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Friday, July 31, 2009

Spain on maximum alert for 50th anniversary of ETA

By MANUEL MIELNIEZUK, Associated Press Writer

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Balearic Islands – The leaders of Spain's main political parties paid tribute to two slain police officers Friday as security forces guarded against a fresh attack on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the armed Basque group ETA.

Authorities blame ETA for an explosion that killed the officers near a police barracks on Mallorca island Thursday and a car bomb that wounded more than 60 people in the northern city of Burgos on Wednesday.

The Interior Ministry's represent in Mallorca, Ramon Socias, told reporters police "were still working on the hypothesis that the terrorists had not abandoned the island and were holed up in an apartment waiting for the situation to cool down a bit so that they can get out."

The ministry issued photographs of six suspected ETA members and called on the public to help track them down. The ministry did not say whether it suspected any of the six played a role in the attacks.

Spanish National Radio said police were looking for two Basque youths seen in Palma de Mallorca this week as police stepped up security prior to the annual visit of the royal family to their summer residence at Marivent palace, some six miles (10 kilometers) from where Thursday's bomb went off.

King Juan Carlos is due to arrive on the island this week.

The radio said that the Basque youths had rented an apartment in Palma but had not been seen since the attacks.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero flew to Mallorca early Friday with Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy and placed medals of honor on the coffins of the officers, both members of the paramilitary Civil Guard in charge of policing rural areas and guarding official buildings.

Bells tolled at noon as people gathered in silence for five minutes outside town halls across Spain in pay their respects. Crown Prince Felipe, Princess Letizia and other authorities attended a funeral Mass at the Cathedral in Palma de Mallorca and later expressed their condolences to the relatives of the dead officers.

ETA was founded on July 31, 1959, and has killed more than 825 people since beginning its violent campaign for an independent Basque state in 1968.

If confirmed as ETA attacks, the blasts would conflict with government assertions that the group is seriously weakened after major police crackdowns in Spain and France in recent years. Their timing, two days before the milestone anniversary, may be part of an ETA effort to demonstrate it is in no danger of breaking up.

ETA is now blamed for nine attacks this year.

"The government has given orders to the security forces to be on maximum alert, to double their work, to increase even more their efforts and to protect themselves from these vile murderers," Zapatero said late Thursday.

In Madrid, armed police patrolled the streets around the headquarters of the country's two main political parities, the governing Socialists and the conservative Popular Party.

Several people were also lightly wounded in Thursday's bombing in the Palmanova beach resort area, southwest of the island's capital.

The explosion, caused by a bomb attached to the underneath of a vehicle, occurred at the height of the summer holiday season for the Mediterranean island resort, which is one of Europe's main tourist destinations.

"I was asleep outside the pool. Next thing I heard was the biggest explosion I've heard in my life," English tourist Michael Edgware told Associated Press Television News.

"I woke up and I thought 'what's going on?" he said, adding "Then I looked out and I saw fire, flames and fire brigades putting fires out. I got a bit scared."

Officials shut down the island's airports and ports for several hours while police searched for bombing suspects. Strict airport, road and boat controls were also being applied Friday.

Hours after the blast, police found another bomb attached to a police car in the same area and were forced to carry out a controlled explosion.

The attack Wednesday morning on the Spanish mainland also targeted a police compound and surrounding buildings, in which around 120 people including dozens of children were at the time of the blast. More than 60 people were reported injured.

There were no warning calls before the two attacks, for which no group has claimed responsibility.

Zapatero said the attacks were staged as Spanish police in collaboration with French counterparts were hitting ETA hard "dismantling its organization, thwarting its action, identifying its members and detaining them more rapidly each time and in greater numbers."

Spain has vowed to crush the separatist group since ETA ended what it had said was a permanent cease-fire with a 2006 bombing that destroyed a Madrid airport parking garage and killed two people.

Police: Landslides kill 10 people in Bangladesh

By FARID HOSSAIN, Associated Press Writer

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains killed 10 people in southeastern Bangladesh on Friday, authorities said.

The pre-dawn deaths occurred in Bandarban district, a mountainous region 155 miles (248 kilometers) southeast of the capital, the area's police chief Quamrul Ahsan said.

