"Azadi, Azadi"

Yesterday, the traditional Friday prayer in Tehran was led by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president of Iran, who supported Mir Hussein Mousavi during the recent election campaign, and who was present for the occasion.
Tens of thousands of supporters attended, the first mass demonstration against the regime in several weeks…
It is surprising that Rafsanjani was able to lead the event! For, during the weekly prayer three weeks ago, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei officially endorsed the results of the disputed election, thus declaring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner. The Supreme Leader’s word being law, the matter should have ended there…
That Rafsanjani should be present today is an indication of the clout he still wields in Iran.
Contrary to custom however, the event was not carried live on Iranian television.
Throughout the sermon, chants of Azadi, Azadi (freedom in Persian) were heard!
Some in the large crowd urged Rasfanjani to unequivocally support the opposition’s cause: if you maintain silence, you commit treason, they chanted…
He directly addressed what he called the crisis currently confronting Iran:
Doubt came down on our nation like the plague. Of course, there are two currents. One doesn’t have any doubt and is moving ahead with their job. And there are a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt.
Rafsanjani clearly indicated that the status quo was untenable, and that the authorities would have to make concessions to resolve the crisis.
Yet, though he urged all Iranians to respect the law, he also insisted on the need for the current conflict to be debated freely and openly, and for those arrested to be released:
We need to have an open society in which people can say what they want to say... We should not imprison people. Let them rejoin their families. We need sympathy for the people who are in mourning or have been injured.
During the sermon, cries of Death to the Dictator (Ahmadinejad) were answered by Death to the Opponents (of Supreme Leader Khamenei) on the part of Ahmadinejad supporters, the Death to America, Death to Israel of the hardliners countered by the Death to Russia, Death to China of Mousavi supporters (both of these nations being seen as pro-Ahmadinejad).
By explicitly attacking the regime’s handling of the election and the post-election turmoil, and thus, obliquely, the Supreme Leader himself, Rasfanjani clearly buttressed Mousavi’s position:
We could have taken our best step in the history of the Islamic Revolution had the election not faced problems. Today, we are living in bitter conditions because of what happened after the announcement of the election result. All of us have suffered. We need unity more than any time else.
Rasfanjani astutely avoided potential accusations of being a divisive influence by preaching the need for unity…
Predictably, violence erupted after the meeting. Security forces, including Basijis wearing helmets and riding motorcycles, confronted the demonstrators, wielding batons and firing tear gas.
Many were beaten and molested, including Mahdi Karroubi, a reformist candidate in last month’s presidential election. Scores were arrested.
Shadi Sadr, a lawyer and human rights activist, was one of them. She was on her way to Tehran University, accompanied by some friends, to attend the Friday prayer meeting.
Accosted by policeman in civilian clothes, a friend of Shadi Sadr present at the scene, described the arrest:
“Where are you taking her?!!” That’s also when Shadi tried to struggle and started to cry for help, pounding the car door. My friend then tried to open the door, and we were pulling Shadi out but an official who was inside the car was grabbing onto her. He was pulling onto her in such a way that her manteau (overcoat) was coming off but one of my friends still held onto Shadi’s hand and her blouse and pants that were once intact started to come off when caught in the car. At that time she escaped. The officials in civilian clothing and also me and my friend were running after her. It was then one of the officials from the opposite side attacked her and was pulling onto her scarf. Shadi was resisting his force when the scarf came undone. Shadi again escaped. This time two other people appeared unexpectedly, one of them carrying a spiral baton. They took Shadi and beat her violently while she continued to resist them. We weren’t allowed to go towards her. By force they had taken her and put her in the car. The official manhandled Shadi and it was apparent that for them, her hejab wasn’t even important!! When they brought her to the car, they didn’t even give her the scarf back. The car turned around and sped away.
Her home, as well as her office, were also searched shortly after her arrest.
Shadi Sadr is a prominent defense lawyer who has specialized in promoting women’s rights, and has defended those risking capital punishment.
She has participated in various campaigns defending women’s rights in Iran (see here) and in particular, the Stop Stoning Forever campaign.
In 2007, she was also arrested along with 33 other women. They were peacefully protesting the trial of five women accused of various crimes against the state for having participated in a demonstration the year before. She was held for two weeks, then later charged with illegal assembly, colluding against national security, disruption of public order and refusal to obey the police.
She is being held in the notorious Evin Prison.
She had been the defense lawyer of Shiva Nazar Ahari, a human rights activist, arrested two days after the presidential election last month.
She is also being held at Evin
Amnesty International immediately demanded her release:
'This was an illegal, arbitrary and violent arrest in which no attempt was made by the authorities to show identification or provide any explanation for their action.
'This is the latest of a continuing series of high-profile arrests of Iranians - students, journalists, intellectuals, political and civil society activists - in the wake of protests over the disputed outcome of the presidential election, declared Middle East and North Africa Director Malcolm Smart.
Though the faction led by Supreme Leader Khamenei did its utmost to crush all resistance to the fraudulent Ahmadinejad election victory, the power struggle among the elite clearly has not been resolved.
Now that those divisions have once again been brought to the forefront by Rafsanjani’s clear endorsement of the Mousavi party’s cause, it is now the Supreme Leader’s responsibility to find an acceptable way out, and to restore the people’s faith in the regime if the Iranian Islamic Republic is to survive as such, that is to say, both as Islamic, and as a republic.
Yet, judging by the fierce reaction of the regime’s security forces to yesterday’s mass demonstration, he may not yet be ready to forsake Ahmadinejad, and negotiate a settlement acceptable to both factions…
(the photograph is by the Mehr News Agency)