IRAN REGIONAL PRESENCE OFFICE DUBAI: WINDOW ON IRAN - JULY

S E C R E T 01 OF 02 RPO DUBAI 000288

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/15/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON IR
SUBJECT: IRAN REGIONAL PRESENCE OFFICE DUBAI: WINDOW ON IRAN - JULY
15, 2009

CLASSIFIED BY: Timothy Richardson, Acting Director, Iran
Regional Presence Office, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (S) Iranian Doctor Alleges Many More Deaths Than Officially
Acknowledged: A gynecologist applying for a visa in Dubai
described a frenetic scene in the hospitals during the unrest
sparked by the disputed election. He was called in to provide
support and ended up working three straight shifts - even though
he does not typically support emergency room operations. He
said the private Tehran hospital where he works took steps to
prevent the IRIG from identifying the wounded by both quickly
discharging patients following treatment and by deliberately
collecting incorrect information from the patients, such as
writing down the wrong name or address. Personnel at the
government-run hospitals, he understood, were forced to collect
accurate information. Government authorities came to the
hospital to identify those treated during the unrest but such
visits have now stopped. The doctor's wife said she had heard
from an eye surgeon that he had operated on 15 patients who had
suffered eye wounds after being shot with rubber bullets. The
couple alleged that at least 200 people died during the unrest,
basing their claim on comments from other doctors, who had all
said 15 or had died at their respective hospitals. It is now
rumored that the government has paid off the families of those
killed to keep them quiet. Comment: The doctor and his wife
were open in their criticism of the IRIG and, interestingly, are
themselves vivid examples of some Iranians' fixation with
Britain's supposedly malign intentions toward Iran. While they
did not allege that the UK was responsible for the unrest, as
the IRIG asserts, they generally held the UK responsible many of
Iran's current problems. The doctor's comment regarding what
happened in the hospital where he works seemed to accurately
reflect what he saw and heard first-hand, but given the couple's
penchant for conspiracy theories, it is impossible to gauge the
accuracy of the other rumors they heard. That said, there is
strong anecdotal reporting to suggest that the number of those
killed and seriously injured is higher than the IRIG's
officially reported tallies.




2. (S/NF) Revolutionary Guards Take Prominent Role in Recent
Political Detentions: The family of detained economic analyst
Bijan Khajehpour has been told (unofficially) by a senior
judiciary official that he is under the control of the
Revolutionary Guards, rather than the Ministry of Intelligence
and Security, as the family first suspected. The same source
told them that Khajehpour was moved from Evin Prison to an
unknown location several days ago. Comment: If confirmed, the
IRGC, which was reportedly also responsible for the re-arrest
over the weekend of Iranian-American Kian Tajbakhsh, is moving
into territory traditionally dominated by the MOIS. A
Dubai-based friend of Tajbakhsh, who has had his own problems
with Iran's intelligence service, told us that Tajbakhsh was in
good standing with his MOIS "parole officer" at the time of his
re-arrest and was abiding by the terms of his "probation" (i.e.,
not engaging with international organizations).




3. (S/NF) Austrian Ambassador to Tehran Pays Price for
Supporting Saberi: Austria's Ambassador to Tehran will be
leaving Iran early after pressure from IRIG officials unhappy
with his activism on behalf of the Iranian-American journalist
Roxana Saberi, according to a Dubai-based Iranian political
consultant. The long-standing IRPO contact said that earlier
this week he approached Austrian diplomats to request that they
quietly lobby the IRIG on behalf of Bijan Khajehpour, his former
business partner and a prominent analyst, who was arrested last
month upon his return from a business trip to Europe. The
Austrians, who know Khajehpour well, explained that they had
spent all their "political capital" on behind-the-scenes
advocacy for Saberi's release from prison earlier this year, and
that as a consequence Ambassador Postle is being "forced out" of
Iran early. Comment: If accurate, the early departure of the
Austrian Ambassador suggests that even the influence of Western
governments usually viewed with less antagonism by hardliners is
diminishing.




4. (C) Some Working Class Iranians "Oblivious" to Recent Unrest:
An Iranian engineer and factory owner observed that the three
dozen workers at his small valve manufacturing plant 30 km
outside of Tehran were mostly "oblivious" to the recent unrest
over the disputed election. He explained that after the first
week of large-scale demonstrations, which were covered (to an
extent) by state media, many working class Iranians had little
awareness of the continuing turmoil. His employees, who don't