United News of Bangladesh news agency reported that huge chunks of earth buried a hillside hut killing five people from the same family in Lama village. Another five people from two families died in a landslide nearby.

Landslides often caused by heavy rains are common in the mountainous region.

Bangladesh is a low-lying delta nation of 150 million people. It is often buffeted by floods and cyclones.

Bangladesh PM Hasina expands cabinetI

DHAKA (AFP) – Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina added half a dozen new faces to her cabinet Friday and shuffled other ministers in a bid to improve the government's performance.

The cabinet expansion was the second since Hasina took office in January.

The six new members, which bring to 44 the number in the cabinet including the premier, were sworn in by president Zillur Rahman at his palace.

Political commentators had suggested Hasina's cabinet members were inexperienced.

The premier said the additions were "competent people" who would make the government run more efficiently.

The new members, as well as the shuffle of existing members, brought changes to the portfolios of health, primary education, power, water resources and women and children's affairs.

The move came a day after Hasina's ruling Awami League party dropped four party heavyweights from the policymaking presidium.

Political observers said the four were dropped because they sided with the army-backed government, which ruled for two years from January 2007 and jailed Hasina for a year on corruption charges.

Hasina came to power after a landslide win in December 29 elections that democratic rule to the South Asian nation.

US general may ask for more troops for Afghan war

By ANNE GEARAN and LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON – The U.S. general in charge of turning around the war in Afghanistan is likely to recommend significant changes to U.S. and NATO operations, military officials and others familiar with his forthcoming report said. Those changes could include additional U.S. troops despite political headwind against further expansion of the war.

As Gen. Stanley McChrystal readies his assessment of the war, due next month, numerous U.S. officials and outsiders apprised of his thinking suggest McChrystal will request more American troops, probably including Marines, to be added next year.

Officials and advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because the report is not complete, and because the number of forces to be requested is in flux. Several people familiar with the report cautioned that McChrystal could opt not to ask for an increase at all — a recognition that President Barack Obama and other White House advisers would not look favorably on adding new numbers to U.S. forces after already agreeing to boost their ranks by 21,000 troops earlier this year.

McChrystal's report contains a list of recommendations that have not been released, but military and defense officials have suggested that it will identify shortfalls in the size and skills of Afghan forces and recommend additional U.S. trainers or others to help.

A senior U.S. official said the rationale for needing more forces is tied to an altered strategy to clear and hold provinces where Taliban insurgents are fleeing as they are pushed out elsewhere.

McChrystal is also likely to recommend rearranging some U.S. and NATO forces to better meet a narrowed mission of protecting Afghan civilians and starve the insurgents of vital support.

The report was commissioned by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who hand-picked McChrystal to take the helm of combat operations against Taliban insurgents that top defense officials have conceded are stalemated.

Two of McChrystal's civilian advisers, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations, said this week they expect some expansion of troops. Neither adviser would quantify those numbers.

Biddle said Thursday he thinks the total number of troops in Afghanistan should number 300,000 to 600,000, including U.S., NATO and Afghan forces.

Current forces include 62,000 U.S. troops and 39,000 allied troops, plus about 175,000 Afghan Army and police. Some of the allies plan to pull their troops home in the next couple of years.

Several of the specific recommendations are undergoing what the Pentagon calls a "troops to task" analysis, to identify whether there are sufficient troops available or suited to the job. McChrystal is expected to discuss that review and his larger appraisal with Gates in the next two weeks.

Any request for additional U.S. forces would require touchy discussions with the White House and lawmakers. President Barack Obama approved a surprise addition of 4,000 U.S. trainers earlier in the spring, after his larger announcement of 17,000 combat troops, and administration and military officials had been signaling that further additions were unlikely for now.

Estimates of the additional forces McChrystal may request have ranged from a few thousand, such as a brigade numbering 4,000 to 5,000 and assigned to train the fledgling Afghan armed forces, up to 20,000 or more.

Obama's additions will bring the U.S. presence to about 68,000 by the end of this year. That is roughly double the size of the U.S. force when Obama took office, and although Afghanistan is now considered the nation's top military priority, the White House is deeply reluctant to keep adding, or to fight a skeptical Congress over the increase.

McChrystal's predecessor left behind an unfilled request for an addition of approximately 10,000 U.S. forces, and Obama had been expected to review that request near the end of the year.

