65
tried 
to throw a rally, the Hezbollah would charge into the crowd,
clubs in hand, break a few heads, and send the ralliers running.  If the
leaders of the opposition proved adamant, the holy men had them
seized by revolutionary brigade members, arrested, tried by
hand-picked "revolutionary tribunals" under the clergymen's direct
control, and imprisoned or executed.  Often the leaders shot or jailed
had originally fought alongside the clerics to overthrow the hated
Shah.  The newly declared "criminals" had been under the impression
that they were struggling for their freedom.
Moslem clergymen, led by their Ayatollah, "Islamized"
society--feeding their citizenry to a time-honored meme.  Opposition to
that meme was one of the worst crimes of all.  When President Bani-
Sadr criticized the clergymen's rapidly-growing, ultra-religious
political party, the holy men sent club-wielding gangs of Hezbollah to
beat up Bani-Sadr's supporters.  They arrested the President's
staff-members, shut down the newspaper in which he published his
opinions, and rallied mobs under his window to chant "Death to Bani-
Sadr."  (Incidentally, when the crowds grew tired of repeating Bani-
Sadr's name at the top of their lungs, the leaders signaled them to
switch to another chorus: "Death to the United States.")  Finally, the
clerics impeached Bani-Sadr, who fled for his life.
Other critics were less fortunate.   Firing squads dispatched a
thirteen-year-old girl and her sister for sympathizing with the
Ayatollah's political opponents.  They weren't the only youngsters to
fall victim to Khomeini's "freedom."  When students at a Teheran high
school complained because their teachers were being purged for
political non-conformity, revolutionary officials taught the pupils a
lesson.  They paraded four of the instructors into the school courtyard,
gathered the student body, and shot the pedagogues dead.  These
Teheran pupils were luckier than many.  Of the thousands tortured
and executed between June, 1981, and September, 1983, half were still
in secondary school or college.
Meanwhile,  Gasht-e Thar Allah, "Mobile Units of the Wrath of
God," rode through the streets of Teheran in cars hunting down
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