Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06LONDON7287
2006-10-12 18:42:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy London
Cable title:  

ALL QUIET IN TEHRAN AS ARRESTED DISSIDENT

Tags:  MCAP MNUC PGOV PREL IR 
pdf how-to read a cable
P 121842Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9696
INFO AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY BAKU PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL DUBAI PRIORITY 
USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 007287 


E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016
TAGS: MCAP MNUC PGOV PREL IR
SUBJECT: ALL QUIET IN TEHRAN AS ARRESTED DISSIDENT
AYATOLLAH AND FOLLOWERS REMAIN IN CUSTODY

REF: EMBASSY-NEA/IR-S/S/O EMAILS OCT 7-8

Classified By: Pol Minister-Counselor Maura Connelly for
reasons 1.4(b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 007287


E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016
TAGS: MCAP MNUC PGOV PREL IR
SUBJECT: ALL QUIET IN TEHRAN AS ARRESTED DISSIDENT
AYATOLLAH AND FOLLOWERS REMAIN IN CUSTODY

REF: EMBASSY-NEA/IR-S/S/O EMAILS OCT 7-8

Classified By: Pol Minister-Counselor Maura Connelly for
reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Foreign Office and London-based expat
sources confirm media reports that hundreds of security
personnel in central Tehran clashed violently on October 7
and 8 with as many as a thousand supporters of dissident
Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Iranian security forces managed in the
early hours of October 8 to arrest the cleric, along with
hundreds of his followers; all arrestees remain in custody,
with the area quiet and no subsequent disturbances reported.
While neither Boroujerdi's independent base of support nor
his critiques of the official religious establishment are
unique among Shia clergy, his recent defiance of clerical
officials has been unusual, and probably was a factor in the
decision to arrest him at this time. End summary.

Security Forces' Assault
--------------


2. (C) Per ref, and as reported by Iranian and international
media beginning October 9, hundreds of Tehran security forces
on October 7 and 8 clashed violently with about a thousand
followers of dissident cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Kazameini
Boroujerdi. Despite the efforts of the crowd to prevent
Boroujerdi's arrest, security forces succeeded in arresting
him early on October 8, along with hundreds of his
supporters, many of whom were armed with knives, clubs and
bottles. These supporters had maintained a protective cordon
around Boroujerdi's house since late August to prevent his
arrest by clerical authorities. Throughout the weekend, both
before and after the assault and arrest, hundreds of heavily
armed police were widely reported to be on the streets around
the Ayatollah's central Tehran house. Boroujerdi remains in
custody; and streets in the area have been normal since
October 9. In the wake of the violence there have been
credible unconfirmed reports that the Tehran police chief has
had to resign due to the extent of violence which accompanied
the arrest.


3. (C) Although Iranian press coverage was short on details,
according to eyewitnesses inside the Boroujerdi compound in
touch with Embassy's expat contacts, the security personnel

who led the assault, beginning the afternoon of October 8 and
continuing into the early hours of October 9, were
Revolutionary Guard and Basij, supported by armored cars and
bulldozers, using tear gas, and armed with firearms. Embassy
contacts said that warning shots were fired and that
fatalities were sustained among Boroujerdi's supporters, but
neither Iranian press and official statements nor UK Embassy
Tehran (protect) reports confirm these claims. The UK
Embassy reported hundreds of riot police in the streets
October 8 and 9 but did not estimate the numbers of
Boroujerdi supporters arrested. Iranian newspapers reported
extensive arrests without furnishing a specific estimate;
these papers were silent on the subject of injuries but
carried photos of Boroujerdi followers carrying swords and
machetes. The UK Embassy noted that a normally reliable
reformist news website (Ruz Online) reported other followers
arrived with Molotov cocktails and acid, though it did not
report whether these weapons were used; an Agence France
Presse account contained similar details, citing a regime
security official, including the presence of these weapons.
Expat contacts claimed there had been numerous injuries, but
no casualties have been acknowledged, or numbers reported, by
Iranian press or authorities.


4. (C) The UK Embassy in Tehran, via the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO),on October 8 confirmed the broad
outlines of the assault, and has since then given us
additional details. The description of events and
circumstances leading to the assault which follows below is
based on accounts HMG sources and also London-based Iranian
expats who are U.S. Embassy contacts.

