Date: Friday 16 September 2005
Subj: Bangladesh: Militants move to Islamise Bangladesh.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
-------------------------------------
MILITANTS MOVE TO ISLAMISE BANGLADESH
-------------------------------------
On 17 August 05, more than 400 small bombs exploded almosts simultaneously in 63 of Bangladesh's 64 districts. Whilst three people were killed and 150 were injured, the most devastating element of this attack is not the damage it caused, but the message it left. That message is that Islamic militants are willing and able to co-ordinate and perpetrate terror nationwide.
The group that has been blamed for the bombings, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, threatened to strike again unless Bangladesh introduces Islamic law. According to Pakistan's Daily Times, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen subsequently declared, "Everybody is the enemy of Islam who wants to launch democracy as an institutional form. Therefore we invite the ruling party and also the opposition to initiate the rule of Islam within a short time in Bangladesh." (Link 1)
THE THREAT TO TARGET CHRISTIAN LEADERS
Five days later, on 22 August, Bangladesh's leading national Bengali daily newspaper, the "Daily Ittafaq", published on its front page the news that the Intelligence Department had informed the government that Islamic militants are planning to attack the largest non-Muslim religious centres in Dhaka – the Dhakashari Hindu Temple, the Tejgaon Catholic Church, and the Kamlapur Buddhist Monastery. According to the intelligence report, militants also plan to kill local and foreign non-Muslim leaders, missionaries, priests and humanitarian workers. Basically anyone who is preaching religion (especially Christianity) is to be targeted for violence or killing for the purpose of discrediting the government of Bangladesh in the West.
After a meeting with intelligence agencies the Home Ministry requested that police step up security around non-Muslims religious establishments and leaders.
Under the leadership of the National Christian Fellowship of Bangladesh, a coalition of leaders from Christian churches, institutions and NGOs wrote a memorandum to the Prime Minister which was printed in Bengali and English language national newspapers.
In "An Appeal to Her Excellency Begum Khaleda Zia" published in the Observer on 4 September, the Church leaders reiterated their desire to serve the nation through education, health-care, relief and rehabilitation, poverty alleviation, and the fostering of spiritual values. They then expressed their concern over both national security and the security of the threatened religious minorities, noting that preachers of Christianity have been singled out to be targeted on account of the effect this would have on Western governments.
The church leaders then humbly requested that the government take every possible step to remove the deep-rooted causes of terrorism. The memorandum was signed by Rev. Theotonius Gomes, the Secretary General of the Catholics Bishops' Conference of Bangldesh; the Rt. Rev. Nibaran Das, Bishop of the Methodist Church of Banglades; Rev. Asam Kain, Chairman of the Bangladesh Assemblies of God; Mr Subodh Adhikary, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Bangladesh; Rt. Rev. Michael Baroi, Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh; Rev. Robert Sarkar, the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha; Mr Leor P. Sarkar, the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Baptist Church Fellowship; and Mr Dennis D. Datta, General Secretary of the National Christian Fellowship of Bangladesh.
LOCAL MILITANTS ARISE ON THE STRENGTH OF FOREIGN FUNDS
Islamic zeal erupted in Bangladesh in October 2001 objecting to the presence of American and allied military forces in Pakistan for the purpose of bombing Afghanistan. The feelings of Islamic rage, identification and solidarity were so strong that Bangladesh's October 2001 general elections yielded a huge swing away from the ruling secular Awami League Party in favour of pro-Pakistan, pro-Muslim and militant Islamist parties. This is especially tragic when we consider how much blood was shed for Bangladesh to win independence from Pakistan and the right to secular government based on Bengali rather than Islamic culture.
Since October 2001, local Islamic militant groups have grown in number, membership and organisation. Madrassas have proliferated across the country to the extent that there are now more than 64,000, up from 4,000 in 1986. Most have arisen in the last decade and are without any government oversight. Meanwhile, persecution of religious minorities has intensified.
Bangladeshi intelligence agencies have come to believe that not only are the militants well established and well co-ordinated, but they are also well funded courtesy of foreign Islamic NGOs that channel funds from the Middle East to local militant groups. Nearly a dozen foreign Islamic NGOs have now been placed on a watch list.
