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Ahmadinejad Silences His Critics

[Sunday Telegraph-UK] Colin Freeman - A long-feared crackdown by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finally appears to be coming into force. The regime has turned on its critics in all walks of life, harassing pro-democracy activists, shutting down dissident publications and dismissing independent-minded government officials and academics. When members of a pro-democracy group staged a demonstration at Teheran's Amir Kabir University last December, Ahmadinejad surprised the world by requesting that they should not be arrested. He later cited his move as proof of the "absolute, total freedom" Iranians enjoyed. Eight of those protesters have since been jailed. Some 70 students have been arrested since Ahmadinejad came to power; nearly half were seized in the last four months. More than 500 others have been suspended or expelled from university because of political activities, while about 130 student publications and 40 student organizations have been closed. The fact that many reformists were still at large to criticize the regime was not grounds for optimism, said Abdullah Momeni, the leader of Tahkim Vahdat, Iran's largest student organization and a prominent critic of the regime. "Now the judiciary and parliament and president feel so powerful that they don't really see us as a threat any more."
2007-07-10 01:00:00
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