Iran’s Islamic militiamen will confront “riots”, report

          
          11/18/2009 Iran's Islamic militiamen will confront
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          Iran's Islamic militiamen will confront
          “ riots”, report —-
          Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:55pm 1ST
          By Parisa Hafezi
          TEHRAN (Reuters) - lrar s Basij militia, who clashed with protesters after
          June's presidential poll, will confront any further “street riots”, its commander
          said on Wednesday, ahead of a ceremony to mark the killing of a dissident
          couple.
          The turmoil after the disputed June 12 election, in which President Mahmoud
          Ahmadinejad won a second term, was the worst in Iran since its 1979
          Islamic revolution. Authorities denied vote-rigging and portrayed the unrest as
          foreign backed.
          Iran's judiciary said on Tuesday that live people had been sentenced to death
          and 81 have received jail terms of up to 15 years in connection wifh protests
          and violence after the poll.
          Some Iranians had heeded calls to stage “street riots” which were broadcast
          by U.S.-based Iranian satellite television, the commander of the hardline
          Basij, Mohammadreza Naqdi, said.
          “Those groups that chant slogans against the revolution's values ... should
          know that they will be confronted by Basij,” said Naqdi, the official IRNA
          news agency reported.
          The daughter of a dissident nationalist couple, stabbed to death by “rogue”
          Iranian security agents in 1998, has urged people to attend a gathering on
          Sunday to commemorate their killing, a reformist website reported.
          The killing of Dariush Forouhar and his wife, who headed the illegal but
          tolerated Iran Nation Party, and at least two other secularist figures around
          the same time outraged many Iranians.
          In previous years, security forces clashed with people at their memorial
          services, which turned into opposition rallies.
          “Please join us on Sunday to commemorate the 11th year of my parents'
          murders,” said Parastou Forouhar in a statement, the Mowjcamp website
          reported.
          WARNINGS OVER RALLIES
          Iranian authorities, seeking to avoid any repeat of the huge demonstrations
          that erupted after the election, have warned the opposition about staging
          “illegal” rallies.
          “The opposition leaders are hypocrites because they are not committed to
          the Islamic revolution's values,” said SalarAbnoush, a Revolutionary Guards
          commander, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
          Since the June protests, opposition supporters clashed with security forces
          at two official commemorations, one held annually to support Palestinians
          and the other to mark the storming of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the
          revolution.
          Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said his office was pursuing cases of
          protesters arrested since the vote, calling on people to “share information
          about their beloved ones who were detained, injured or killed” in the past
          months.
          The opposition says more than 70 people were killed in the post-election
          violence. Officials say the death toll was half that and members of the
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          11/18/2009 Iran's Islamic militiamen will confront
          security forces were among the Actims.
          Thousands of people were arrested after the vote and over 100 reformers still
          remain in jail.
          (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Peter Millership)
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