TEHRAN, 26 June 2003 — Reformist Iranian lawmakers urged President Mohammad Khatami yesterday to take a firm stand over an apparent mass round-up of students following this month’s protests against the government.
Student leaders and legislators have said scores of students were arrested in cities across the country in recent days by plainclothes security officials.
The whereabouts of many of those detained is still unknown, they say. While defending people’s right to protest, pro-reform Khatami — whom protesters called on to resign during the recent demonstrations — has said little about the recent arrests.
When asked to comment yesterday, he told reporters: “In this country criticism should be free, the right of protest should be free. But everything should be in the framework of the law.” He did not make clear whether his reference to the law applied to the actions of the protesters or the security forces. Lawmakers said Khatami had a duty to live up to his 1997 and 2001 election pledges to bring greater democracy, justice and social freedoms.
“What we are expecting from Khatami is to fulfill his promises and to fulfill the slogans which drew people to the ballot boxes,” parliamentarian Nouredin Pirmoazen told Reuters.
Khatami’s failure to overcome resistance to change from conservatives has led to mounting disillusionment among Iranians. Critics say the mild-mannered cleric’s philosophical style is too soft for the tough world of Iranian politics.
“Since Khatami is not a politician and has no abilities in this field...(he) will not bring any changes at the present time or in the future. He is just killing time,” said one caller to the reformist Etemad newspaper’s open forum column.
Some 25 MPs from the reformist-dominated Parliament wrote a letter to Khatami on Tuesday asking him to attend a meeting to discuss the recent arrests.
“We are asking the president to announce his stance more clearly than before... merely expressing regret will not solve anything,” Tehran MP Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoini was quoted as saying in the reformist Tosea newspaper yesterday.
Diplomats say the recent arrests appear to be aimed at preventing further unrest. It is feared more will erupt around the July 9 anniversary of a violent 1999 attack on a Tehran University dormitory by vigilantes loyal to Iran’s clerical establishment.
Politicians said it was not clear which security organization had carried out the students’ arrests. Intelligence Ministry and police officials have said they only have a handful of students in their custody.
“As President Khatami has said, a government has been formed inside the government, and some organizations are arresting citizens,” Hadi Qabel, head of the reformist Participation Front party in the city of Qom told Tosea.
One 53-year-old woman told Reuters she had been unable to get any information about the whereabouts of her son, a student who was arrested during the first days of the protests about two weeks ago.
The son of at least one reformist MP has also been detained and several MPs complained they had received death threats since releasing a highly critical letter to Supreme Leader Ali Al-Khamenei last month signed by 135 MPs.
