More Details Emerging On Iranian Crackdown Against Protesters

More than 100 protesters were killed after they were arrested, according to reports emerging from Iranian sources.

Some prisoners say they watched fellow detainees being beaten to death by guards in overcrowded, stinking holding pens. Others say they had their fingernails ripped off or were forced to lick filthy toilet bowls.

The accounts of prison abuse in Iran’s postelection crackdown — relayed by relatives and on opposition Web sites — have set off growing outrage among Iranians, including some prominent conservatives. More bruised corpses have been returned to families in recent days, and some hospital officials have told human rights workers that they have seen evidence that well over 100 protesters have died since the vote.

On Tuesday, the government released 140 prisoners in one of several conciliatory gestures aimed at deflecting further criticism. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a letter urging the head of the judiciary to show “Islamic mercy” to the detainees, and on Monday Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, personally intervened and closed an especially notorious detention center.

But there are signs that widespread public anger persists, and that it is not confined to those who took to the streets crying fraud after Mr. Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory last month. Several conservatives have said the abuse suggests a troubling lack of accountability, and they have hinted at a link with Mr. Ahmadinejad’s recent willingness to defy even the venerated Ayatollah Khamenei.

The reason the anger persists is that the perception that the election was rigged and that Khamenei rubber stamped Ahmadinejad's bogus victory is now an established fact in the mind of most Iranians. They've seen their electoral power wiped away with a few mere words from Khamenei, whose word is typically seen as the final one.

A few conciliatory gestures aren't going to placate millions of Iranians who have seen their few rights evaporate in front of their eyes. They now realize that the regime is corrupt throughout, and there's little they can do about it with Ahmadinejad and the mullahs controlling the IRGC and the Basiji.

Mirhussein Mousavi and another candidate for the presidency continue to oppose the regime and call the election fraudulent. More than 250 members of the opposition remain in custody, and requests to secure their release have fallen on deaf ears. Even a call to memorialize those who were killed in the clashes between the opposition and the regime's thugs went unanswered.

Some hardline clerics have demanded that Mousavi and Karoubi be tried on charges that could carry the death penalty.

Khamenei, having rejected calls for the election result to be annulled or re-examined, is expected to confirm Ahmadinejad as president soon. Parliament will then swear him in.

This week the authorities have taken some steps to defuse tension over the detainee issue, perhaps reflecting concern among some senior officials about reports of harsh treatment.

Khamenei has ordered the closure of one Tehran detention centre. The judiciary, ordered by its chief on Monday to review the cases of detainees, said on Wednesday that a disabled reformist, Saeed Hajjarian, would be released.

The regime's response has been to deflect claims of illegitimacy, blaming the US and the West for the violence, and to ignore the claims of election fraud going so far as to reject a full recount of the election.

In the meantime, criminal trials will proceed against at least 20 protesters. The charges against that group of protesters includes bombings, carrying weapons and attacking security forces. As the AP notes:

Among the defendants are some who had contact with the Mujahedeen-e Khalq — a dissident group of Iranian exiles — and members of the Bahai faith, who are often targeted by the Iranian government, IRNA said.

They will face charges including connections to terrorist groups, planting bombs, carrying weapons and grenades, intentional attack on the police and Basij, attacking security and university facilities, "sending images to the media of the enemy" ... and damaging public property, IRNA said.

In other words, expect death sentences to be handed down and lengthy prison sentences for those who are not sentenced to death. The regime is hoping that such a sentencing will deter others from standing in the way of the regime's ongoing consolidation of power.

Now, as to who is really pulling the strings in the regime, there are continuing reports suggesting that Ahmadinejad is pursuing his own agenda without the consent of Khamenei. Some hardliners are warning that Ahmadinejad could be deposed for not following orders. That's on the heels of various reports regarding the selection of Ahmadinejad's vice president and the reason for his sacking.