| MND COMMENTARY |
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Iran: Referendum not Elections
March 7, 2005 by Potkin Azarmehr Iranian presidential candidate, Dr. Moein, faced a barrage of protests by students in Isfahan university yesterday. At the beginning of the proceedings, the Islamic Republic anthem was played, but the students instead of singing the official state anthem, stood up and sang the alternative nationalist “Ey Iran” anthem. Many of the students held placards saying “Referendum Yes, Elections No” which referred to the futility of pre-selected elections in Islamic Republic and what the people of Iran really want, a referendum for the drafting of a new constitution that is compatible with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all its associated covenants. Other placards, displayed slogans such as “Reform Died”, “Bread, Freedom, Equality”. The proceedings ended without a single display of support for Dr. Moein’s candidacy. In another university in Mashad, North East Iran, the students turned the Student Publications Ceremony Day to a demonstration against the Islamic Republic and even kicked out president Khatami’s Health Minister from the ceremony. More than a thousand students took part in the protest and took control of the podium for more than an hour. Islamic Republic News Agency, ILNA reported the incident and quoted the angry Health Minister, Pezeshkian as saying “These were not real students, they say they want democracy and yet they disrupt the ceremony and kick me out” Khorasan Daily, reported the incident by saying “Such disruption and controversy during a university ceremony was unprecedented.”
Potkin Azarmehr is a database consultant and an Iranian ex-patriot. He writes: "In my late teens when the mullahs came to power in Iran. Just a year later, the mullahs decided to have their own "cultural revolution", i.e. sack all the non-Islamic students and academics and create a new Islamic syllabus. Iran’s universities were closed and Iran did not produce any graduates for two years. During this time the mullahs gave three days warning for the non-Islamic elements to evacuate universities. I along with some of my friends went to defend the universities. During the three days warning there were minor clashes with the hired thugs, but on the final day, the onslaught was beyond all our expectations. Sixteen people died throughout Iran on that night. I managed to escape with just a few cuts and bruises, but one of my school friends, was amongst the thousands who were arrested that night. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison. In the 8th year of his sentence he was executed during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners. I ended up leaving Iran for England where I joined Dr. Shapur Bakhtiar’s organisation. Dr. Bakhtiar was an Iranian nationalist and a secular politician, who warned the Iranian people against the dictatorship of the mullahs during the mass frenzy of 1979. Dr. Bakhtiar was assassinated in Paris with the collusion of the Miterand Socialist government and the Islamic Republic’s death squads. Since then I have been active in the Iranian pro-democracy movement, supporting the cause of democracy, secularism and nationalism in Iran." |
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