Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Request to Radical Basij Forces - 2003-06-12

Following two nights of protests and demonstrations by the people of Iran against the unelected clerical regime of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the religious leader of the Islamic Republic, asked the radical Basij forces not to intervene in these events. In a speech broadcast today by the state television of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei urged the Basij to avoid engaging in conflict and clashes with the demonstrators. Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran for the second consecutive night, protesting against the theocratic regime of Iran. The demonstrators once again gathered near and inside Tehran University, which also witnessed protests on Tuesday night, chanting against the clerical regime of Iran. A new point in their slogans was their demand for President Mohammad Khatami to resign from his position, as he had not done enough to reform the situation in the country. Clashes have been reported between the demonstrators on one side and the Basij and riot police on the other. The Basij and police dispersed the crowd early this morning, injuring several protesters. There have been no reports of arrests of regime opponents yet. During the protests the previous night, regime officials reported that eighty people were arrested. Ali Younesi, the regime's Minister of Intelligence and Security, claimed yesterday that these protests were organized by foreign media and satellite television channels, referring to exiled opposition groups. Last year, thousands of students protested several times against the death sentence of a reformist activist, Hashem Aghajari, a university professor accused by the regime of heresy and polytheism. Following those protests, Ayatollah Khamenei ordered a review of the death sentence against that university professor, and the Supreme Court annulled Hashem Aghajari's death sentence.