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Today is the 20th anniversary of the student uprising in Iran which began in Tehran University and then spread across other academic centers, during which one student was killed by the regime’s thugs and hundreds injured and arrested.
It is also the anniversary of what the Iranian regime has called the “Noujeh military coup” 38 years ago, when scores of Iranian army officers tried to oust the new regime but failed andwere later executed.
One of the main figures in thetrials of these officers was Saeed Hajarian, who in later years became known as the man behind the birth of reformist movement in Iran during the Khatami administration.
Our guest to discuss these issues tonight is Mr Khosrow Beitulahi who now lives in Californian and at the time of the Noujeh was a pilot in Iran’s air force.
We also speak to Dr. Saeed Bashirtash who was a student activist back in 1997.
Khosrow Beitulahi:
After the initial executions of the top Iranian generals immediately after the new regime took over, we as a group of army officers and military personnel thought that we must do something to stop this bloody purge of our best soldiers.
We were of the belief that as soldiers of the national army of our country it was against our principles to live under those shameful circumstances when every single day some people are being executed and others are being imprisoned or stripped off their assets and jobs.
Our aim was to remove the new regime even though we were facing a much stronger foe. Our movement was notmerely as military one as we had the support of many civilian figures amongIran’s ethnic groups like the Bakhtiaris, the Baluch and the Kurds who were acting as our militia forces.
Nearly four decades ago we attempted to change the course of the history of our country as we could predict that the new regime did not deserve to rule Iran and today our prediction and views have proven right as Iranians face so many woes that are the direct result of a corrupt and incompetent regime ruling over them.
Dr. Saeed Bashirtash:
At the time of the student uprising I was the general secretary of the youth organisation of Melat Iran Party.
After the murder of the opposition figures Mr and Mrs Forouhars I left Iran but can still remember how savagely the regime-organised militias attacked the protesting students in their dormitories and badly injured hundreds of them in scenes that looked like abattlefield.