McChrystal was encouraged by superiors to assess the war bluntly and not to hold back in asking for troops, money, or equipment, and he knows he probably only has a short period to do so, defense officials and others in Washington and Afghanistan said.

To prepare the report, McChrystal gathered about a dozen military and outside civilian analysts six weeks ago and sent them on an intensive reporting trip through Afghanistan. The group finished work last week.

One of the report's authors said the group identified some basic organizational problems with the way the fight is divided among U.S., NATO and Afghan forces.

"One of the real challenges Gen. McChrystal is going to have is that up to this point the war is being fought as four separate fights: north, east, west and south," said Andrew Exum, a counterinsurgency specialist and blogger at the Center for a New American Security. "We are trying to think more holistically."

The report, is "designed to outline the situation on the ground as we saw it, talk about the mission, what it would mean to accomplish the mission and then a little bit about resources and risks," Exum said.

Speaking for himself, Exum said McChrystal faces a much wider challenge than coming up with enough troops and resources. The "operational culture" of the war has to change, he said, meaning a shift away from traditional military operation and procedures.

"Our efforts in this war will succeed or fail based upon relationships we're able to build with our Afghan partners at every level," Exum said

"It's very difficult to build those partnerships from behind an MRAP," he said, referring to the tank-like troop carriers that help protect U.S. soldiers from roadside bombs. "There's going to have to be a real assumption of risk that U.S. and other allied forces might not feel comfortable with."

UN: Civilian deaths up 24 percent in Afghanistan

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA – The United Nations said Friday the number of civilians killed in conflict in Afghanistan has jumped 24 percent so far this year, with bombings by insurgent and airstrikes by international forces the biggest single killers.

In a grim assessment of the first half of 2009, the U.N. assistance mission in Afghanistan said the Taliban and other anti-government militants have become more deadly by shifting from ambush attacks to suicide bombings, roadside explosives and targeted assassinations.

It warned that more civilians would likely be killed as insurgents try to battle a troop increase by the administration of President Barack Obama, and seek to destabilize the country before presidential and Provincial Council elections on Aug. 20. The summer is also typically the worst for fighting in Afghanistan.

Insurgent attacks are "frequently undertaken regardless of the impact on civilians in terms of deaths and injuries, or destruction of civilian infrastructure," the 21-page report said, ascribing 595 civilian deaths to the Taliban and other "anti-government elements" over the first six months.

Many of those died in suicide attacks or roadside bombs near "civilian traffic, residential compounds and marketplaces."

The United States and Western powers have become more deadly, too, partly because insurgent groups are taking cover in residential areas or luring U.S.-led forces into unintentionally killing civilians, the U.N. said.

The Taliban and others are "basing themselves in civilian areas so as to deliberately blur the distinction between combatants and civilians, and as part of what appears to be an active policy aimed at drawing a military response to areas where there is a high likelihood that civilians will be killed or injured."

The report said international forces have given high priority to minimizing civilian casualties, but along with Afghan forces have killed 310 civilians. Of those, 200 were killed in 40 airstrikes. The total death toll — including those which couldn't be attributed to either side — of 1,013 civilians is 24 percent higher than in the same period in 2008, and 48 percent higher than in 2007.

The U.N. tally is higher than an Associated Press count of civilian deaths based on reports from Afghan and international officials showing that 453 civilians have been killed in insurgent attacks this year, and 199 civilians died from attacks by Afghan or international forces. An Afghan human rights group says an additional 69 civilians died during a U.S. attack in Farah province in May, but the U.S. disputes those deaths.

Along with insurgents and Western nations, the government of Afghanistan shares responsibility "for a rising toll in terms of civilian deaths and injuries and destruction of infrastructure, including homes and assets, which are essential for survival and the maintenance of livelihoods."

The report said civilian deaths rose every month this year as compared with 2008 except February, as insurgent forces sustained attacks throughout the winter in a break from previous years when there was a lull in fighting. Other factors were the increased fighting in urban areas, more complex Taliban attacks and the return of militants fleeing warfare across the border in Pakistan. The intensified operations by U.S. forces was also cited.

May was the deadliest month, with 261 civilians killed. The Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for most of the deaths, but 81 were killed by government or international forces, the U.N. said.