A 7 September article by David Montero for the Christian Science
Monitor gives an excellent overview of "How extremism came to
Bangladesh". (Link 2)
Montero writes, "In the aftermath of the [17 August bomb] attacks, Bangladesh is confronting a realization long suspected but consistently overlooked: Islamist militant groups have taken firm root here, demonstrating a widespread, highly coordinated, and well-funded network. The government, after consistently denying the threat, recently blamed Jama'atul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) for the attack."
Montero notes that Jama'atul Mujahedin was banned in February after members confessed to bombing 'un-Islamic' targets, including theatre shows and the offices of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
According to Montero, the spiritual head of Jama'atul Mujahedin, Abdur Rahman, told the media last year that he admired the Taliban and had traveled to Afghanistan. "He claimed his organization had been operating underground since 1998, with the aim of founding an Islamic state. His network was active across the country, he said, with 10,000 trained full-time operatives, and 100,000 part-time activists, funded with a payroll of more than $10,000 a month, a huge sum by Bangladeshi standards."
Montero continues, "Another JMB leader, Muhammad Asadullah Al-Galib, who was arrested after the February crackdown, is alleged by intelligence agencies to have received large funding from the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS), a Kuwait-based organization. In 2002, the US State Department blacklisted some RIHS offices, citing their support of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. RIHS and Galib's organization have reportedly constructed over 1,000 mosques across Bangladesh and 10 madrassahs."
Writing from Dhaka for New Kerala (India), Farid Ahmed states, "The Kuwait-based Revival of the Islamic Heritage Society is on top of the list of suspect organisations and the government is going to ask it to close its offices in the country. The other organisations put under close watch include the Rabita Al Alam Al Islami, Society of Social Reforms, Qatar Charitable Society, Al Muntada Al Islami, Islamic Relief Agency, Al Forkan Foundation, International Relief Organisation, Kuwait Joint Relief Committee and the Muslim Aid Bangladesh. All these organisations are based in different Middle East countries and have been active in Bangladesh for years."
According to Ahmed, intelligence has revealed that more than 100 foreigners, who traveled from various Middle Eastern and African countries and entered with tourist visas, have been working in these Islamic NGOs illegally. (Link 3)
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Banned group calls for Islamic rule in Bangladesh
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen threatens to strike again unless the country resorts to Islamic law. DHAKA, 24 August 2005
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-8-2005_pg4_17
2) How extremism came to Bangladesh
Foreign funding and bitter politics may have played a role in the recent bombings.
By David Montero, 7 September 2005
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0907/p06s01-wosc.html
3) Foreign NGOs funding militancy in Bangladesh: intelligence
By Farid Ahmed, Dhaka, 8 September 2005
http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=20898
Friday, September 16, 2005
Monday, September 12, 2005
West Bank: Taiba attack exposes Christian vulnerability.
Date: Monday 12 September 2005
Subj: West Bank: Taiba attack exposes Christian vulnerability.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Late on Saturday evening 3 September, a riotous, murderous Muslim mob from the West Bank village of Deir Jarir attacked the neighbouring Christian village of Taiba, northeast of Ramallah. They came armed with clubs, kerosene and Molotov cocktails, chanting, "Let's burn the infidels, let's burn the Crusaders." Residents were beaten, houses were looted and cars were burned. At least 13 homes were torched. The attack lasted until the early hours of Sunday morning when Palestinian Authority (PA) security police finally made it through the Israeli checkpoints.
The Muslims were searching for Christian shop-keeper Mehdi Khouriyye (also written as "Mahdi Abu Houria") and targeting the homes of his extended family. PA police arrived just in time to save Mehdi Khouriyye from being lynched, but not in time to save the homes of all his relatives. Mehdi Khouriyye and 15 of the Deir Jarir Muslim attackers were then arrested. But after several hours, the police released the Muslims in order to "cool things down". (Link 1) Meanwhile, victim Mehdi Khouriyye remains in "protective custody", where he is reportedly routinely beaten.
