September 14, 2009
\nIran Opposition Leader’s Aide Is Freed
\nBy NAZILA FATHI
\nTORONTO – The main Iranian opposition leader’s top aide, who was arrested
\nlast week because of his investigations into the abuse of prisoners in the
\ncrackdown after the disputed election, has been released in what appears to
\nbe a sign of retreat by the hard-core conservative authorities running Iran.<\/p>\n
The release of the aide, Alireza Hosseini-Beheshti, was reported Sunday by
\nthe semiofficial ILNA news agency. He is a highly regarded academic with
\nIslamic revolutionary credentials who worked directly under the opposition
\nleader, Mir Hussein Moussavi. <\/p>\n
No explanation for the release was given. However, an Iranian source close
\nto Mr. Moussavi, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution,
\nsaid Mr. Beheshti’s freedom was secured only after immense pressure by
\nsenior politicians.<\/p>\n
Mr. Beheshti’s arrest had seemed to illustrate the length the government was
\nwilling to go to silence its opposition. His father, Mohammad Beheshti, who
\nwas killed in an explosion in 1981, was one of the main architects of the
\n\u06f1\u06f9\u06f7\u06f9 Islamic Revolution and the country’s Constitution.<\/p>\n
Along with other signs of intolerance by Iran’s authorities after the
\nelection, Mr. Beheshti’s arrest had led to speculation that Mr. Moussavi and
\nanother top opposition figure, Mehdi Karroubi, would be arrested. <\/p>\n
Both ran in the June 12 election and have asserted that the incumbent,
\nMahmoud Ahmadinejad, won by fraud.<\/p>\n
In what appeared to be a sign of support for Mr. Beheshti from other veteran
\nfigures, Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the
\nfounder of the 1979 revolution, visited Mr. Beheshti at his home after his
\nrelease on Saturday, ILNA reported. <\/p>\n
Mr. Beheshti was the head of one of the two committees that investigated the
\ntorture allegations of detainees during the post-election protests. <\/p>\n
The other committee was led by Mr. Karroubi, who has charged that prisoners
\nwere raped and sodomized. <\/p>\n
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referred to their allegations
\non Friday as “lies and rumors,” and he warned that the system would respond
\nharshly “to those who challenged its principles.” <\/p>\n
On Saturday a judicial panel ruled that the allegations of rape were
\nbaseless and that Mr. Karroubi’s proof was fabricated. However, the panel
\nalso said the government’s measures to extinguish criticism have alienated
\nmany influential religious and political figures.<\/p>\n
A source close to Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful politician whose
\nfamily supported Mr. Moussavi’s campaign, on Sunday corroborated reports
\nthat Mr. Rafsanjani threatened to resign his posts a few weeks ago after
\nAyatollah Khamenei issued an order for Mr. Karroubi’s arrest. <\/p>\n
It remains unclear why that order was never carried out, but it may reflect
\na continuing power struggle between Ayatollah Khamenei and Mr. Rafsanjani,
\nwho is the head of the Council of Experts, which has the legal power to
\ndismiss the supreme leader.<\/p>\n
Several Iranian Web sites sympathetic to Mr. Moussavi, including
\nmowjcamp.com, reported last week that Hussein Nouri Hamedani, the only
\nsenior cleric to have congratulated Mr. Ahmadinejad, had expressed regret
\nand had said he was “tricked” by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s supporters. <\/p>\n
Senior clerics in Iran’s holy city of Qum have historically given religious
\nlegitimacy to the government. Mohsen Kadivar, a senior cleric and a visiting
\nprofessor at Duke University, who has ties with clerics in Qum, said that
\nthe number of clerics who were withdrawing their support for the government
\nwas increasing.<\/p>\n
“We have the progressive clerics who have criticized the post-election
\nevents and openly sided with the protesters,” he said. “But some of the more
\nconservative ones have also shifted their support and have stayed away from
\ngovernment ceremonies in a sign of protest.”<\/p>\n
It is possible that the government is delaying Mr. Karroubi’s arrest until
\nafter this Friday, the date of Iran’s annual pro-Palestinian rally, to avoid
\nfurther tension. Protesters and opposition leaders, including Mr. Karroubi,
\nhave said that they will use the occasion to hold antigovernment street
\nprotests. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
September 14, 2009 Iran Opposition Leader’s Aide Is Freed By NAZILA FATHI TORONTO – The main Iranian opposition leader’s top aide, who was arrested last week because of his investigations into the abuse of prisoners in the crackdown after the disputed election, has been released in what appears to be a sign of retreat by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[514],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n