The South has been the worst region as a result of instability in Pakistan and the increase in U.S. activity. Only six civilians were killed in the West of the country in April, but that figure soared in May as a result of airstrikes in Bala Baluk, Farah Province, that killed at least 63 women and children, according to the report.

The U.S. estimated that 60-65 Taliban and 20-30 civilians were killed in the battle.

The U.N. also noted what it called a "new trend" in insurgent attacks. Since May, they have attached magnetic explosive devices to vehicles to target civilians who have worked with government or international military forces. Examples were the killing of a Provincial Council candidate May 29 in Khost and, a month later in separate attacks, of a translator and another individual working for the international forces.

Insurgents have become increasingly sophisticated as well. The report said there has been a rise in coordinated attacks using explosive devices and suicide bombers to target government ministries and offices, "with the intention of incurring the largest amount of casualties." In those attacks, civilian government workers were deliberated singled out and shot, despite clearly being noncombatants, it said.

Music shops and other places selling "immoral" goods such as DVDs have been targeted. In an April attack, a young boy was killed when a bomb placed in his wheelbarrow exploded prematurely 15 meters from a government building in Aybak city. The boy had no knowledge of the bomb, the report said.

On the other side, the report said that two-thirds of the deaths caused by the Afghan government forces or its international allies came in airstrikes. Most casualties resulted from the use of close air support when troops met insurgents in villages or when armed fighters took up positions in residential areas.

The report said civilians in insurgent-dominated areas can rarely refuse shelter to a militant commander or his men, because of intimidation or traditional codes of hospitality. The Taliban and others take advantage of these factors to use civilian homes as cover and deter attacks, or to lead the government or international forces into killing civilians.

International forces have been more forthcoming about acknowledging civilian casualties, but the report expressed continued concern about their "capacity or willingness to provide information" about some incidents.

The U.N. said the report was compiled by its Afghan mission's human rights unit, and drew on independent monitoring and investigation of incidents where civilians were killed in conflict zones. It is the third year the global body has conducted such analysis in Afghanistan.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay called on the Afghan government, international forces and insurgents to do more to spare civilians and to "ensure the independent investigation of all civilian casualties."

Islamist sect leader in Nigeria killed in custody

By NJADVARA MUSA, Associated Press Writer

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – The leader of the Islamist sect blamed for days of violence in northern Nigeria has been shot and killed while in police custody, officials said Thursday.

The police commander of Borno state announced on state radio that Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the sect some call the Nigerian Taliban, has "died in police custody."

He gave no further explanation, but the state governor's spokesman Usman Ciroma told The Associated Press: "I saw his body at police headquarters. I believe he was shot while he was trying to escape."

Yusuf's death could provoke more violence, though his followers in the Boko Haram sect may be in disarray after troops shelled his compound in the northern city of Maiduguri on Wednesday. Yusuf, 39, managed to escape with about 300 followers, some of them armed. His deputy, Bukar Shekau, was killed in the attack, according to Army commander Maj. Gen. Saleh Maina.

Troops killed about 100 militants by an AP reporter's count, half of them inside the sect's mosque. Soldiers then launched a manhunt, and Yusuf was reportedly found in a goat's pen at the home of his in-laws.

Human Rights Watch called reports of Yusuf's killing "extremely worrying."

"The Nigerian authorities must act immediately to investigate and hold to account all those responsible for this unlawful killing and any others associated with the recent violence in northern Nigeria," said Corinne Dufka, the group's senior West Africa researcher.

"The local commissioner of police should be immediately removed pending an investigation into Mr. Yusuf's killing," she said in a statement.

Seeking to impose Islamic Shariah law throughout this multi-religious country, the militants attacked police stations, churches, prisons and government buildings in a wave of violence that began Sunday in Borno and quickly spread to three other northern states.

But, leading Nigerian rights groups accuse security forces of killing bystanders and other civilians. A military spokesman denied the charge and said it was impossible for rights workers to tell who was a civilian and who was a member of Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language.

The government warned people to evacuate the area before the attack on the compound Wednesday, then shelled the compound and stormed the group's mosque inside, setting off a raging firefight with retreating militants armed with homemade hunting rifles and firebombs, bows and arrows, machetes and scimitars.

