Iranian Regime Announces 'Day of Rage' against Karroubi, Mousavi; In Response, Protest Movement Calls On Followers to Demonstrate Against Religious Tyranny in Iran

Introduction

Two days after thousands rallied in mass demonstrations against the Iranian regime,[1] and in light of the unflinching resolve of protest movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the regime drew a line in the sand, announcing a "day of rage and disgust" against the movement leaders, to commence February 18, 2011 after the Friday sermon and prayers.

The regime called on the Iranians "to join forces in a demonstration of hatred and disgust of the barbaric crimes of the "incitement leaders and their hypocrite allies," thus labeling Karroubi – who has stated that he is willing to pay any cost for his struggle, even hinting at his life[2] – and Mousavi – who was unwilling to renounce the demonstrators – as hostile elements.

The protest movement, for its part, called on its followers to fill the streets on February 20, in protest against the religious tyranny in Iran.

Khamenei Institutionalizes Delegitimization of Karoubi and Mousavi, While Attempting to Contain Public Rage against Them

The regime's announcement suggests that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has decided to institutionalize the campaign against the protest movement leaders while controlling in the level of public rage against them.[3]

This enables him to operate on two levels: on the one hand, the regime is calling the shots in dealing with those who challenge it, and has launched an active campaign of public incitement and delegitimization against the protest movement leaders; on the other hand, the regime is keeping the movement leaders under house arrest, thus protecting them from the rage of the public and ensuring that they do not become martyrs for their followers, which could spark a fresh wave of mass riots like those that swept Iran in 2009. In this way, the regime is simultaneously condemning and humiliating the protest movement leaders, both publicly and politically, and also crippling them in their activities. This can be seen as an attempt on the part of Khamenei to appease the rage of the various pressure groups in Iran, especially those associated with President Ahmadinejad, against the heads of the protest movement, and at the same time to contain it, because the regime wishes to keep these leaders alive – as evidenced, for instance, by Iranian judiciary head Sadeq Larijani's calls on the Iranian regime and public "to consider the interests of the regime, and wait patiently for the fitna [civil strife] heads to be brought trial." [4]

Rafsanjani Condemns Protest Movement, Calls on Regime Not to Ostracize His Colleagues

It should be noted that, so far, none of the key figures of the protest movement (Mousavi, Karroubi, Khatami, and Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is the movement's primary backstage player) has spoken out against Khamenei's regime or against the Rule of the Jurisprudent. The movement leaders have focused their demands on repeat presidential elections, the release of political prisoners, and freedom of speech and of the press. In fact, apart from Karroubi and Mousavi, the regime's critics, headed by Rafsanjani, are now openly expressing their support for Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad, and renouncing the protest movement.[5]

As chairman of the Expediency Council, which oversees the operations of the regime and its leader, Rafsanjani accepted Khamenei's authority and issued a statement in the name of the council, which met in his office on February 16, condemning the protest movement's February 14 demonstration. The statement declared that this "American-Zionist" demonstration, held on the pretext of showing support for the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, had once more exposed the "disgraceful anti-Islamic identity" of the protest movement, and had proved it to be an opposition movement that must be renounced. The statement praised the Iranian public for disregarding the movement's calls to demonstrate, and called on the people to obey Khamenei.[6]

Similarly, in a February 16 interview on Iranian state television, Rafsanjani called on the Iranian public to obey the law and to unite against the schemes of Iran's enemies, since "this is no time for ostracizing [people] and disputing."[7] It would appear as though Rafsanjani's choice to address the Iranians on the air was aimed both at clearing his name and at defending his colleagues in the protest movement, after estimating that his hitherto reserved support for the protest movement was likely to cost him his life – especially in light of the fact that, over recent months, senior regime officials have escalated the campaign of incitement against him. [8]

The pro-Ahmadinejad website Inn.ir claimed that Rafsanjani's statements reflected his long-standing ambivalence vis-à-vis the protest movement. The website assessed that, in saying that now was not the time for disputes, Rafsanjani had been urging to stop calling for the execution of the protest movement leaders.[9]

Protest Movement Calls for Demonstrations on February 20 against Religious Tyranny in Iran

The protest movement's coordination committee called on the Iranian public to participate in demonstrations it planned to stage in Tehran and throughout Iran on February 20, in a "fight against the religious tyranny" implemented by the Iranian regime, and in memory of the two demonstrators killed in the February 14 demonstrations.[10]

Tahkim-e Vahdat, Iran's university student movement, also announced a week of mourning for the two protest movement supporters killed in the demonstrations, and warned the regime against harming Mousavi or Karroubi.[11]

* A. Savyon is Director of the Iranian Media Project; Y. Mansharof is a research fellow at MEMRI.