Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Iran: Khamenei Challenged
The WaPo is reporting that outgoing opposition leaders have issued a letter to foreign press criticizing the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, saying that he is to blame for the sham elections that will be held on Friday in which scores of moderate candidates have been ruled ineligible to run by the Guardian Council.
We'll have to wait and see if the conservatives crack down with the force of the government on these outspoken critics. As I've said before, I hope that this is another sign of a coming wave of reform and revolution in Iran, but only time will tell.
Outgoing Iranian lawmakers made a bold, direct challenge to the country's supreme leader Tuesday, issuing a tartly worded open letter accusing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of leading "a system in which legitimate freedoms and the rights of the people are being trampled on in the name of Islam."
The letter makes clear that the banned lawmakers regard Khamenei, who holds the title of supreme leader of the revolution, as responsible for this Friday's "sham" election, which was technically engineered by the Guardian Council, a supervisory body whose 12 members were appointed directly and indirectly by Khamenei. The council also has the power to veto legislation.
"Institutions under your supervision, after four years of humiliating the elected parliament and thwarting bills and restricting the legislature, have now, on the verge of the parliamentary elections, deprived the people of the most basic right the right to choose and be chosen," the letter said.
"Do the members of the Guardian Council dare to resist your orders? Or is it that, as rumors say, despite your public statements, they were permitted by you to disqualify these people illegally and widely?"
The letter appeared to challenge the ban on criticizing the supreme leader, who under Iran's theocratic system is regarded as responsible only to God.
We'll have to wait and see if the conservatives crack down with the force of the government on these outspoken critics. As I've said before, I hope that this is another sign of a coming wave of reform and revolution in Iran, but only time will tell.
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