report
June 30, 2009
Government Seeking to Ban Reformist Organizations
Following the mass arrest of prominent figures from reform political groups that took ‎place during the past two weeks, ‎...
Following the mass arrest of prominent figures from reform political groups that took place during the past two weeks, the political deputy of Iran’s Interior Ministry announced that the decision to allow the Islamic Iran Participation Front [Jebheye Mosharekate Iran Eslami], the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution [Mojahedine Enghelabe Eslami] and the Association of Combatant Clergy [Majma'e Rohaniyune Mobarez] to “resume” their activities rested with the Ministry.
The remark was made while the judiciary has not till today revoked the current activity permits that these parties have. The Ministry is barred by law from unilaterally revoking an organization's permit, but it can do so if a party is convicted in a court of law.
On Saturday, security officials published the forced confessions of Amir Hossein Mahdavi, a reformist journalist, on state-run media, according to whom street protests had been planned by officials at the Participation Front and the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution prior to the June 12 presidential election.

Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution's Statement
The Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution organization released a statement yesterday blasting the state’s organized efforts to confront reformist parties and denounced the "forced confessions project."
The statement notes, "While condemning the exertion of physical and psychological pressure on arrested individuals to extract forced confessions, and the repeat of the ridiculous and repetitive confessions and repentance programs, we warn against organized efforts to confront political parties and associations, and demand the immediate release of all detained individuals."
This reformist organization added, "The planners and executers of this defunct program must know that eliminating republicanism and establishing dictatorship over Iran's informed society is a dream that will never be realized. The organization also voices its deep concern for the condition and fate of detained students, journalists and political activists and condemns their lack of access to their most basic rights, including the right to a lawyer, which is in clear violation of the law."
Another section of the organization's statement notes, "The tenth presidential election, in effect, was the climax of the clash between social and political forces defending republicanism with the autocrats who wish to turn the Islamic Republic into a dictatorial regime under one individual's rule."
The statement adds, "Confronting political activists and convicting them to long-term prison sentences, as well as banning independent political parties, which are, in reality, the last remnants of democracy in the Iran, are effectively moves to complete the last stage of the coup to establish a dictatorial Islamic government under one individual's rule."
Currently, several members of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution organization (including Behzad Nabavi, the organization's main strategist) and the Participation Front's central committee (including party chief Mohsen Mirdamadi and vice-president Abdollah Ramezanzadeh) are in detention and have not communicated with their families over the past few days. The Association of Combatant Clergy is another party that is under government attack. It has notable members such as Seyed Mohammad Khatami, Mousavi Khoeiniha and Majid Ansari. The party began operating in 1987 with Ayatollah Khomeini's explicit consent.
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