IRAN: INFLUENTIAL FORMER PRESIDENT AKBAR HASHEMI RAFSANJANI WARNS IRAN'S YOUTH NOT TO FALL INTO US TRAP AFTER ANTI ISLAMIC PROTESTS IN TEHRAN
Record ID:
645885
IRAN: INFLUENTIAL FORMER PRESIDENT AKBAR HASHEMI RAFSANJANI WARNS IRAN'S YOUTH NOT TO FALL INTO US TRAP AFTER ANTI ISLAMIC PROTESTS IN TEHRAN
- Title: IRAN: INFLUENTIAL FORMER PRESIDENT AKBAR HASHEMI RAFSANJANI WARNS IRAN'S YOUTH NOT TO FALL INTO US TRAP AFTER ANTI ISLAMIC PROTESTS IN TEHRAN
- Date: 12th June 2003
- Summary: (W5) TEHRAN, IRAN (JUNE 12, 2003) (REUTERS) (NIGHT VIEWS) POLICE VAN MOVING ALONG ROAD PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET POLICE MOVING ALONG WOMEN POLICE IN STREET SECURITY IN STREET/ HARDLINE POLICE ON MOTORCYCLES VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ON STREET/ POLICE IN RIOT GEAR MORE OF POLICE MOVING AROUND PEOPLE ON STREET (W5) TEHRAN, IRAN (JUNE 13, 2003) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DAMAGE CAUSED BY OVERNIGHT DISTRUBANCES
- Embargoed: 27th June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TEHRAN, IRAN
- Country: Iran, Islamic Republic of
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVADAN15IHE59RYFUEV818W0L03
- Story Text: Influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has warned Iran's youth not to fall into a U.S. trap after a third night of protests in Tehran against Islamic rule which have been applauded by Washington.
Rafsanjani warned Iran's youth on Friday (June 13) not to fall into a U.S. trap. His warning followed a third night of protests in Tehran against Islamic rule which have been applauded by Washington.
"I advise young people, especially students who are interested in the country...to express themselves but be careful not to fall into the trap that the Americans have dug for them," Rafsanjani said during a Friday prayers sermon in Tehran.
Several hundred students and onlookers gathered at a Tehran University dormitory in the early hours of Friday chanting "freedom, freedom" and "death to Khamenei" in a reference to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The protesters have also vented their anger at moderate President Mohammad Khatami, whom they accuse of failing to deliver promised reforms after six years in government.
Washington, which accuses Iran of building nuclear arms and sponsoring terrorism, has hailed the protests which have drawn crowds of up to 3,000 people in the last three days.
"It's our hope that the voice of the Iranian people and their call for democracy and the rule of law will be heard and transform Iran into a force for stability in the region,"
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Thursday (June 12).
Analysts say the protests, while small, reflect widespread frustration among Iran's disproportionately youthful population and are likely to continue in the run-up to the July 9 anniversary of violent student protests in 1999.
But Rafsanjani, a mid-ranking cleric who heads the powerful Expediency Council -- a body which arbitrates on legislative disputes, mocked the U.S. support for the protesters.
Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state in Iran, accused Washington on Thursday of stirring up unrest in the country and warned that authorities would show no mercy with the "hired mercenaries of the enemy."
Rafsanjani struck a more conciliatory tone, saying police had been ordered not to take "brutal action" against protesters.
Witnesses say police have largely played a pacifying role at the protests, using minimal force and working to prevent major clashes between the demonstrators and hard-line Islamic militiamen armed with batons and chains.
U.S.-based Iranian exile satellite television channels, which have played a key role in urging people to take to the streets in recent days, called for tens of thousands to turn out to protest after a big soccer match in Tehran later on Friday.
Rafsanjani said Iran's youthful population, around 70 percent of which is under the age of 30, should beware of "these evil television stations in America."
He also rejected U.S. charges that Iran is developing a secret nuclear weapons programme. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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