IRAN - Nov. 13 - Hardline Theologians Behind Paid.

Reformist MPs in the Majlis issue a report saying the elite Revolutionary Guards and the Islamic militia, under the influence of hardline theologians and the protection of the judiciary, beat university students in the western city of Khorramabad from Aug.24 to 27, 1999. The young activists had gathered to participate in a national congress organised by the largest student group, the Office to Consolidate Unity. Four days of protests erupted in the town after the Islamic militia blocked two religious scholars, who had travelled from Tehran to speak at the student congress, from leaving the Khorramabad airport. One policeman was killed and dozens of people were injured in the violence. The deputy governor of the province, who is confined to wheelchair, was also beaten.

(The report appears to indicate that institutions within the state, not freewheeling vigilantes, are responsible for some of the periodic explosions against activists working for reform and democracy. In recent years factions within the Islamic militia, the Revolutionary Guards and the intelligence service have been accused of ordering the murders of dissident intellectuals, the beating of students and threats against those who oppose the conservative establishment. But little documentation had been issued to substantiate these claims, making it difficult to prosecute the culprits).

"Some people have tried to say that ethic and geographical issues are responsible for the outburst of violence", the report says, adding: "But the real reason was political violence-mongering and the unlawful use of levers of pressure by one faction in order to attain its own goals and to stop the other faction from continuing its programmes". (President Mohammed Khatami was elected by a landslide in 1997 on a promise to bring law and order. But three years into his presidency, he still lacks control over the armed forces, which include the police. As a result, he has been forced to stand by as his loyalists are suppressed by various arms of the state. In July 1999, hundreds of people were severely injured and an unknown number died in Tehran during five days of pro-democracy student demonstrations). The report outlines a detailed conspiracy in which commanders of the Revolutionary Guards turned a blind eye to members of the Islamic militia who blocked the two scholars, Mohsen Kadivar and Abdolkarim Soroush, from leaving the Korramabad airport. In the following days, commanders of the Revolutionary Guards witnessed the beating of students in the neighbouring town of Boroujerd. Once the students began leaving the region, members of the Islamic militia stopped their buses and beat them, the report says. The report also blames the state-owned TV network, saying it broadcast sermons by theologians using their pulpits to threaten students and stir up hatred against them.