Edith Novy

The increasing power of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, including recent executions and lengthy prison sentences, shows that Iran’s leadership is seriously threatened by the opposition and plans an unlimited crackdown for the foreseeable future.

Western governments view the increasing number of harsh sentences and executions among opposition figures as a “political tool” to intimidate the opposition and eventually overcome demonstrations and political turmoil.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/world/middleeast/23iran.html?hp)

Iran’s hard-liners appear convinced that the Islamic republic has been imperiled by the West, which it believes gives moral support to the opposition. Therefore, the leadership believes they are victims of Western states’ plans to “to stage a soft overthrow of the Islamic system.” (http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8805201276) As a result, the hardliners brand demonstrators as “terrorists” and “enemies of God.”

The responsibility for Iran’s new, brutal strategy lies with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the militias directly under the control of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Shortly after the demonstrations began last summer, it was clear Khamenei had authorized the Guards to do whatever is necessary to crush the demonstrations. In July, a high-ranking commander said that “the IRGC enters any scene where the ruling system is threatened.” (http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8805031255) Since then, the IRGC has eclipsed the power of other agencies, such as the Ministry of Intelligence and Iran’s judiciary.

And now the IRGC is even more direct about its intentions: a senior commander of the Guard has recently said that “the enemy has turned universities for us into places where pious youth are supposed to be assimilated. These are Islamic universities in an Islamic country, but despite of that, a young pious member of the Basij cannot protest against such actions and professors.” Referring to opposition members as “misled individuals” he stated that Iran “must not allow a bunch of people to do whatever they please against the revolution and the regime. We must seriously confront them.” (http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8809011701)

The IRGC seeks not only to crush the opposition movement, it also aims to implement new ideological offensives to indoctrinate the young generation. Currently, it is implanting 6,000 Basij militia centers in elementary schools across Iran to promote what the Guards consider to be the ideals of the Islamic Revolution.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/world/middleeast/24iran.html?_r=1&hp)

As a further step, it has founded a new police unit to sweep the Internet for dissident voices to act against “fraud, illegal advertising, insults and spreading lies and falsehood.” (http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=111200)

The brutality of the crackdown and the subsequent actions have escalated since the June demonstration and are typical in post-revolutionary Iran whenever the leadership finds itself in a political crisis, states Drewery Duke, a researcher with Amnesty International. But what has changed is the degree of the repression and its influence on Iranian society.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/world/middleeast/23iran.html?hp)

For example, there was worldwide condemnation after Iran sentenced the Kurdish activist Ehsan Fattahian to death. He was executed in the early morning of November 11. In his last statement, he asserted his innocence. (http://english.mowjcamp.com/article/id/63515)

Just six days after Fattahian’s death, Iran again issued death sentences to five more demonstrators and gave 81 prison terms of up to 15 years. (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/200911180733975932.html)

In late October, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated that questioning the disputed presidential election – which was the catalyst that sparked the months of protests that have followed – was a “major crime” (http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8808061664), and it was widely announced since June that legal action would be taken against protesters. (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/20096209644441364.html)
Since then, senior officials have issued several statements, which vowed a “crushing response” to “illegal protests”. (http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=111710)

The IRGC has followed through with these official warnings. American-Iranian Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari this week published a personal account of his imprisonment in Evin prison. His story confirms the assumption, which was made by many experts, that the IRGC’s power has grown dramatically after the presidential elections. According to Mr. Bahari, “they led the crackdown that followed.”

After 118 days in prison, he was freed due to mounting international pressure and the upcoming nuclear talks. The IRGC realized that Bahari would have discredited Iran if he were to remain in prison. “You were more of a liability than an asset in jail,” an official told him.
(http://www.newsweek.com/id/223862)

Despite the tightened grip of the IRGC on Iranian society, particularly the opposition, former presidential contender, Mir Hossein Mousavi, released a statement on his website that declared the opposition would not be crushed: “This movement will continue and we are ready to pay any price,” it said.