Opposition activists said Iranian security forces rounded up at least seven prominent activists yesterday, stepping up a crackdown on the country’s pro-reform movement a day after eight people, including the nephew of the chief opposition leader, were killed in anti-government protests.
Yesterday’s developments were sure to deepen antagonism between the government and the reform movement, which has repeatedly shown resilience in the face of repeated crackdowns since June’s disputed presidential election.
Mahdi Karroubi, an opposition leader who ran in the June election, posted a statement on an opposition Web site asking how the government could spill the blood of its people on the Shiite sacred day of Ashura. He said even the former government of the hated shah respected the holy day.
“What has really happened that [caused the ruling system] spilled the blood of people on the day of Ashura and gets a group of savage individuals confronting people?” he told the Rah-e-Sabz Web site.
The shah, who was overthrown in 1979, was widely hated, and comparing a rival to the shah is a serious, though common, insult in Iranian politics.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle yesterday condemned the “brutal action” by security forces.
Sunday’s violence erupted when security forces fired on stone-throwing protesters in the center of Tehran. Opposition Web sites and witnesses said five people were killed, but Iran’s state-run Press TV, quoting the Supreme National Security Council, said the death toll was eight.
The dead included a nephew of chief opposition leader Mir Mousavi, according to Mousavi’s Web site, Kaleme.ir. Police denied using firearms.
Opposition Web sites and activists said security forces raided a series of opposition offices yesterday, making at least seven arrests.
The Parlemannews Web site said three of Moussavi’s top aides were rounded up, including his top adviser, Ali Riza Beheshti.
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