News: Statement of International Committee for Transition to Democracy in Iran_ July 2003

Statement of International Committee for Transition to Democracy in Iran

Press Communiqué

It is with great apprehension that we witness the development of the situation in Iran—characterized by thousands of arrests (4000, according to official sources, of whom 2000 are still detained)—on the wake of recent student demonstrations. Other reports speak of kidnapping of activists and the intensification of operations by paramilitary groups (Ansar-e Hezbeollah) against the students.
A number of individuals inside prisons and on university campuses have gone on hunger strike in order to demand the freedom of those jailed and their right to proper defense.
Clearly, the legitimate demands of the students -- in their overwhelming majority coming from modest social backgrounds -- for democracy in Iran took a new development with the protest against the privatization of the country’s universities. It is, therefore, important not to confuse the true support of this movement with its push-button exploitation and even attempts at capitalizing it through the media by powers that had, for 25 long years, supported the shah’s dictatorship established after the Anglo-American putsch in 1953, overthrowing the patrio-democratic government of Mosaddeq.
In view of the urgency of the situation, we cannot but request everyone to intervene with the Iranian authorities in order to put an end to the exactions against Iranian students.

Members/Membres
Samir Amin, Economist. Antonio L. Antunes, Novelist (Portugal). Claude Cheysson, Fmr Fr. For. Minister. Regis Debray, Phiosopher. M.-Ch. Ferjani, Pol. Scientist/Islamologist (CNRS, Univ.Lyon II). Philippe Fritsch, Sociologist (Univ. Lyon II). Costa Gavras, Film Director. Antonio Gomez-Moriana, Prof. of Comparative Literature (Montreal & Vancouver, The Canadian Academy of Sciences and Humanities). Albert Jacquard, Scientist. Peter von Moos, Historian (Germany). Paul Noirot, Publisher (Paris). José Saramago, (Noble Laureate, Literature). Roland Sublon, Fr. Dean, Faculty of Theology (Strasbourg). Jean.-Pierre Vernant, (Historian, Collège de France). Jean Ziegler, Sociologist, UN Special Rapporteur (Geneva).
Hélène Antomadis-Bibicou, Hisorian. André Guillou, Historian. Maurice Godelier, Anthropologist. Alain Joxe, Sociologist. Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Historian (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris).
Supporters
Francesca Albertini, Depart. of Phil. Freiburg Univ. Ian Angus, Prof. of Humanities (Vancouver). André Brigot, Sociologist. Antoine Casanova, historien (Directeur de La Pensée). Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics (MIT). C. Fuehrer, Pastor (Leipzig). Alain Hayot, sociologue. A.M. Hochet, Sociologist. Jean-Pierre Kahane, Mathématicien. John G. Mason, Political Scientist (N.Y.). Geraldo Otero, Sociologist (Vancouver). Harold Pinter, Playwright. Edward Said, Prof. of Literature. Imre Szeman, Director, Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition (McMaster Univ., Canada). Immanuel Wallerstein, Sociologist
www.iranebidar.com/citdi/htmlAddress: citdi@yahoo.fr / /

Comité International pour la Transition à la Démocratie en Iran
International Committee for Transition to Democracy in Iran
Comitato Internazionale per Transizione a la Democrazia nell’Iran / Comité Internacionalpor Transición Democratica en Irán
Internationales Komitee für den Übergang zur Demokratie im Iran

 

News from Iran regarding human rights and the struggle for democracy.