An AP reporter saw soldiers shoot their way into the mosque under fire and then raked those inside with gunshots.

The bodies of barefoot young men littered the streets of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, on Thursday morning as the army pursued the manhunt on the outskirts of the city. Police said most of the dead were fighters with Boko Haram. Army Col. Ben Anahotu said three police officers were killed.

Officials said at least 4,000 people have been forced from their homes by Wednesday afternoon, but it was not known how many have been killed, wounded and arrested.

President Umaru Yar'Adua said that security agents had been ordered to attack when the movement started gathering fighters from nearby states at its sprawling Maiduguri compound in preparation for "the holy war."

The militants are also known as Al-Sunna wal Jamma, or "Followers of Mohammed's Teachings," and some Nigerian officials have referred to them as Taliban. Analyst Nnamdi K. Obasi of the International Crisis Group said a few have fought with that radical movement in Afghanistan.

League for Human Rights director Shamaki Gad Peter said that after the siege rights workers saw the bodies of up to 20 people who were unarmed and appeared to have been shot from behind, possibly trying to escape the mayhem, he said.

Military spokesman Col. Mohammed Yerima initially denied allegations that the military intentionally killed civilians but said that the militants were indistinguishable from civilians.

"All the civilians that were living in that place were evacuated, to our knowledge," he said. "And those that remained in that enclave are loyalists and members of the group. So the issue of whether we have killed innocent civilians is not true."

He added, "The issue of identifying who is the Taliban or not, the human rights groups are not fair to security agencies because they don't have any marks on their faces. There is no way to know if this is Taliban or this is not."

Maiduguri resident Linda Dukwa said she had seen police execute two men Monday, frightening her and her family so badly that they did not venture out of their house, even for food, for days afterward.

The men "were dressed in white robes," she said, indicating they were sect members. "They were held by policemen. Then they shot their feet. After they fell on the ground, they (police) shot their heads."

National police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu denied such allegations of executions.

"We respect the rules of combat," he said.

Nigeria's 140 million people are roughly divided between Christians in the south and northern-based Muslims. Shariah was implemented in 12 northern states after Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 following years of oppressive military regimes. More than 10,000 Nigerians have died in sectarian violence since then.

Dire poverty is at the heart of the violence, which analysts say reflects decades-old grievances of Nigerians whose governments are so corrupt and ineffective they do not deliver even basic services like running water and electricity.

Boko Haram members are particularly angry that full Shariah has not been implemented, especially the law's demand for a social welfare system helping poor people.

In recent months, police have been raiding Boko Haram hideouts and finding explosives and arms. The house at the compound in Maiduguri included a laboratory the military said was used to make bombs.

Police beat mourners in new wave of unrest in Iran

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian police fired tear gas and beat protesters to disperse thousands chanting "Neda lives!" Thursday at a memorial for victims of post-election violence held at the gravesite of the woman whose death made her an icon of the pro-reform movement, witnesses said.

The new wave of unrest showed the opposition's continuing ability to harness anger over the crackdown, and more protests could erupt around the inauguration next week of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose government has been virtually paralyzed by the crisis.

Thursday's memorial gathering marked the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period for Neda Agha Soltan, a 27-year-old music student who was shot to death June 20. Her dying moments were filmed and circulated widely on the Internet, making her name a rallying cry for the opposition.

"Neda is alive! Ahmadinejad is dead!" chanted protesters, many holding up single red roses tied with green ribbons, the signature color of the opposition.

Plainclothes forces dispersed the crowd with tear gas and batons — and with chants of "Death to those who are against the supreme leader," according to witnesses and state television.

The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisal. The government has banned media from covering some events, including Thursday's memorial.

Demonstrations that drew thousands more later spread to other parts of the capital, Tehran, and more clashes with security forces erupted. Police fired tear gas, shots in the air and paintballs at hundreds of protesters on Vali Asr Street and other major avenues, witnesses said. Protesters set tires and trash cans ablaze in response. There was no word on casualties.

The opposition claims Ahmadinejad's election victory was a fraud and his government has been virtually paralyzed by the 7-week-old crisis. The president has come under attack from both the opposition and his own supporters, who were angered by his appointment of a controversial first vice president he was later forced to sack.