Whilst Muslim intolerance of Christians has escalated, the attack on Taiba is the biggest and most organised Muslim attack upon a Palestinian Christian community in years. Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi regards the Taiba attack as a "a very serious development". She says she has witnessed a "regression of social norms". (Link 2)
The implications for vulnerable Palestinian Christians, especially if the PA police are going to be partisan, are horrendous.
FROM LOVE TO TRAGEDY
Mehdi Khouriyye, has a tailoring business in Taiba. He employed Hiyam Ajaj (30), a Muslim woman from Deir Jarir, and the two fell in love. The pair had been in a romantic relationship for two years before Hiyam's family learned of the affair in late August (2005). Making matters worse, Hiyam was six months pregnant. Within days, she was dead, poisoned by her own family in an honour killing. Hiyam's body was then quickly buried and the death not reported.
Initially the family claimed that Hiyam was raped and had committed suicide. Insisting the baby was not his, Mehdi Khouriyye requested that Hiyam's body be disinterred for DNA testing. The Guardian reports that Palestinian president Abu Mazen gave permission for Hiyam's body to be exhumed and for DNA testing to be done to determine paternity. Despite the family's protests, Hiyam's body was disinterred on Tuesday 30 August.
According to the Guardian, Palestinian women's groups claim that if a woman is raped by a family member then she will be killed to restore family honour and an innocent man will be blamed – made a scapegoat – and killed in "revenge". (Link 3)
The 3 September Muslim attack on Taiba has left at least 13 Christian families homeless. The Muslims attackers from Deir Jarir seek to justify their criminal barbarity with talk of "honour". Meanwhile the Christians of Taiba say the violence against them was inspired by pure religious hatred and was nothing less than Muslims using vulnerable Christians as scapegoats.
CHRISTIAN FEARS
Suleiman Khouriyye, a cousin of Mehdi Khouriyye, blames sectarianism. "They did this because we're Christians. They did this because we are the weaker ones." (Link 2)
Samir Qumsieh runs the only Christian private TV channel in the West Bank, the Bethlehem-based al-Mahed ("The Nativity") which is struggling for funds. (Link 1).
Qumsieh told Adnkronos International (AKI), "Many cases like this are happening and the time has come for Abu Maazen (PA president Mahmoud Abbas) to take a decisive stand." Qumsieh told AKI that he has registered more than 100 attacks against the Christian community since 2003. Qumsieh calls the violence "religious racism", and says the attacks include murders, rapes and extortion.
"Some people lay the blame on Islamic extremists," he says, "but this is only part of the truth." Qumsieh says the most common attacks are perpetrated by what he calls "the Muslim land mafia", criminals who target Christian land or home owners and threaten them with the aim of forcing them off their property. Qumsieh believes PA officials are involved in this practice. "It was the situation under [former PA president] Arafat and it is the situation under Abu Maazen," he says.
In February, Samir Qumsieh, together with other prominent Christian Palestinians, wrote a letter to the PA president outlining their fears and grievances. "We have had no reply," he says, "and our anger and our fear are growing."
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Houses torched as Muslim -Christian tensions flare.
AKI, 6 Sept 2005
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.204471774&par=0
2) Honour killing feud exposes rift between Palestinian Muslims and
Christians. LARA SUKHTIAN (AP), 7 Sept 2005
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050905/w090583.html
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/6505.htm
3) Homes razed in mob fury at couple's 'affair'
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem, 5 September 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1562709,00.html
ALSO
Muslims ransack Christian village
By Khaled Abu Toameh, 6 Sept 2005
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125831262546
Subj: West Bank: Taiba attack exposes Christian vulnerability.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Late on Saturday evening 3 September, a riotous, murderous Muslim mob from the West Bank village of Deir Jarir attacked the neighbouring Christian village of Taiba, northeast of Ramallah. They came armed with clubs, kerosene and Molotov cocktails, chanting, "Let's burn the infidels, let's burn the Crusaders." Residents were beaten, houses were looted and cars were burned. At least 13 homes were torched. The attack lasted until the early hours of Sunday morning when Palestinian Authority (PA) security police finally made it through the Israeli checkpoints.
