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*"Islamizing" the Universities
* Hezbollahi want Soroush out
* Army Colonel and 12 others executed
* Four killed during Air Force crash
* New maneuvers, glider, announced
* Forouhar calls for mass protests
* Gingrich, D'Amato, support Iranian women
* Russians tout "strategic relationship" with Iran
* Carpet Exports Down by 40%
* Sturgeon plundered in Caspian
* Brief News
"Islamizing" the Universities
The official media and Hezbollahi circles have launched a campaign to "Islamize" Iran's universities, following an order from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i.
"The Supreme leader is right when he says that our universities are not Islamic enough, said Mohammad Reza Golpayegani, Minister of Culture and Higher Education. "We are worried about the presence of some professors in some of our universities, who are not fully attached to Islam and the Revolution. Expelling them from universities is among my Ministry's programs for further Islamization of universities." [Abrar 6/8]
At issue is the very core of the humanities curriculum, which Khamene'i and his supporters believe should be infused with Islamic teachings.
"Can we really call a university 'Islamic,' when Keynsian economics, or Adam Smith's ideas are being taught in it?" the conservative daily Resalat asked. "Teaching Marxism and liberalism, without comparing them to Islam and proving their emptiness and weakness, will only result in creating complete liberals. In that case our universities are not Islamic anymore." [Resalat, 5/20]
The paper has complained that Basiji students were being "mocked" because they wore beards and defended the Velayat-e Faqih, and that university Islamic Societies - student unions - have been "infiltrated" by counter-revolutionaries. It has called for an overhaul of the university system, to prevent "unnecessary mixing of male and female students," and a purge of professors "who oppose the holy Islamic regime, replacing them with "true believers who share the believes of our Muslim nation." [Resalat/5/25]
Since then, several universities around the country have the site of demonstrations in favor of "purging" the faculty of "liberal" elements. On June 12, students from the Teachers Training University in Tehran staged a demonstration in front of the Cultural and Higher Education Ministry, calling for the "cultural revolution" promised by Supreme leader Khamene'i. In a press release they called for the "immediate expulsion of liberal professors" from the universities, and "new committees" to fire liberal professors and students. [Kayhan 6/12]. Also on the 12th, an "anti-liberal" demonstration was reported at Ahvaz university [Jomhouri-e Eslami 6/12].
On the 13th, medical students at Shahid Behesti University physically expelled a university professor for his "liberal views" and having "insulted a Muslim Iranian woman" for wearing the hijab. [Tehran Times 6/13]. Meanwhile, Ettelaat reported that the Presidents of four universities (Teachers Training University, Birjan, Lorestan, and Rafsanjan universities) were replaced [6/13]. On the 14th, Ettelaat reported that Khamene'i's representative addressed a conference at Qom University yesterday and reaffirmed the regime's commitment to expelling liberals from the University.
In Friday prayer ceremonies at Tehran university, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati (who directs the Ansar-e Hezbollah group) warned that "real Muslims shall be appointed" to head Iran's universities because "presently our universities are not Islamic." [Tehran Radio 6/14]
On Saturday, the President of Islamic Azad University in Tehran weighed in, telling a press conference in Tehran that the purge of students and teachers who do not respect Islamic values "will begin here," and that in the coming university year a "new method" for selecting students and teachers will be used. [Resalat 6/16] Meanwhile, Kayhan in its Saturday evening edition announced that Hezbollahi students would stage a major demonstration at Tehran University on Sunday in support of Khamene'i's call for the "Islamization" of Iranian universities. [Kayhan 6/15].
Iran's universities were closed for three years in the early 1980s, when thousands of academics were purged because of their political beliefs. When they reopened, prospective teachers were subject to severe security and ideological examinations. Places are reserved for pro-regime students, war invalids, "Martyrs" families, and members of the Revolutionary Guards corps, who can enter university without competitive entry exams. Classes are sexually segregated, and students complain that they are constantly monitored by agents working for the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
Hezbollahi want Soroush out
Following clashes between supporters and opponents of Islamic scholar Abdolkarim Soroush at Amir Kabir University in May, a group of Hezbollah students, spearheaded by four war invalids in wheelchairs, have staged weekly protests aimed at preventing Abdolkarim Soroush from teaching his classes at Tehran University's College of Social Science. Despite the protests, however, a university disciplinary committee voted to allow Soroush to continue teaching - at least until the end of the current academic year, now over.
Now the students have gone to the radical daily Kayhan, to complain they are being harassed by the university authorities.
The students claim the University has threatened to expel them for their anti-Soroush demonstrations. The University says it has decided to "withhold any decision... until these brothers feel better."
The radical daily Sobh has also taken the Hezbollah students' cause, calling them the "victims of a very dangerous liberal tendency in Tehran University." [Kayhan, 5/29; Sobh, 5/29]
Army Colonel and 12 others executed
An army colonel has been executed for "spying for Iraq", as part of an apparent crackdown on foreign intelligence networks inside the Revolutionary Guards corps and the regular army.