The government says 30 people have been killed in the crackdown, though human rights groups say the true number is likely much higher. Hundreds were arrested in the sweeps, including young protesters, politicians and longtime critics of the government.

Soltan and at least 24 others killed in the crackdown are buried at Behesht-e Zahra, the vast cemetery on Tehran's southern outskirts, according to rights groups tracking the dead.

The site holds great symbolic weight. Many of those killed during the 1979 Islamic revolution are buried there, and the revolution's leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini has a gigantic mausoleum complex nearby. Those killed in Iran's 1980-1988 war with Iraq are also buried in the cemetery, and families frequently visit the graves.

During the revolution, the deaths of protesters prompted similar marches after the 40-day mourning period, which were often answered by security forces attacking mourners in a cycle that helped fuel the street uprising.

Police barred opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi from joining the crowd around Soltan's grave Thursday, witnesses said. Mousavi and his supporters claim he is the true winner of the election.

An amateur video of Thursday's memorial showed thousands marching through the cemetery, chanting and flashing victory signs. Some wore green T-shirts — the color of Mousavi's movement.

When Mousavi tried to approach the grave, hundreds of police surrounded him as supporters chanted "Yaa Hossein, Mir Hossein" — comparing their leader to the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein, who is the most revered Shiite saint. Police forced Mousavi to leave, said witnesses who asked not to be identified out of security concerns.

Afterward, his supporters remained at the grave, chanting, "Death to the dictator," as the crowd swelled to several thousand.

The police charge came when an ally of Mousavi, Mahdi Karroubi — who was also a candidate in the election — tried to give a speech. Karroubi had to flee the site, and several of his aides were beaten and harassed, according to pro-opposition Web sites.

After the clash, thousands of supporters continued to pay their respects at Soltan's grave. Passengers riding the subway from the cemetery to central Tehran chanted slogans against Ahmadinejad, shouting, "Traitor Mahmoud, we want you to become homeless," witnesses said.

Police arrested two prominent Iranian filmmakers when they tried to lay flowers at Soltan's grave — Jafar Panahi, whose film, "The Circle," criticized the treatment of women under the Islamist government and is banned in Iran, and a female documentary maker, Mahnaz Mohammadi.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly criticized the use of force to disperse the mourners, saying it was "particularly disturbing ... to break up a group of people who are trying to exercise an important ritual under Islam, the mourning after 40 days."

Thousands more gathered at the main Mosalla mosque in central Tehran, with heavy security forces nearby and at other major intersections.

Though massive protests and deadly clashes erupted in the days and weeks after the disputed election, Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and its allied Basij militia have since adopted a zero-tolerance stance. Demonstrators have managed to hold several smaller protests in recent weeks, however.

Thursday's protests showed the opposition movement still has momentum, fueled by growing anger over abuses of detainees and continuing arrests. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to take his oath of office before parliament on Aug. 5 and there is talk in some opposition circles of demonstrations in front of parliament and calls to wear black in mourning.

Ahmadinejad's government has been paralyzed by a double blow — the election crisis and heavy criticism from within his own conservative camp over his appointment of Esfandiar Rahim Mashai as first vice president.

Mashai came under attack by conservatives for once calling Israelis friends of Iran, and Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered Ahmadinejad to dismiss him in a humiliating setback. That was seen as a bid by Khamenei to prevent his hard-line supporters from splintering in the face of the opposition attack on the country's clerical leadership. The top clerics were already deeply divided over the election outcome and the crackdown.

Allegations of torture against jailed protesters have become an embarrassment to the clerical leadership, bringing criticism from top clerics and even fellow conservatives.

Hundreds were arrested in the sweeps, including young protesters, politicians and longtime critics of the government. Many have been held in secret locations, without contact with relatives. In recent weeks, the bruised bodies of several young protesters have been handed over to families. The opposition has said detainees were tortured to extract false confessions for the courts.

Soltan's mother, Hajar Soltan, said she was waiting for her daughter's killers to be arrested and brought to justice.

"Her death has been so painful," she told the British Broadcasting Corp. "Words can never describe my true feelings. But knowing that the world cried for her, that has comforted me. I am proud of her. The world sees her as a symbol and that makes me happy."