Iranian pro-government militia attacked
The pro-government militia which has been instrumental in putting down violent anti-government protests in Iran has come under attack itself, according to reports emerging from the country.
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| The raids followed recent anti-government protests |
A group of unidentified men carried out two raids on a base of the Basij militia and morals police near the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
The raids were carried out late last Thursday and Friday, injuring five people and resulting in the arrest of 21 others, according to The Iranian Students’ News Agency
The agency quoted an official from the local prefecture as saying the attackers managed to steal a weapon when they conducted their first raid on Thursday.
“The next evening, the armed hooligans attacked a Basij base and in the clashes five people were injured on both sides”, the official said.
It was not clear who was behind the attacks.
But the local press had reported violent clashes around Isfahan last week.
The clashes followed protests against the country’s clerical rule that had spread from Tehran to the provinces before subsiding at the weekend.
The two raids occurred in the town of Dizicheh, about 40 kilometres southwest of Isfahan.
Basij is a volunteer Islamist militia that pledges loyalty to Sayyed Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader who has the final say on all matters in Iran’s theocratic democracy.
The militia has cracked down on recent demonstrations led mainly by students protesting against the slow pace of reform.
Hunger strikes in France
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| Some are even refusing to drink water |
Protests outside Iran continued in support of Maryam Rajavi, the head of People’s Mujahedeen’s political arm, an exiled opposition group classified as “terrorist” by the US.
Five hunger strikers had been hospitalised near their base in Cergy-Pontoise town, northwest of Paris, police said on Monday.
Forty-eight people started a hunger strike on Thursday with some of them even refusing to drink water.
Rajavi was arrested last Tuesday in Paris after French security officials said the group was planning to make France the centre of operations against the Iranian government.
Most of the hunger strikers agreed to drink water on Sunday after a message from Rajavi that she did not want to see her supporters die.
Rajavi and another 16 Iranian exiles were placed under judicial investigation early on Sunday by anti-terrorist judges.
Eleven of them, including Rajavi, were also remanded in custody.