Two other regular army colonels were arrested for "spying for the CIA", another army colonel jailed for "spying for Turkey", and a Revolutionary Guards officer, Azizollah Karimi, detained on charge of "spying" for a undeclared country.
According to Hojjat-ol-eslam Younesi, the General Prosecutor of the Armed Forces, Colonel Sousanabadi was executed after he was convicted of spying for Iraq following the Iran-Iraq war. He also said that one of the CIA spies, Colonel Siavash Bayani, had been lured back to Iran from overseas, and then arrested.
The most unusual announcement of the Prosecutor General, was the arrest of Ezzatolah Karimi, a Rev. Guards officer. This is the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic that a member of the IRGC has been identified as "spy".
In his initial declaration on the 11th, Younesi claimed that another 13 people, including "several Revolutionary Guards," were arrested as members of "a Mafia type spy ring headed by a judge." Other members of the group were described as "members of the Law Enforcement Forces, officials from the Ministry of Justice, and other government officials."
No date , place or other details were given on any of the activities and arrests, or on Colonel Sousanabadi's execution.[Kayhan, 6/11; Iran daily, 6/12, 6/13]
In an unrelated event, Resalat reported on Saturday that 12 other persons have recently been executed in Hamadan for "corruption and prostitution." The paper gave no names, dates, or other details about the case. [Resalat 6/15].
Four killed during Air Force crash
Three pilots and a security agent were killed when an Iran Air Boeing 707 crashed near Rasht during a training flight. Kayhan reported that six pilot trainees were one board, along with an instructor, but then revealed that one of the four killed was a security guard.
Security guards are always present on Iran Air commercial flights to prevent hijackings. But presence of the guard on a training flight suggests that even the candidate pilots are not trusted.
Three days after the fatal crash, a report concerning acts of aircraft sabotage and "illegal interference" in Iranian Civil Aviation flights was released, prompting speculation that of sabotage. "The publication of this report by The Civil Aviation Agency is causing doubt about the real reasons behind Boeing crash," Salam commented. "If there's no relation between the crash and publication of the sabotage report, the Agency's public relations department has a very poor taste in timing," [Kayhan 6/10; Salam 6/13]
New maneuvers, glider, announced
Two weeks after staging a huge and costly military maneuver in the desert near Qom, Rev. Guards Commander General Mohsen Rezai announced that more war games were in the offing, in which 150,000 Rev. Guards and Basijis would take part.
He initially announced the maneuvers while visiting a new Rev. Guards military base in Shiraz. The base can accommodate 30.000 troops, and Rezai said similar bases would be established in other cities "to make the Revolutionary Guards Corps capable of transferring enough forces to anywhere around the country in 24 hours" [Reuters, AFP 6/13]
Meanwhile, Basij and Rev Guards combat units held a 3-day anti-riot exercise from 9-11 June in Semnan province, using 15 "Ashoura" battalions and 25 Ashoura reserve companies. [The Ashoura battalions are specially trained anti-riot troops]. They were assisted by five "Al Zahra" battalions, all-women units to be used to counter demonstrations by women. [Jomhouri-e Eslami 6/12]
On Saturday, Rezai told Kayhan the new maneuvers will involve not 150,000 but 500,000 troops, and would be held in 26 provinces throughout Iran. From this larger force, 150,000 "elite" troops would be selected for additional anti-riot exercises code-named Ashoura-3. [Kayhan 6/15]
Rezai also announced that the Rev. guards will start mass production of newly-tested gliders, to be used "for transport of troops and military items." [Jomhouri-e Eslami 6/13; Kayhan 6/15].
Forouhar calls for mass protests
The leader of the Iran Nation's Party, Darioush Forouhar, called on Iranians to "stage demonstrations, protest sit-ins, and strikes against government offices and factories" in a telephone interview last week with an Iranian exile radio station. While outlawed inside Iran, the INP is tolerated by the regime, although its leaders are given no access to the official media.
"The time has come for the Iranian people to stand up and say no to the regime," Forouhar said. "Establishing democracy in Iran is a historic necessary. The INP and the recently-founded coalition of which it is a member are determined to lead the people Iran in their struggle for democracy."
In a separate interview the following evening, Mrs. Parvaneh Forouhar, an INP leader as well as being Forouhar's wife, derided opposition leaders who were trying to leave Iran. "Opposition leaders and activists must stay inside Iran and continue to organize the people in their struggle to topple this dictatorship," she said. "Leaving the country is exactly what the Islamic Republic wants."
Mrs. Forouhar was temporarily visiting the Seattle, Washington, at the invitation of a women's group and plans to return to Tehran this week.