The Muslims were searching for Christian shop-keeper Mehdi Khouriyye (also written as "Mahdi Abu Houria") and targeting the homes of his extended family. PA police arrived just in time to save Mehdi Khouriyye from being lynched, but not in time to save the homes of all his relatives. Mehdi Khouriyye and 15 of the Deir Jarir Muslim attackers were then arrested. But after several hours, the police released the Muslims in order to "cool things down". (Link 1) Meanwhile, victim Mehdi Khouriyye remains in "protective custody", where he is reportedly routinely beaten.
Whilst Muslim intolerance of Christians has escalated, the attack on Taiba is the biggest and most organised Muslim attack upon a Palestinian Christian community in years. Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi regards the Taiba attack as a "a very serious development". She says she has witnessed a "regression of social norms". (Link 2)
The implications for vulnerable Palestinian Christians, especially if the PA police are going to be partisan, are horrendous.
FROM LOVE TO TRAGEDY
Mehdi Khouriyye, has a tailoring business in Taiba. He employed Hiyam Ajaj (30), a Muslim woman from Deir Jarir, and the two fell in love. The pair had been in a romantic relationship for two years before Hiyam's family learned of the affair in late August (2005). Making matters worse, Hiyam was six months pregnant. Within days, she was dead, poisoned by her own family in an honour killing. Hiyam's body was then quickly buried and the death not reported.
Initially the family claimed that Hiyam was raped and had committed suicide. Insisting the baby was not his, Mehdi Khouriyye requested that Hiyam's body be disinterred for DNA testing. The Guardian reports that Palestinian president Abu Mazen gave permission for Hiyam's body to be exhumed and for DNA testing to be done to determine paternity. Despite the family's protests, Hiyam's body was disinterred on Tuesday 30 August.
According to the Guardian, Palestinian women's groups claim that if a woman is raped by a family member then she will be killed to restore family honour and an innocent man will be blamed – made a scapegoat – and killed in "revenge". (Link 3)
The 3 September Muslim attack on Taiba has left at least 13 Christian families homeless. The Muslims attackers from Deir Jarir seek to justify their criminal barbarity with talk of "honour". Meanwhile the Christians of Taiba say the violence against them was inspired by pure religious hatred and was nothing less than Muslims using vulnerable Christians as scapegoats.
CHRISTIAN FEARS
Suleiman Khouriyye, a cousin of Mehdi Khouriyye, blames sectarianism. "They did this because we're Christians. They did this because we are the weaker ones." (Link 2)
Samir Qumsieh runs the only Christian private TV channel in the West Bank, the Bethlehem-based al-Mahed ("The Nativity") which is struggling for funds. (Link 1).
Qumsieh told Adnkronos International (AKI), "Many cases like this are happening and the time has come for Abu Maazen (PA president Mahmoud Abbas) to take a decisive stand." Qumsieh told AKI that he has registered more than 100 attacks against the Christian community since 2003. Qumsieh calls the violence "religious racism", and says the attacks include murders, rapes and extortion.
"Some people lay the blame on Islamic extremists," he says, "but this is only part of the truth." Qumsieh says the most common attacks are perpetrated by what he calls "the Muslim land mafia", criminals who target Christian land or home owners and threaten them with the aim of forcing them off their property. Qumsieh believes PA officials are involved in this practice. "It was the situation under [former PA president] Arafat and it is the situation under Abu Maazen," he says.
In February, Samir Qumsieh, together with other prominent Christian Palestinians, wrote a letter to the PA president outlining their fears and grievances. "We have had no reply," he says, "and our anger and our fear are growing."
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Houses torched as Muslim -Christian tensions flare.
AKI, 6 Sept 2005
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.204471774&par=0
2) Honour killing feud exposes rift between Palestinian Muslims and
Christians. LARA SUKHTIAN (AP), 7 Sept 2005
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050905/w090583.html
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/6505.htm
3) Homes razed in mob fury at couple's 'affair'
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem, 5 September 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1562709,00.html
ALSO
Muslims ransack Christian village
By Khaled Abu Toameh, 6 Sept 2005
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125831262546
Monday, August 29, 2005
Iran: The Islamic Revolution is complete.
