Cracking Heads In Iran

The Washington Post notes that sweeping crackdowns by the Iranian government are a blatant attempt to force Iran back to the way things were in 1979 when Khomeini took power.

Iran is in the midst of a sweeping crackdown that both Iranians and U.S. analysts compare to a cultural revolution in its attempt to steer the oil-rich theocracy back to the rigid strictures of the 1979 revolution.

The recent detentions of Iranian American dual nationals are only a small part of a campaign that includes arrests, interrogations, intimidation and harassment of thousands of Iranians as well as purges of academics and new censorship codes for the media. Hundreds of Iranians have been detained and interrogated, including a top Iranian official, according to Iranian and international human rights groups.

The move has quashed or forced underground many independent civil society groups, silenced protests over issues including women's rights and pay rates, quelled academic debate, and sparked society-wide fear about several aspects of daily life, the sources said.

Few feel safe, especially after the April arrest of Hossein Mousavian, a former top nuclear negotiator and ambassador to Germany, on charges of espionage and endangering national security.

The widespread purges and arrests are expected to have an impact on parliamentary elections next year and the presidential contest in 2009, either discouraging or preventing reformers from running against the current crop of hard-liners who dominate all branches of government, Iranian and U.S. analysts say. The elections are one of several motives behind the crackdowns, they add.

Iran has been fomenting war in Lebanon and Gaza by backing groups of islamist hardliners, not to mention their suspected activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. So it isn't even remarkable that they are trying to force the same ideals down the throats of their own citizens. But the Iranian economy is being to show serous signs of strain right now, with skyrocketing inflation. That may also be one of the prime movers here. Believe it or not, that may be a bright spot in all this. Regimes that rigidly enforce ideological purity while ignoring economic realities tend to fall apart in the long run.

Other Links to this Post

1. The Neo Cons VS The Classic Conservatives. « Exposing The Right — Saturday, 16 June , 2007 @ 2:52 pm