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| Iran |
| Exiled leader to lead popular revolt in Iran |
| 2003-06-30 |
| A prominent Iranian exile, seen by the Pentagon as one of the most powerful opponents of his country's regime, aims to spur millions of his followers into protesting on the streets over the next two weeks. Mahmudali Chehregani, who was imprisoned for three years for his outspoken opposition to the regime, flew into neighbouring Azerbaijan on Saturday to mobilise renewed protests. He hopes to provoke two million ethnic Azeri, Iran's Turkish speaking minority, into public demonstrations. Remember that crackdown in the Iranian province bordering Azerbaijan reported last week? The move comes as Iran's ruling clerics – who admit detaining more than 4,000 people after demonstrations erupted earlier this month - brace themselves for unrest on July 9, the anniversary of a brutal crackdown in 1999. Next week. Chehregani, a linguistics professor and popular former MP, has garnered strong support in Washington, where he is championed by Senator Sam Brownback, a prominent Republican advocate of "regime change" in Iran. He has held more than 50 meetings with senators and congressmen, State Department and Pentagon officials, and the White House during the past 11 months. Signs that America is throwing its weight behind Chehregani come as Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, flies to Teheran to pursue Britain's alternative strategy, in which the regime is encouraged to reform itself. Chehregani poured scorn on Straw's approach. "I don't believe that this regime is capable of reform," he said. "They don't want democracy, they have no respect for people's rights. They only want the power to control people's lives." Of course, that's what islamic "holy men" do best. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Chehregani said the Iraqi war had inspired Iranians. "Iraq has given the masses in Iran the belief in themselves that they need to be free," he said. "They are not scared of the clerics any more." By travelling to Azerbaijan, Chehregani hopes to mobilise ethnic Azeri. Supporters of his Southern Azerbaijan Awareness Movement are being urged to gather at Balbek Tower, a former Azeri fortress in northern Iran, despite warnings from Teheran that the march must not take place. This explains the Iranians "resettling" of the Azeris we heard about. They're worried. Chehregani's supporters plan to read a call to revolt, which he will repeat on radio and TV broadcasts. The CIA estimates that Iran's 70 million population includes 16 million Azeris, but Chehregani believes the real figure is double that. The popularity of the clerics who ousted the Shah has sunk steadily lower as they have frustrated the demands of an increasingly young population for reforms. Demonstrations have been crushed by militias and Republican Guards controlled by theocrats. Not to mention their imported thugs. In its efforts to destabilise the regime, the Pentagon has flirted with supporting the Mujahideen Khalq, a brutal Marxist militia bankrolled for years by Saddam Hussain, whose French-based leaders were arrested earlier this month. Bad, bad idea. The U.S. has so far held back from disbanding the militia within Iraq. Chehregani, however, is seen as a more reliable ally: he has garnered a solid intellectual following among think-tanks close to the Pentagon, and has met senior defence officials. One government adviser said: "Chehregani is both an academic and a charismatic figure." Chehregani said: "People in the U.S. government are talking about our movement as the only one with real power in Iran," he said. "It is the biggest against the government. One hundred per cent." I don't know anything about this guy. |
| Posted by:Steve |