Date: Monday 29 August 2005
Subj: Iran: The Islamic Revolution is complete.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
-----------------------------------------
IRAN: THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IS COMPLETE.
-----------------------------------------
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has flooded the Majlis (parliament) with former Revolutionary Guards while Ayatollah Khamenei has made key changes in security structures and strategies to entrench the Revolutionary Guards' hegemony over all law enforcement agencies. (Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was established by Ayatollah Khomeini in May 1979 as a force, under the direct command of the clerics, to consolidate the Islamic Revolution.) (Link 1)
The following posting shows clearly how Iran has begun to enact a policy of zero-tolerance towards breaches of the ideals of the Islamic revolution. It does not require much imagination to see how much pain and trauma Christians, other non-Muslims and freedom-loving Persians are destined to experience as Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad forcefully advance their Shi'ite vision of a pure Islamic State.
A NEW ERA OF "ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT"
On Wednesday 3 August, former Revolutionary Guard Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in as the sixth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ahmadinejad pledged to restore an "Islamic government" in Iran, implying, as Iran Focus notes, "...that the previous administrations of Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami had distanced themselves from the policies of the founder of the Islamic state, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini." (Link 2: includes a biography of Ahmadinejad.)
On 14 August, President Ahmadinejad presented his list of cabinet nominees to the Majlis Speaker, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel. According to Iran Focus, only two of the 21 persons nominated by Ahmadinejad for ministerial appointments had previously held ministerial posts, while at least 13 were former commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated agencies, and five were former officials in Iran's notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and revolutionary prosecutor's office.
Hardliners gained control of the parliament in 2004, so it was not anticipated that there would be any difficulty having the nominations passed. However, the inexperience and obscurity of some of the nominees (clearly chosen only for their Revolutionary credentials) did cause concern and four were rejected with calls for stronger candidates. The 17 others were passed.
REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS' HEGEMONY:
OVER THE PEOPLE
On Saturday 20 August, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered a key change in the high command of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Brigadier General Mohammad-Ali (Aziz) Jaafari has been appointed to establish "the IRGC centre for strategy" which will "draw up the new strategy and implement the necessary changes to ensure rapid and efficient transformation of the country's civilian infrastructure and resources to military footing under the control of the IRGC". Khameni instructed Jaafari to "identify and propose key individuals and scientists in the Revolutionary Guards for membership in this important centre". Jaafari is to work closely with President Ahmadinejad, with whom he shares a close friendship. (Iran Focus 20 Aug)
OVER THE MILITARY
Iran Focus also reports that Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the commander of the IRGC, has been asked to "devise a new command structure and military strategy for the IRGC that would give the elite military force unlimited access to national resources and absolute priority over the regular army in case of a foreign military confrontation". (Iran Focus 20 Aug)
OVER THE POLICE
On 10 July, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam to the position of police chief. Moghaddam, who was deputy commander the paramilitary Bassij and commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Greater Tehran, is a long-time ally of President Ahmadinejad. Iran Focus reports that in a decree read out on the state radio Ayatollah Khamenei said the police force's top priority was "to create security all over the country at a level worthy of the Islamic Republic".
Iran Focus comments that the appointment of Ahmadi Moghaddam brings the country's police force under the complete domination of the Revolutionary Guards and signals a readiness to crack down harder on what the ultra-conservatives see as "deviation" from the country's rigid religious laws. Farhad Nasseri, an Iranian analyst based in Dubai told Iran Focus, "This is part of an overall trend to extend IRGC hegemony over all military, intelligence and even civilian institutions. Ayatollah Khamenei is taking no chances. He wants his own men in control everywhere." (Link 3)
On Sunday 28 August, Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Revolutionary Guard, Brigadier General Mohammad-Kazem Moazzenian as the new chief of the Intelligence Protection Organisation of the State Security Forces.
