Iran Reports More Protest Arrests

Iran's reformists call election a coup; EU considers pulling out all 27 ambassadors

(AP Photo)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.

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Iran on Thursday announced more arrests in the post-election turmoil, detaining seven alleged provocateurs of violence it says were linked to Iranian exiles. The move underlines authorities' drive to portray protests as the work of outsiders rather than a reflection of widespread popular dismay.

The arrests continue a heavy crackdown that has squashed the mass protests that erupted over the disputed June 12 presidential vote. Iran's top police chief has said 20 people were killed in violence during the protests, and that 1,032 people were detained.

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In another move to push the government's depiction of the protests, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday that families of the "innocent victims" of bloodshed during demonstrations would receive government compensation. Fars said "terrorists infiltrated among protesters to foment unrest," causing the violence.

There was no word on who would receive compensation and how much — but it appeared to refer to eight members of the Basij who were reportedly killed. The Basij is a paramilitary militia that had a prominent role in putting down the protests, with witnesses reporting Basijis beating or shooting at marchers.

The compensation is to come from the state-funded Martyrs' Foundation, a body that helps families of those who died in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in which more than a million people from the two countries were killed and far more wounded. Providing funds to dead Basijis would raise them to the same level of national heroism as the war dead.

Iran has been eager to depict the unprecedented wave of protests as inspired by outsiders, apparently looking to boost the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was announced as a landslide victor over his pro-reform opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi insists he is the winner, calling the official results fraudulent.