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Iran opposition plans rally

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The Iranian opposition is calling for more demonstrations against the government on February 11th. That’s the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. But the regime has begun executing opponents. Anchor Marco Werman discusses the state of the Iranian opposition with Nazila Fathi of the New York Times.

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MARCO WERMAN:  Iran’s opposition has shown no sign of retreating since the presidential election seven months ago.  Protesters say that vote was rigged to secure the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Authorities deny that.  Opposition websites are inviting people to stage rallies on February 11th.  That will mark the 31st anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.  But hardliners are warning that they won’t tolerate any more anti-government protests.  Nazila Fathi covers Iran for the New York Times.  She’s currently in Toronto.  Now, where is the Iranian opposition right now, Nazila?   What’s left of the grass roots movement that shook the country last year?

NAZILA FATHI: The opposition is scattered all over the country, and actually among various classes of people not only in the capital city of Tehran, all over the country.  Unfortunately, we’ve been hearing more about the protests in Tehran and that is because of the better capability that protesters in Tehran have.  But as far as we know, the protests have been going on in other cities and they are vowing that they are going to com out again on February 11th.

WERMAN: How would you characterize the leadership of the opposition in Iran? I mean, what are the chief differences between the politicians and the rank and file within the opposition.

FATHI: This movement does not have a clear leadership.  When you talk to the protesters themselves, they say that every protester is a leader.  It seems that Mr. Karroubi and Mir Houssein Mousavi are going to be the two candidates during the presidential elections. They are the official leaders of the opposition, but they have said themselves as well this movement is very grass roots. And they are not the leaders of the movement.

WERMAN: So Karroubi and Mousavi say they are not the leaders, it’s grass roots, but do the grass roots and do the rank and file kind of actually see them as de facto leaders?

FATHI: Yes, they have become the symbolic leaders of the movement because of the way they’ve been speaking, because of their outspokenness, because of their willingness to stand up to the opposition, and because of the vow that they took right after the election that they’re going to fight along side people who voted for them, and will try to take their votes back. In those symbolic ways they are the official leaders of the movement.  But it is not clear that if the authorities go as far as arresting these two men whether they are capable of ending the protest.  That’s why they have said that they are not the leaders of the movement.

WERMAN: Now last week two men were executed in Iran.  They were convicted of defying God and belonged to armed organizations and were hanged.  What was their connection to the opposition?

FATHI: The two men were arrested two months before the elections. They were both linked to the opposition groups outside of the country. They were the concession broadcasts on the English language Press T.V. that chose one of the men, Mr. Ali Mohajerani [PH] saying that he had links with Americans, Israelis, as well as royalist agents outside the country.  And Mr. Mohajerani confessed that he had plans to bomb religious locations.  However, the two of them were lumped with protesters who tried after the June unrest and they were linked to the protests.  And the message that the [INDISCERNIBLE] have been sending is that the government wants to intimidate protestors ahead of the protest plan for February 11th, and there are concerns that they authorities might go as far as executing even more people.  They have put 16 people on trial this week and for those 16 they are asking for the death penalty for at least five of them.

WERMAN: So will these death sentences actually affect the opposition?  Will it intimidate the opposition to the point that they won’t go ahead with these protests?

FATHI: It is very hard to tell that now.  We have to wait and see what’s going to happen on February 11th.  There are two possibilities.  Maybe the opposition would become more radical and they would come out more forcefully.  There have been messages on Facebook and websites saying that they have come a long way since seven months ago.  And so they will come again despite these executions.  However, there are fears that it might, the executions might have an effect on people and they would stay home.

WERMAN: Nazilah Fathi of the New York Times.  Thanks indeed.  I appreciate it.

NAZILA FATHI: Thank you very much for having me.

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