POLICE TO ENFORCE "ISLAMIC VALUES"
Under orders from their new police chief, Iran's police have commenced a crackdown on "models of corruption", or in other words poorly-veiled women. (Iran Focus 27 Aug) Jamal Karimi-Rad, Iran's new Minister of Justice vowed on Saturday 20 August, that "improperly-veiled women" will be treated as if they had no Islamic veil at all. "Being improperly veiled and not wearing a veil are no different," declared Jamal Karimi-Rad. "When it is clear from the appearance of a woman that she has violated the law, then the crime is obvious and law enforcement agents can take legal measures against her."
PARAMILITARIES AS LAW ENFORCERS
Iran's State Prosecutor, Ghorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi (a Shiite cleric and former head of the Iran's dreaded secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security), told journalists in Tehran on 25 August, "There are about 18 different law enforcement agencies, and may be even more, in the country." He listed the State Security Forces, certain branches of the Intelligence Ministry, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Bassij militia as amongst Iran's "law enforcement forces". (Iran Focus 25 Aug)
According to Brigadier-General Hossein Zolfaqari: "In circumstances when the police are not present or when they require assistance or when they for whatever reason do not wish to carry out their tasks, uniformed members of the Bassij can in accordance with the law act against apparent crimes."
Iran's new Justice Minister, Karimi-Rad, has also made it clear that members of the para-military Bassij and the notorious Ansar-e Hizbollah, government-organised gangs of hooligans, are regarded as law enforcement agents in clergy-ruled Iran. (Iran Focus 25 Aug)
Since Thursday 18 August, plain-clothes agents of Iran's State Security Forces (SSF) have been conducting stop-and-search operations in Isfahan, central Iran. Iran Focus reports that drivers are stopped and ordered to show their identity cards before their vehicles are thoroughly searched by plain-clothed SSF agents. (Iran Focus 19 Aug)
The State Security Forces have also launched a crackdown against "young people harbouring anti-government sentiments". (Iran Focus 20 Aug) And in a move that will further entrench the isolation of Iranians, police have been ordered, "...to use all means, including helicopters, to locate and confiscate privately-owned satellite dishes, which are illegal in Iran." (Iran Focus 20 Aug)
FOREIGN POLICY
Iran Focus also reports that Mohammad-Reza Jaafari, the commander of Iran's new Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison, which has recruited more than 50,000 potential suicide bombers for "martyrdom operations" recently hinted to the Persian weekly "Parto-Sokhan" that if the US ever attempted to strike Iran' s nuclear installations, then the theocratic state could make use of long-term "sleeper cells" in the West to destroy United States' interests all over the world.
Jaafari also said, "The Imam [Khomeini] said years ago that Israel must be wiped off the face of the Earth, but so far practical steps have not been taken to achieve this. Our garrison must spot, recruit, organise and train martyrdom-seeking persons to be able to materialise this objective. Any delay in fulfilling the strategy of the Imam and the Supreme Leader in this regard will not be to the advantage of Islam or the revolution." (Link 4)
FROM THE MACRO TO THE MICRO
Lest anyone monitoring the big picture be tempted to forget the flesh and blood human beings within it, here is an Iranian story that could doubtless be told by more than one family. It is a situation that will probably become even more common in the new Iran.
The Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia reports that in 2000, Muslim vigilantes kidnapped Miss Layla Zahrooni (then aged 10 yrs) from her school. The Muslims then informed the Zahrooni family that Layla had converted to Islam and could not therefore be returned to an infidel family. (As Mandaeans, the Zahroonis follow the teachings of John the Baptist.) The Muslims placed Layla in an Islamic institution.
In 2004, Layla (aged 15 yrs) succeeded in escaping and finding her way back to her family. But on 4 April 2005, Iranian authorities discovered Layla (16 yrs) in the city of Sosangerd. They seized her from her distraught family and forcibly married her to a Muslim man.
Links
1) Defending The Islamic Revolution -- The Corps Of The Matter
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/08/dfead359-312f-4497-8686-559b29a226a6.html
2) Hardliner takes over as Iran's new president. 3 Aug 2005
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3147
3) Iran puts police under Revolutionary Guards control. 10 Jul 2005
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2796
4) Iran's "suicide operations" chief vows to hit U.S. Interests.
