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Human rights violations in Iran: Causes and Modalities

Iran's Student Union Deplores the Death of 5 Students During the Post Election Unrest

Office for Consolidating of Unity /ABF translation
June 1, 2009
Communique

The "Office for Consolidating of Unity (OFCU)" (Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat) confirmed the killing of the 5 students. The killed students were clandestinely buried.

An announcement from the public relations division of OFCU in relation to the destruction and the spilling of blood at Tehran University campus, and the recent developments around [presidential] elections:

From God we have come and to Him we shall return

The recent election, which some have rightfully referred to as a coup d'état, is a shameful blemish on the state which can never be cleansed.

Following the last few days' protests, by students from different universities and people from different social background, against the widespread fraud and vote rigging engineered with the aim of undoing the public will, the military stepped in, accompanied by plain clothes forces, the "Ansar" (Islamic Watchdogs), and the Baseejies. They savagely attacked the students in different universities around the country, where scores of people were injured, and at least 300 students were kidnapped from various locations in the country.

In the most savage attack, which occurred on the evening of Sunday 24 Khordad [1388] [June 14th, 2009], the forces of Ansar and the plain clothes forces began a widespread and well coordinated attack on Tehran's university campus. These individuals carried various types of warm and cold weapons, including long daggers and axes. In this cowardly attack, at least 5 students from Tehran University were martyred. They [also] set the students' living quarters on fire, and verily recreated another 18th of Tir [July 9th ], [this time] with broader dimensions, greater filth and brutality. Once again, the students' living quarters is blown up and their innocent blood is left on the walls.

Likewise, in Shiraz University, the plain clothes, the Ansar, and the Baseejies attacked the students, where at least 2 of them were martyred.

In the University of Isfahan, the security forces used teargas to attack one of the student dormitories and subjected the students to hours of beating and punishment. Similarly, in Mashhad's Ferdowsi University, the students were subjected to attacks by the Ansar of Hezb-Allah. These same inhumane attacks were also used against students in the universities of Razi in Kermanshah, Allameh Tabatabai, Babol, and Shahrood.

Thus, the Public Relations division of the OFCU announces that should this dangerous show [of force] continue, the death of democracy in this country will have to be mourned for years to come, and that the state should know that it has initiated its own downfall by throwing itself from the frying pan into the fire. This is because civil activism can have no meaning in the face of such naked barbarism.

During this coup d'état like act, the height of dictatorship and oppression of the regime's flag bearers came to light. Henceforth, the regime will not be able to rule, except by the force of the bayonet. Thus, the Islamic Republic's mask of lies that hid its false pretense of subservience to the masses has fallen by the wayside.

If the rulers cannot see their regime's continuation except through coups, then let them relish over the results of this election. Otherwise, let them bravely drink their cup of poison [allusion to Ayatollah Khomeini's declaration in 1988, when he accepted to end the Iran-Iraq eight-year war] and reform the present conditions, so that the instigators of lies may become known and the burden of their evil intentions be forever removed from this country.

It must now be asked: Where are the senior commanders, the free spirited, Ahmady Moghaddam [Commander of Iran's Security Forces] and others, who claim [leadership] over the society? Is their ability to rule limited to arresting women and girls for not wearing the hejab or covering up, only to use such incidents as propaganda on TV? Given that the attacks on the students by the Ansar and the Basseej were widespread and well coordinated, the leaders of the Baseej and the Revolutionary Guards ( Pasdaran corp.) must be held accountable for these crimes.

This immense crime against the defenseless students is an eternal and unforgettable blemish of shame for the [state] leadership. The Monday night march from Tehran's Enghelab Square to the Freedom Square, which began calmly and in complete peacefulness, was turned into a bloody scene by a few unruly Baseeji extremists. More than a million people marched to object to the elections [results]. It was later heard from some that state forces had used rounds of [live] ammunition, firing randomly on the demonstrators. So far, reports of at least 10 deaths have been published in relation to this event.

In the end, the OFCU strongly condemns the continued and widespread arrest of civil and political activists like Keyvan Samimi, Zeydabady, Taghi Rahmani, Hoda Saber, Abdolreza Tajik, Shiva Nazar-ahari, Hadi Kahhalzadh, Someyeh Tohidlou, Khanjani, and many other journalists and students. It also condemns the killing of citizens and innocent students, and announces that it requests the identities of those who committed these savage crimes, as well as those who supported them. And it will not remain quiet until every dimension of this crime has been brought into the open.

While supporting the Green Movement, the OFCU joins [this] civil and non violent movement of the Iranian people and asks the entire public and all students to be present for the march on Tuesday afternoon, June 16th , at the Valiasr square, and demands answers for the spilled blood of the martyred students of Tehran University. We also ask of Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karoubi [two of the presidential candidates] to not sit still until the rights of the people have been stored, and the election [results] annulled.

(Public Relations Division of the OFCU (Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat), June 16th, 2009)