Iran, and not if you've just killed the nephew of the man who only 6 months before came close to bringing the change that the demonstrators wanted.

It is often a sign that the regime in charge has lost the plot when they know that they have created a martyr and don't want the funeral to become another outpouring of opposition against their actions. The fact that Seyed Ali Mousavi's corpse was ceased from the hospital by the authorities and even close trading Russia are urging restraint shows that the Iranians are on a loose footing.

The news that Mr Mousavi, whose uncle Mir Hossein Mousavi stood aside from the rerun of the June Presidential election, was shot in the chest suggests his shooting wasn't merely for crowd dispersal but an assassination. However, on Sunday forces ring fenced the hospital where Mr Mousavi and four others who were killed were taken before whisking the corpses of for an 'autopsy'. They used tear gas to disperse the crowds that gathered and are also alleging that foreign agents were responsible for the murders to bring discredit to the regime. However, as Mr Mousavi had in recent weeks received death threats, which have now been realised the finger most surely point to Iranian sources.

It is a scene of paranoia the likes of which we maybe haven't seen unfold like this since the last days of the Ceauşescu regime in Romania. We all know how that attempt to kept the people in place ended just over 20 years ago. The fact the the people of Iran after months of thinking about the previous slaughter are prepared once more to take to the streets knowing what fate may befall them is a sign that no amount of Government intervention is going to silence them until their goal is reached.

More Death in Iran as People Want Change they can Believe In

Neda the Iranian who was shot dead when she wasn't even involved in the protests for democracy in June this year was last week named Times person of the year.

The news from Iran today is that eight more people have lost their lives protesting against the Government. Of the four shot dead in Tehran today one was the nephew of the former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi stepped aside instead of contesting the run off election after many were killed over allegations that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had rigged the results in the elections.

In the worse day for deaths at the hands of the Iranian regime since June four others died at Tabriz. Last week the leading opposition cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died at the age of 87 nd tensions have been boiling under ever since. He had been a leading light in the 1979 revolution at at one time had been set to be Supreme Ruler of Iran.

As it is the crowds who took to the streets at the end of the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura were chanting "this is the month of blood" and "Khamenei will be toppled" in reference to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On the anniversary of the start of Israeli attacks on Gaza last year and at the end of a religious festival the people are standing in defiance again.

Clerics Declare Ahmadinejad Illegitimate

There is a revolution going on in Iran, and it is coming from the largest group of clerics.

Ayatolleh Khamenei has already declared that the re-election of President Ahmadinejad last month was legal and legitimate and made clear he would not tolerate any more challenges to that 'victory'. However, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom, the largest grouping of clerics in the country have issued a statement to the contrary. The fact that it is such a sizable group of the clerics that has spoken out is a blow to the Spiritual leader of the country.

In a rebuke to the regime it declared on its website:

"Candidates’ complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored . . . Peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed . . . Dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested . . . The outcome is invalid."

It called on other clerics to speak out, demanded the release of all those arrested in the past three weeks, and directly challenged the authority of the Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics that has openly backed Mr Ahmadinejad and his patron, Mr Khamenei. "How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so?", they asked.

The top end of the regime is losing the battle to maintain the charade of a fair election. Khamenei has lost the backing of those he is supposed to lead in the clerical realm. The people know that there is an issue with their own votes. The top tier of leadership in Iran is all that is holding Ahmadinejad in power, Iran and the rest of the world realises that.

Houssein Mousavi, along with former Presidents Mohammed Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and fellow 'defeated' candidate Medhi Karoubi and now the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom there is a new political front former. A new movement that is going to carry on the challenge of Government legitimacy.

One analyst said:

"The fact that anyone dares to condemn the election when people were calling for Mousavi and Karoubi’s heads is remarkable. It shows there is depth to Mousavi’s support. They have not been bullied into silence, there are factions forming and this is not over."

The people need to keep calling for their vote to count, their voice to be heard, their preferred leader to the President. The world is watching, waiting for Ahmadinejad to realise what is the right thing.