As her husband had done the night before, Mrs. Forouhar claimed there had been a "massive boycott" of the recent parliamentary elections, "which was actually a referendum in which the Iranian nation said no to the Islamic Republic and its dictatorial rule." [Radio Sedaye Iran 6/11, 6/12]
Gingrich, D'Amato, support Iranian women
A nine-day vigil by a group of Iranian women at the steps of the U.S. House of Representatives ended on Friday, with House Speaker Newt Gingrich pledging his support for "peaceful efforts to bring democracy and freedom to the people in Iran."
A similar message of support was hand-delivered to the women by a senior aide to Senator Alfonse D'Amato, who wrote: "Your cause is just and your mission is very commendable. Your commitment to the freedom of your people and nation will not go unrecognized."
The women gathered for their day-and-night sit-in to protest Europe's "critical dialogue" with Tehran following the recent assassination of Reza Mazlouman, an Iranian exiled writer living near Paris. (See last week's Newswire for more).
Both D'Amato and Gingrich pointed out that Congress intended to pass this week tough new measures that will "put further pressure on the Iranian government and pursue the goals which we share. [FDI 6/17]
Russians tout "strategic relationship" with Iran
At a ceremony held at the Russian embassy in Tehran on June 12, Ambassador Tretyakov said that Iran and Russia have a growing "understanding in international affairs and economic relations," so that "now we can say there is a strategic alliance between the Islamic Republic and the Russian government."
He foresaw "a dramatic increase very soon" in the economic, political, and social relations between the two countries. IRI Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati attended the ceremony, held in honor of Russian independence.
In a separate story from its Moscow correspondent, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted by Kayhan as saying the two countries had "the same policy" toward the Caspian Sea and toward Afghanistan. He also said that Iran "understands" Russia's opposition to NATO expansion, which "poses a threat to Iran." [Kayhan 6/12]
Many Iranian dailies have sent correspondents to Moscow to cover Sunday's Russian presidential elections. Abrar published a front-page interview with ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky in its Saturday edition, in which Zhirinovsky also called for a "strategic alliance" between Iran and Russia aimed at "stopping the expansionist activities and policies of the Western countries."
He added: "I respect the anti-American ideology of the leaders of the Islamic Republic," and that "Russian patriots believe in the necessity of creating a real long-lasting economic, social, and military cooperation with the Islamic Republic." [Abrar 6/15]
Carpet Exports Down by 40%
Exports of Iranian hand woven carpet have plunged by 40% over the past Iranian year (which ended March 20), according to Hossein Arveri, the General Manager of the governmental Handicrafts Organization.
"Last year we export $968 million, 40% less than previous year," when carpet exports earned $1,668 million. He blamed the government's foreign exchange and export policies for the loss.
Another negative factor in declining carpet export is the poor quality of exported carpets. "Exporting second and third rate carpets is damaging our carpet markets abroad, and if this trend continue, our carpet producers and exporters will suffer enormously," Arveri told IRNA..
Carpets account for 40% of Iran's non-oil exports, and employ one million people directly or indirectly.
In recent years, constant changes in foreign trade regulations, hectic decisions on foreign exchange laws, lack of state control and standards, corruption of the government employees, cheap and industrial raw materials including paints, have damaged the international reputation of Iranian carpet and helped increase the market share of Pakistani, Chinese, and Indian substitutes, officials said. [Kayhan 5/29]
Sturgeon plundered in Caspian
Over the past 12 years, the number of caviar-bearing Sturgeon has diminished by 90%, because of uncontrolled production of caviar on both Russian and Iranian sides of the Caspian, officials said.
"Chaotic fishing and export of caviar have resulted in sharp reduction of the price of caviar in world markets," said Mr. Lahijanian, the Deputy Minister of the Construction Jihad and Managing Director of Islamic Republic's Fishing Co.. Representatives of Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan were gathering in Tehran in an attempt to regulate caviar production and export.
Shortly before the 1979 revolution, Shiite clerics issued a religious prohibition on the production and consumption of caviar. But afterwards Khomeini changed position, and a massive exploitation of the Caspian Sea caviar resources started, with many licenses going to members of the ruling clergy. [Kayhan 5/29]
Brief News:
* Salam reported [6/15] that a "huge explosion" occurred at the Isfahan steel mill on Thursday, the 13th, at the installations of the Navid Manganez company. Two technicians were killed in the explosion, the cause of which was unknown.
* The House Ways and Means Committee approved by voice vote a revised version of D'Amato's Iran Foreign Oil Sanctions bill, which requires the President to impose 2 of 6 sanctions against foreign companies making investments of $40 million or more in Iran's oil and gas industry. The bill maintains import sanctions under IEEPA authority, and requires publication of "black lists" of sanctioned entities and projects. [Reuters, UPI 6/13].
* According to a "high-ranking official" of CFP-Total in France, interviewed by IRNA, Total "will not observe" the newly-passed D'Amato sanctions bill, which has "no value" for Total. [IRNA 6/15]
* Radio Israel has announced it will stop Farsi-language broadcasts to North America and Western Europe as of next Sunday, June 23, although it will maintain the service into Iran.[Radio Israel, 6/15]