Bahman Aghai Diba

By: Bahman Aghai Diba

Recently a gang of Iranian Muslim zealots attached to the official sources, such as the Baseej paramilitary forces, who usually act as the “Lebas Chakhisi-ha” (the Iranian equivalent of Tonton macoutes) attacked a small family party in Isfahan and imprisoned the men and raped the women, including a pregnant women, in front of their husbands and relatives. This is not the first time that these apparently arbitrarily acting groups are doing the dirty job of the fascist regime of Iran. These gangs which are in reality even more disciplined and indoctrinated than the regular security and military forces in Iran, have been the tools of the Iranian Mullacracy for attacking the peaceful demonstrations of people, and acting against everything that the regime opposes including the most basic rights of the people. However, the incident in Isfahan was a new step in the line of using the barbaric tactics as tools of the “religious cleansing” and using rape as a weapon, the way it was used by the war criminals of the African countries and the Yugoslavian Serbs. The gangs that claim to be members of the God’s Party (Hezbollah), under the protection of the disciplinary forces, and even enjoying special privileges for implementing the ugliest policies of the religious zealots, are at the moment trying to make a lesson of the incident in Isfahan for those who gather even in family parties in Iran without observing the strict religious rules (such the Islamic code of dress and drinking alcoholic beverages). Speaking through their strong allies and supporters (such as the Mullahs that control the media and judicial posts), these criminals put the blame for their brutal actions on the victims. They claim that if the victims had observed the Islamic dress codes and similar rulings of the Muslim zealots governing Iran, this would not have happened. The police forces, which was immediately informed of the attack by the women in the party who called the police on their cell phones, convincingly reached the place long after the attackers were gone. These forces are always ready and present in the places that a girl has not concealed her hair properly or a person carries a puppy in his car, or someone watching a foreign TV program. But in this case, not a single police officer, or disciplinary forces of any rank could get to the place on time. Even after getting there, while they knew very well who the attackers were, but instead of proceeding to arrest them, they started putting pressure on the victims to be silent about the issue. But the attackers were not interested in keeping the issue silent. Even before the victims make any move the first news of the attack were spread by the news agencies related to the religious zealots as if they have succeeded to make a point to the people. This was a sign that the attack was not only the barbaric act of a crazy gang of Muslim zealots but a calculated move to use the rape as a weapon against the people. This incident deserves the complete attention of the human rights forums and at the same time sources such as the international criminal courts. This is a new step in the line of brutality of the religious regime in Iran and it indicates to using rape as a war tactic for political-ideological aims by the paramilitary forces in Iran.