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The Mujahedin hope the clergy's brutal crackdown will create sympathy for their cause, just as it occurred in the final years of the Shah's reign. In that sense, the mullahs seem to be playing into their hands. Firing squads-killed more than 50 "counterrevolutionaries" last week; raising to at least 153 the number of people executed since Banisadr was deposed as President on June 22. Jails are so packed that new suspects are no longer detained, just beaten and dumped in alleys. Laments a prominent Tehran lawyer: "Iran has become a horror movie."
Meanwhile, the government is displaying increasing nervousness. Three correspondents of the worldwide news agency Reuters were expelled and their bureau branded "a center of conspiracy against the Islamic revolution," leaving the Italian and French as the only major Western news agencies in Iran. The mullahs also remain wary of Banisadr's lingering influence with the army. Amid rumors of military dismay over the mounting chaos, Khomeini ordered a tough new purge of "deviating elements" among the troops. "Any leniency," he said, "will be like showing mercy to a sharp-toothed tiger."