23 Aug 2005
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3429
Subj: Iran: The Islamic Revolution is complete.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
-----------------------------------------
IRAN: THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IS COMPLETE.
-----------------------------------------
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has flooded the Majlis (parliament) with former Revolutionary Guards while Ayatollah Khamenei has made key changes in security structures and strategies to entrench the Revolutionary Guards' hegemony over all law enforcement agencies. (Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was established by Ayatollah Khomeini in May 1979 as a force, under the direct command of the clerics, to consolidate the Islamic Revolution.) (Link 1)
The following posting shows clearly how Iran has begun to enact a policy of zero-tolerance towards breaches of the ideals of the Islamic revolution. It does not require much imagination to see how much pain and trauma Christians, other non-Muslims and freedom-loving Persians are destined to experience as Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad forcefully advance their Shi'ite vision of a pure Islamic State.
A NEW ERA OF "ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT"
On Wednesday 3 August, former Revolutionary Guard Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in as the sixth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ahmadinejad pledged to restore an "Islamic government" in Iran, implying, as Iran Focus notes, "...that the previous administrations of Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami had distanced themselves from the policies of the founder of the Islamic state, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini." (Link 2: includes a biography of Ahmadinejad.)
On 14 August, President Ahmadinejad presented his list of cabinet nominees to the Majlis Speaker, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel. According to Iran Focus, only two of the 21 persons nominated by Ahmadinejad for ministerial appointments had previously held ministerial posts, while at least 13 were former commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated agencies, and five were former officials in Iran's notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and revolutionary prosecutor's office.
Hardliners gained control of the parliament in 2004, so it was not anticipated that there would be any difficulty having the nominations passed. However, the inexperience and obscurity of some of the nominees (clearly chosen only for their Revolutionary credentials) did cause concern and four were rejected with calls for stronger candidates. The 17 others were passed.
REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS' HEGEMONY:
OVER THE PEOPLE
On Saturday 20 August, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered a key change in the high command of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Brigadier General Mohammad-Ali (Aziz) Jaafari has been appointed to establish "the IRGC centre for strategy" which will "draw up the new strategy and implement the necessary changes to ensure rapid and efficient transformation of the country's civilian infrastructure and resources to military footing under the control of the IRGC". Khameni instructed Jaafari to "identify and propose key individuals and scientists in the Revolutionary Guards for membership in this important centre". Jaafari is to work closely with President Ahmadinejad, with whom he shares a close friendship. (Iran Focus 20 Aug)
OVER THE MILITARY
Iran Focus also reports that Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the commander of the IRGC, has been asked to "devise a new command structure and military strategy for the IRGC that would give the elite military force unlimited access to national resources and absolute priority over the regular army in case of a foreign military confrontation". (Iran Focus 20 Aug)
OVER THE POLICE
On 10 July, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Brigadier General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam to the position of police chief. Moghaddam, who was deputy commander the paramilitary Bassij and commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Greater Tehran, is a long-time ally of President Ahmadinejad. Iran Focus reports that in a decree read out on the state radio Ayatollah Khamenei said the police force's top priority was "to create security all over the country at a level worthy of the Islamic Republic".
Iran Focus comments that the appointment of Ahmadi Moghaddam brings the country's police force under the complete domination of the Revolutionary Guards and signals a readiness to crack down harder on what the ultra-conservatives see as "deviation" from the country's rigid religious laws. Farhad Nasseri, an Iranian analyst based in Dubai told Iran Focus, "This is part of an overall trend to extend IRGC hegemony over all military, intelligence and even civilian institutions. Ayatollah Khamenei is taking no chances. He wants his own men in control everywhere." (Link 3)
On Sunday 28 August, Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Revolutionary Guard, Brigadier General Mohammad-Kazem Moazzenian as the new chief of the Intelligence Protection Organisation of the State Security Forces.
