The rally, which was held to honor guerrillas killed in the struggle against the shah, demanded the release of the more than forty Fedayeen now in prison. A speaker also condemned the jailing of nine members of he Socialist Workers Party of Iran (HKS) who have been held without charges in Ahwaz for a month.

In addition to the nine HKS members arrested in late May and early June for their support to the struggle of the Arabs of Khuzestan for their rights, seven more HKS members were arrested in Ahwaz on June 23 while circulating petitions calling for the release of the first prisoners.

A June 24 press conference protesting their arrest and demanding the release of all sixteen HKS members was widely reported in Iran.

The news conference also called for the release of the oil workers council leaders under arrest and the Fedayeen prisoners.

Sheikh Ezzedin Hoseini, the recognized leader of the Kurdish people, has added his voice to those protesting the arrests.

Prominent members of the Writers Association also issued a statement calling the jailings “a serious attack on the achievements of our revolution, on freedom of political parties, freedom of expression, freedom of writers, and freedom of assembly.”  
 
July 12, 1954
Indo-Chinese fighters in the French sponsored Vietnamese army are deserting to the freedom-seeking Vietminh in the Red River delta area. According to the July 3 Christian Science Monitor, whole units are “disappearing overnight from the French lines… and going over to the Communists.”

The decision of the Vietnamese soldiers to desert is further proof that the overwhelming majority of the Indo-Chinese people support the struggle for national independence led by the Vietminh. The “deserters” are draftees who are taking advantage of the French retreat to the Delta to unite with their own people.

According to the Monitor, “Unofficial reports reaching Singapore describe the desertions as reaching an almost uncountable rate…. Analysts here are no longer able to keep accurate records of the Vietnamese strength in the delta. The belief is that the French are no longer particularly concerned about these mass defections… (They) are no longer placing reliance on Vietnamese troops to assist in the defense of important positions.”

The retreat of the French forces in the delta, combined with French indifference to the Vietnamese desertions would indicate that an agreement to partition Indo-China had already been reached between the Mendes-France government and the Stalinists.  
 
 
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