Students tell of shootings, savage beatings in provinces
TEHRAN, Aug 3 (AFP) - Iranian students were shot and savagely beaten
in Tabriz during last month's unrest, a student group said in Tuesday's
press in the first detailed account of the disturbances in the northwestern
city.
Tabriz university's Islamic students council told the Khordad paper
that at least 15 people were shot, including three women, as demonstrations
in Tehran in mid-July that sparked days of deadly riots spread to the
provinces.
It said what began as a campus sit-in turned into a scene of bloodshed
after police helped Islamic vigilantes attack other demonstrators oustide
the gates of the school.
"The most incredible thing was that they accused the students of
creating disturbances in streets surrounding the school when everyone
could see that we were surrounded and couldn't leave the campus,"
a council spokesman said.
He said some 80 people had already been injured by stones, clubs and
knives when security forces began opening fire into the crowd.
He said as people began fleeing the gunshots into the campus, armed
gangs stormed the gates and opened fire again, shooting 15 people, including
three female students.
Islamic militants then locked themselves in a school building, ripped
the clothes off students and beat them for hours, the council said. It
said other vigilantes went to a local hospital and abducted those who had
been wounded by gunfire.
The council statement was the first detailed account of the Tabriz unrest,
which Iranian authorities had already acknowledged left one person dead.
In Tehran one person was killed and three wounded, according to official
figures, though moderate papers said at least five were killed and dozens
wounded, many of whom they said were later abducted from Tehran hospitals
by the secret police.
Iranian authorities are due this week to release a final report on the
unrest, the worst here since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
More than 1,400 people were arrested in connection with the disturbances,
including student leaders and prominent opposition figures, and authorities
have said some of those released will be re-arrested when the investigation
is complete.
Press reports Tuesday said the Iranian judiciary has approved draft
legislation that could in effect outlaw almost all forms of political
criticism of the regime, including public demonstrations.
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