Reformist President Mohammad Khatami made an impassioned plea for the rights of
Iranians to be protected against a possible “dictatorial drift” by powerful
non-elected bodies, which are largely dominated by religious conservatives.Khatami launched into a defense of his reforms, which have been stymied by conservatives in the Islamic Republic since his first overwhelming victory in elections five years ago after presenting an economic report to Parliament, which is mostly made up of reformers.
He strenuously defended two recently introduced bills which seek to cut the powers of conservative courts and constitutional monitoring groups, saying they aimed to bring a measure of control over the appointed bodies.
He also rejected charges by hard-liners he was trying to set up “a monopoly of power”, saying his reforms were necessary for the “establishment of democracy” and the “rule of law”.
“If one is to worry about the risk of a dictatorial drift -- and one must actually worry --, one must look to the institutions which have the power to violate the Constitution, but which don’t have to answer” to the people”, an emotional Khatami said.
“With the help of God, I will not retreat in the face of threats and pressure from my decision to defend the rights and freedoms of the people”.
The bills are seen by the president’s supporters as a last-ditch attempt to revive his flagging reform effort, giving him the authority to take on the judiciary -- a major stumbling block for his promises of greater freedom.
They would also strip the powerful Guardians’ Council of its prerogative to vet candidates for public office. The conservative oversight body has blocked large numbers of reformists from standing.
Even if approved by MPs, the bills are expected to be shot down by the Guardians’ Council, which also screens proposed laws to ensure they are in accordance with the Constitution and what it regards as Islamic principles.
That would leave the bill’s fate in the hands of the Expediency Council, an arbitration body also dominated by conservatives and chaired by former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
“Only dictators and supporters worry about democracy”, Khatami said in response to the charges by the conservatives, he was seeking too much power.
“I am happy to see that those who generally reject democracy have criticized these two bills by invoking a rejection of dictatorship”.
He said he himself was ‘responsible to the people, the Parliament and the Guide”, referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and noted he was the only one of the country’s leaders elected directly by the people.
I have “the right and the duty to guarantee respect for the Constitution” and “to act with all means... against those who violate” it, he said.
However, the reform movement recently suffered new blows.
A court charged the head of a polling institute with espionage after it published a survey commissioned by the legislature indicating popular support for normal relations with the United States.
Legal proceedings were also launched against a prominent reformist member of Parliament, Ahmad Borghani, who as deputy culture minister played a role in setting up the polling institute.
Culture Minister Ahmad Masjed-Jamei expressed his concern at the court actions and said that his ministry had received no report from Iran’s intelligence services.
KHAMENEI: ‘IRAN WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEMOCRACY’
For his part, Supreme Leader Khamenei last week decried “so-called democracies
based on lies and propaganda”, adding that the Islamic Republic would never
accept such a system, only two days after Khatami had defended it.
The ayatollah was addressing thousands of the faithful in Teheran to mark the
birthday of Shiite Islam’s Twelfth Imam who, it is believed, will return
to earth to inaugurate a rule of justice and peace.
Khamenei said regimes known as democracies “are only the old dictatorships”
marked by competition between political parties where the people “have
no voice”.
“True democracy, what I call religious democracy, that of the Imam Mahdi,
is very different, and will be based on the will and belief of the people”,
resulting in universal justice, he argued.
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