In a
leaked video posted on the Facebook, IRGC Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari is seen
discussing Revolutionary Guards’ response to 2009 elections with a group of
senior IRGC leadership, including Khamenei’s representative in IRGC. During the presidential election that year year, reformist candidates Mousavi and Karrubi, who are now detained, ran against Ahmadinejad. In the
video Jafari makes clear that the IRGC viewed the election of a reformist and
the return to power of the reform movement as unacceptable:
“The
worry and concern which existed and the red-line that existed for the forces of
the revolution was that the forces that were against the revolution and its
values, which during the period of the Second of Khordad [Khatami’s reform era,
1997-2005] had found an opportunity and had penetrated the regime, would once
again come to power,” Jafari said.
“This trend [victory by the reformists] was a worrying trend. All of us analyzed that if this
trend continues, the election would go into a second round [between Mousavi and
Admadinejad], and it were not clear who the ultimate winner [in the second
round] would be.”
“In the
election and the events afterward [Green Movement], it became clear why they
[reformists] insisted so much that the IRGC and Basij, under the label
‘military forces’, should not interfere with the election so that they could
carry out their plot and the IRGC and Basij do not bother them.”
“Many officials, many elites, and even some clergymen are unclear in relation to the events that happened (interfering in the election), and some still have objections.”
“Many officials, many elites, and even some clergymen are unclear in relation to the events that happened (interfering in the election), and some still have objections.”
Jafari
also discusses IRGC’s role in suppressing the Green Movement after Ahmadinejad
was declared the winner of the presidential election few minutes after the
polls were closed.
“Two
very fundamental and strategic actions had an impact in clearing up this
affair. One was the very widespread arrests which was carried out by the
security forces, and partially the IRGC, at the level of planners and
ideologues of this affair.”
“And
then the confrontations which in a widespread manner, with the presence of the
Basij popular forces and the IRGC, and with the assistance of the police and
security organizations, took place for confronting this affair, including the
most important one which took place on Saturday afternoon.”
The
latter reference is to the crackdown on the Saturday following Khamenei’s Friday
Prayer sermon in which he openly sided with Ahmadinejad and ordered the
protesters to leave the streets. The confrontations on that Saturday led to a
number of casualties, including the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, who became a
symbol of the Green Movement.
Mohammad
Nourizad who has posted the video on his Facebook account is a former
journalist for the conservative daily Kayhan. He was arrested after writing a
critical letter about the crackdown on the Green Movement to Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Video: Norizad’s
Facebook account - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=870388962988721
Translation:
Some of the English translation of Jafari’s remarks is from IranPolitic.com blog.
File photo: IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari (IRNA)
