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SLUG: 2-296570 Iran/Protests (S)
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DATE=11-18-02 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-296570 TITLE=IRAN / PROTESTS (S) BYLINE=TETIANA ANDERSON DATELINE= CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: In Tehran, thousands of reform-minded students clashed with a few hundred Islamic conservatives Monday, as protests over a professor sentenced to death for blasphemy turned violent. Tetiana Anderson has more from V-O-A's Middle East bureau in Cairo. TEXT: About three-thousand students were holding a rally in a Tehran University building, when several hundred Islamic conservatives confronted them. Some students were slightly injured. Riot police had surrounded the rally, and prevented the demonstrators from moving into the streets. Tensions continue to be high over the death sentence for history teacher Heshem Aghajari. He was sentenced to death after he publicly suggested that Muslims should feel free to interpret Islam. He also questioned the role of Iran's Shiite clergy. The demonstrations continued in spite of Sunday's order by Iran's conservative supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the verdict against Mr. Aghajari be reconsidered. The dispute over the verdict comes as Iran's more moderate elected president, Mohammad Khatami, is trying to gain a measure of control over the judiciary and other key institutions controlled by conservative Islamic clergymen. NEB/TA/AWP/TW |
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