Iran protester face death sentences

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'Solidarity Underground: Free trade unionism in Poland today' is a new pamphlet by Magda Zalewska, Henryk Gawinski, and John Taylor, published by the Polish Solidarity Campaign. 50p plus postage from PSC, 186 Avenue Road, From our correspondent in Haifa WHILE the fighting continues in the Beirut area between the imperialist occupation forces and their Falangist puppets on one side, and the militias of the Lebanese masses on the other, Israel is doing its best to control the southern third of It is meeting growing resistance from the 700,000 inhabitants of the area, which on Tuesday 25 October 'held a one-day general strike.

South Lebanon has long been out of the control of Beirut's bourgeois government.

Under the "democratic" system granted to Lebanon by retreating French imperialism, and now guarded at the expense of much blood, the voice of a citizen who happened to be of Shia-Moslem origin (most of the population of the South) counts less than a third of a vote of his countryman (or woman) of Maronite-Christian origin.

For the Beirut government the South carried little weight, and its villages received hardly any development programmes for roads, water, electricity, schools and hospitals.

For years before the civil war the area was under the influence of the Communist Party and the Organisation of Communist Action (more to the left than the CP).

The alliance between the poor villagers and the Palestinian refugees enabled the establishment of the foundations of the "PLO state" which the Israeli invasion set out to destroy.

A year and a half after the invasion, the Palestinians in the south still live in conditions of devastation.

Terror and killings by Israeli agents and Falangist gangs continue against the defenceless population gathered in the ruins of the camps.

Resistance

The poor Lebanese villagers of the South are now at the forefront of the resistance to the occupation. Many of them, who fled continuing Israeli bombardments over the past 15 years, now inhabit Beirut's southern slums, where they are under fire from the Falangists, the Falange's "official Lebanese" said the soldiers were "shot at" from an "unknown source"

No soldier was hit, but one civilian was shot dead and dozens wounded. But the masses didn't retreat; they made some army vehicles flee and burned two that the soldiers deserted.

In the village of Sarafend on the Sidon-Tyre road the villagers came with stones and sticks to resist an army patrol arresting people.

Three were shot dead and 20 others wounded. That sparked the general strike of 25 October, which even the Israelis admitted was successful in mobilising the vast majority of the population.

In the south of South Lebanon there is the Galil mountain which - even after being occupied since 1948 and the expulsion of many villagers — has a majority Arab population.

The border was drawn after the First World War to separate British-occupied Palestiné from French-occupied Lebanon. Some new links are now being reestablished in the struggle against the common occupier.

On October 19, six men were brought before the Haifa regional court, accused by the police of membership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (General Command).

One of them is a Lebanese from the Aley area, Farid abdelKhaleq, who was held in an Israeli prison near Haifa. The fact of his arrest was concealed from the Red Cross. The other five are Palestinians from the Galil: three Druzes and two Moslems.

Closed doors

Their trial, like others, is to be held behind closed doors. Even the lawyers of the accused are not allowed to enter the court!

Al-Ansar concentration camp near Nabatiya was built by the invading Israelis to hold all PLO men, including medical staff of the Red Crescent and teachers at UNRWA schools.

Thousands of Lebanese left activists were imprisoned with the Palestinians. Now the camp population is growing with every new wave of resistance to the occupation.

By 25 October the prisoners staged a strike and a demonstration in the camp and some were wounded as the guards shot at them.

The Israelis are keen to break the spirit of the thousands of arrested militants, especially after some 50 succeeded in escaping through a tunnel under the wall.

A few weeks ago, 16 of the Al-Ansar prisoners were secretly sent for special harsh treatment to a department at the Atlit "Prison 6" military jail.

All these thousands have been held for a year and a half now, without a trial, or a lawyr, and have been denied even their rights as prisoners of war.

In the mass graves near the Gadot Kibbutz, new unidentified graves have continued to appear.

ON MONDAY 7 November, ten supporters of the Organisation Iranian Fedaii Guerrillas (OIPFG) were arrested during a protest occupation of the Iran Airlines 'office in London. At the time of writing, the ten are still being held in custody, having been denied bail.

The London occupation was part of an international protest action staged by OIPFG supporters in order to draw attention to the level of repression in Iran and the failure of the media to cover this repression.

Apart from the London occupation, Iran Airline offices were occupied • in Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt, and New Delhi, whilst in Brussels OIPFG supporters were able to occupy the Iranian Embassy itself and seize large amounts of Embassy documents.

The demands raised by the occupations included: Amnesty International to be granted access to Iranian political prisoners; the passing of a motion of condemnation by the United Nations on the Iranian regime; Red Cross to be allowed to visit Kurdistan, where Iranian forces are fighting to deny Kurdish self-determination; and the cessation of arms export to Iran.

The latter demand is particularly pertinent in Britain. American weapons and munitions are now being shipped into Cardiff airport and re-exported to Iran from a jetty-site bought by the Iranian government in Newport. There are also unconfirmed rumours of a possible deal to sell Jaguar fighter aircraft to Iran.

France In all countries, those staging une occupation were arrested. The only exception was France, which supports the bourgeoisliberal National Council of Resistance against Khomeini, and also backs Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war because of French investments there.

Apart from in London and New Delhi, all those arreted were released relatively quickly. In London the ten arrested appeared in court two days later charged with: criminal damage to property, illegal entry and assault (i.e. allegedly preventing the staff from leaving the building).

The police opposed bail on the Khomeini All ten have been served with deportation notices. If these notices are followed through by the Home Office it would mean certain execution for the ten on their return to Iran.

One of the ten arrested, who lives in the Gorbals in Glasgow, has had his home raided by police acting without a warrant, and documents, political pamphlets, etc., were confiscated. Iranians visiting his home have also been followed by the police and questioned.

It is not known yet whether similar raids have been carried out on the homes of the other nine, who live in London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

The labour movement in this country, and particularly Labour Party members, must be campaigning for the release of the ten, the dropping of all charges against them, and withdrawal of the threat of deportation.

The composite resolution on Iran passed at this year's Party conference pledged "support for workers' resistance against the regime's brutal suppression" called on the International Labour Organisation to "do all in its power to help end the plight of the Iranian workers and trade unionists" and urged the National Executive Committee to "do all in their power to assist Iranian refugees, especially to prevent their deportation back to The first task is to achieve the release of the imprisoned Iranians, if they are still being held by the time this issue of the paper appears. Labour MPs and councillors in particular must mount the necessary pressure on the police to ensure that they cease opposing bail.

The longer term campaign which needs to be built is one which aims at the dropping of the charges and preventing any deportations should any of the ten be found guilty.

For further information about. the defence campaign, contact' ISF, c/o BM Box KAR, London WCIN 3XX.