Supporters' Vigil Before the Assault
--------------

5. (C) As reported by Iranian and expatriate bloggers,
Boroujerdi's followers for some two months preceding the
October 7-8 assault had maintained a human cordon around the
Ayatollah's house, to prevent his arrest. Reliable
eyewitnesses reported that several dozen supporters were
arrested in a September 28 clash with police that went
largely unnoticed. (Embassy comment: The September 28 clash
may have been a less determined attempt by authorities to
arrest the Ayatollah following his defiance of a clerical
court summons, issued September 7. The summons demanded he
appear and answer charges arising from his preaching. A
speech he had given in Tehran June 29 (see paragraph 8
below) was a likely focus of the court's concern. End
comment).


6. (C) Boroujerdi had in recent weeks written to Kofi Annan,
Javier Solana and the Pope asking for support and protection
(Embassy note: Boroujerdi's staff told UK-based expatriates
that Boroujerdi received no reply to any of these letters.
End note). Boroujerdi had been at odds with clerics in the
regime for more than a decade, and been incarcerated twice,
due to his preaching against the involvement of clergy in
politics. (Embassy comment: The degree of popular support he
has attracted may also be a factor in the regme's efforts to
silence him. End comment).

Boroujerdi's supporters: numerous and loyal
--------------

7. (C) Although Boroujerdi appears given to self-promotion
and exaggeration, he has built a large and loyal following
over the last ten years. He plausibly claims some 200,000
followers nationwide. His preemption, fully in keeping with
Shia tradition, of revenues from his own followers' pious
donations, which would otherwise go into official coffers,
has been one source of tension with the official clergy.
Though not a direct descendant, Boroujerdi is related to, and
bears the same surname as, an extremely prestigious and
senior cleric (deceased 1961) who was at first a patron but
later a public critic of the young Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, and of Khomeini's vision of an Iranian government
headed by clerics. Boroujerdi's father was also a cleric who
had significant, longstanding friction with authorities over
the role of religion, and whose 2002 death is alleged to have
occurred under murky circumstances related to that friction.


8. (C) Boroujerdi gave a sermon to an audience of at least
several thousand from all over Iran at Shahid Keshvari
Stadium June 29, in which he condemned official pre-emption
of religion and the participation of clergy in government.
His theme was not unique but the size of the audience was;
his sympathizers in the UK maintain the audience numbered
over 30,000. The clerical court summons which Boroujerdi had
been defying for two months prior to his arrest was issued
not long after his June 29 speech. Expat sources in London
stressed to us the depth of commitment Boroujerdi's
supporters feel, in keeping with Shia traditions, to their
spiritual leader -- when the October 7 police assault began,
they say several hundred additional supporters, reinforcing
the 1,000 already present, appeared quickly at the compound
in response to appeals.

No EU or UK response expected
--------------

9. (C) The FCO on October 11 told PolOff it is checking with
EU Foreign Policy Chief Solana's office to determine whether
the EU intends to answer Boroujerdi's letter, or to make any
senior or working level statement. FCO commented it does not
now contemplate any independent advocacy on Boroujerdi's
behalf, both because of the strong P5 1 focus on nuclear
issues, as well as the violence used by Boroujerdi's
followers in response to what the FCO said may have been a
legal court summons.

Possible Overconfidence by Boroujerdi
--------------


10. (C) Comment: Boroujerdi is not unusual among senior
clerics, either in his disagreements with authorities over
separation of church and state, or in having an independent
base of spiritual and financial support. He is, however, far
more outspoken; other clerics with similar views and a
similarly independent base have not been as confrontational.
Although Boroujerdi has repeatedly denied his movement has
any political element, and although he centers his sermons
around the protection of traditional religious belief, the
size of the audience at his June 29 rally would have drawn
official attention. The large turnout may have encouraged
Boroujerdi to be more defiant with clerical and judicial
authorities. One FCO interlocutor suggested an entirely
different explanation for the cleric's arrest, however,
arguing that security and clerical officials are interested
in gaining control of the real estate on which Boroujerdi's
Noor Mosque sits, in an area reportedly slated for
redevelopment.


11. (C) That authorities waited through two months of
surveillance and confrontation before moving decisively may
reflect one or more factors: respect for Boroujerdi's
strength, internal jockeying among security institutions over
planning and control of the arrest operation, hope that
Boroujerdi might moderate his stance, or concern that the
regime might have trouble controlling the flow of
information until reformist Iranian media had been closed or
brought to heel, as has been taking place over the last
several months. End comment.

Visit London's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm


Tuttle