POLICE TO ENFORCE "ISLAMIC VALUES"
Under orders from their new police chief, Iran's police have commenced a crackdown on "models of corruption", or in other words poorly-veiled women. (Iran Focus 27 Aug) Jamal Karimi-Rad, Iran's new Minister of Justice vowed on Saturday 20 August, that "improperly-veiled women" will be treated as if they had no Islamic veil at all. "Being improperly veiled and not wearing a veil are no different," declared Jamal Karimi-Rad. "When it is clear from the appearance of a woman that she has violated the law, then the crime is obvious and law enforcement agents can take legal measures against her."
PARAMILITARIES AS LAW ENFORCERS
Iran's State Prosecutor, Ghorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi (a Shiite cleric and former head of the Iran's dreaded secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security), told journalists in Tehran on 25 August, "There are about 18 different law enforcement agencies, and may be even more, in the country." He listed the State Security Forces, certain branches of the Intelligence Ministry, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Bassij militia as amongst Iran's "law enforcement forces". (Iran Focus 25 Aug)
According to Brigadier-General Hossein Zolfaqari: "In circumstances when the police are not present or when they require assistance or when they for whatever reason do not wish to carry out their tasks, uniformed members of the Bassij can in accordance with the law act against apparent crimes."
Iran's new Justice Minister, Karimi-Rad, has also made it clear that members of the para-military Bassij and the notorious Ansar-e Hizbollah, government-organised gangs of hooligans, are regarded as law enforcement agents in clergy-ruled Iran. (Iran Focus 25 Aug)
Since Thursday 18 August, plain-clothes agents of Iran's State Security Forces (SSF) have been conducting stop-and-search operations in Isfahan, central Iran. Iran Focus reports that drivers are stopped and ordered to show their identity cards before their vehicles are thoroughly searched by plain-clothed SSF agents. (Iran Focus 19 Aug)
The State Security Forces have also launched a crackdown against "young people harbouring anti-government sentiments". (Iran Focus 20 Aug) And in a move that will further entrench the isolation of Iranians, police have been ordered, "...to use all means, including helicopters, to locate and confiscate privately-owned satellite dishes, which are illegal in Iran." (Iran Focus 20 Aug)
FOREIGN POLICY
Iran Focus also reports that Mohammad-Reza Jaafari, the commander of Iran's new Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison, which has recruited more than 50,000 potential suicide bombers for "martyrdom operations" recently hinted to the Persian weekly "Parto-Sokhan" that if the US ever attempted to strike Iran' s nuclear installations, then the theocratic state could make use of long-term "sleeper cells" in the West to destroy United States' interests all over the world.
Jaafari also said, "The Imam [Khomeini] said years ago that Israel must be wiped off the face of the Earth, but so far practical steps have not been taken to achieve this. Our garrison must spot, recruit, organise and train martyrdom-seeking persons to be able to materialise this objective. Any delay in fulfilling the strategy of the Imam and the Supreme Leader in this regard will not be to the advantage of Islam or the revolution." (Link 4)
FROM THE MACRO TO THE MICRO
Lest anyone monitoring the big picture be tempted to forget the flesh and blood human beings within it, here is an Iranian story that could doubtless be told by more than one family. It is a situation that will probably become even more common in the new Iran.
The Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia reports that in 2000, Muslim vigilantes kidnapped Miss Layla Zahrooni (then aged 10 yrs) from her school. The Muslims then informed the Zahrooni family that Layla had converted to Islam and could not therefore be returned to an infidel family. (As Mandaeans, the Zahroonis follow the teachings of John the Baptist.) The Muslims placed Layla in an Islamic institution.
In 2004, Layla (aged 15 yrs) succeeded in escaping and finding her way back to her family. But on 4 April 2005, Iranian authorities discovered Layla (16 yrs) in the city of Sosangerd. They seized her from her distraught family and forcibly married her to a Muslim man.
Links
1) Defending The Islamic Revolution -- The Corps Of The Matter
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/08/dfead359-312f-4497-8686-559b29a226a6.html
2) Hardliner takes over as Iran's new president. 3 Aug 2005
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3147
3) Iran puts police under Revolutionary Guards control. 10 Jul 2005
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2796
4) Iran's "suicide operations" chief vows to hit U.S. Interests.
23 Aug 2005
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3429