JUBILIANT KHATAMI SAYS PEOPLE MUST BE FREE TO OPPOSE THE REGIME

By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor

TEHRAN 22^ND May (IPS) Iranian President Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami warned Monday the hard line conservatives against suppressing the rights of those who are opposed to the regime but obey and respect the Constitution.

In a speech that marked the third anniversary of his surprising triumph in the 23 May 1997 presidential elections, Mr. Khatami, reinforced by the overwhelming victory of the reformists in the February Legislative race and assured of the timely inauguration of the sixth Majles (parliament) due in four days, observed that "everyone living in this country enjoys civil rights that must be respected and honoured, "including that of being opposed to the Islamic Republic".

"The People are the main axis of the regime, the government and the State. They have voted for the islamism of the regime, an islamism that has its own applications. This means that no one should be allowed to impose his interpretation of Islam as being that of the Religion and order the suppression or the murder his opponents. This is a big crime in the Islamic Republic of Iran", Mr. Khatami said in a clear reference to Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, an Islamic hawk nicknamed "Ayatollah Crocodile".

In a controversial statement, the orthodox cleric who enjoys the backing and respect of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic had ruled that any true faithful is free the kill atheists or even anyone who dare to question basic Canons of Islam without referring to court order.

Addressing the Heads of the City Councils, the president called on those who accept the Constitution, the values of the revolution and the achievements of the regime to "clearly draw and define" their borders with those who do not accept the Constitution, "whether it's islamis or republicanism" but reiterated that "anyhow, this doesn't mean that opposition to the Islamic Republic should be suppressed, for everyone living in the country enjoys civil rights and their rights are observed".

This was Mr. Khatami's first major speech since the landslide victory of the reformists he leads in the Majles elections. Surprised and astounded by their deafening debacle, highlighted by the humiliating defeat of former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the conservatives reverted to a series of rear guard intrigues that included the failed assassination of Mr. Sa'id Hajjarian, a close friend and adviser to Mr. Khatami, the closure of 16 reformist newspapers, the imprisonment of several prominent reformers and plans to cancel the elections and topple the government.

Describing the "institutionalisation of the society on the basis of the Constitution and respect of law" as among the most important achievements of his tenure so far, Mr. Khatami singled out two groups for creating tension in the country: Those who had suffered from the regime, the revolution and Islam and were suppressed consequently tried to give the impression that people had turned away from the revolution and Islam and were after special reforms from within the system in the one side and those who, considering that their interpretation of Islam was exactly that of the religion, when faced with the "No" of the people, they said this "No" was to the revolution, he explained.

Criticising the hard liners while at the same time paying tribute to the "wise leadership" of Mr. Khameneh'i, the president said one "should not adopt wrong methods in the name of defence of Islam, the Islamic Revolution, leadership and security".

Touching on the economic performances of his government in the past three years, Mr. Khatami revealed that the nation's foreign debt stands at US$ 20.3 billions against 32.6 when he took over from Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani "and this in dramatic conditions where the government was struggling against dwindling oil prices", he noted with a pique towards his predecessor.

He also reiterated his promise to continue the fight against the "fearsome cancer tumour" that had taken place in the regime's security machine and praised the leader for his help in dealing with this "plague", a reference to the chain murder of dissidents in November 1998, the recent assassination attempt on the life of Mr. Hajjarian and other killings of the intellectual and politician opponents by high ranking agents of the Information (Intelligence) Ministry.

In a glance, Khatami must be rewarded for the introduction of new words in the rigid vocabulary of the stubborn tenants of the Islamic Republic, expressions such as democracy and freedom, abiding the laws, no matter how bad they are, respecting the Constitution, no matter how conflicting it is.

That people with no regard for laws such as Mr. Mesbah-Yazdi or Ayatollah Aaahmad Jannati, another cleric full of disdain for civil laws or Revolutionary Guard officers such as Yahya Rahim-Safavi or Mohammad Reza Naqdi warns the reformists they hate of taking them to court instead of "crushing their skulls" alone is a remarkable achievement and regardless of the closure of all popular and influential reformist and independent publications on order of Ayatollah Khameneh'i, yet the press enjoyed a degree of freedom of expression almost unprecedented in the Iranian history.

All the same, for the first time, the Iranian people realised the power it has and showed it three times at the polls by electing the relatively unknown Khatami against Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, the candidate of the all powerful conservatives and the favourite of the leader, then by placing the moderates at the helms of the great majority of city and village councils and finally by helping the reformists to conquer the Legislative power, one of the conservatives most cherished and strategic strongholds.

It was exactly that "vox populi" that frightened most the orthodoxy that not only saw in the reforms and the Second Khordad (Iranian date corresponding to 23 May that marks the victory of Mr. Khatami) Front the seeds of the possible collapse of the Islamic Republic, but also think that if the people are left free to express their will at the polls, they may as well decide to change the regime.

Not only all the hard liners provocation badly backfired on them, broke down the legendary solidarity of the power hungry "monopolists", discredited them in the public eyes and pushed the traditionalist minded leader of the regime closer to the reformist President, but also strengthened the position of Mr. Khatami, as he proved his ability to harness his heterogeneous troops, particularly the students, the young and the restless.

In politics like in boxing, victory is of the one who resists longer. In the merciless fight between the much stronger hard liners and the weaker reformers, it happened that despite all the knocks, some of them deadly for being cowardly, they dealt to Khatami, yet they lost the game, out of breath. Once again, David had won against Goliath.

Now that Mr. Khatami has also the Legislative under his control, it remains for this Islamic "piano piano" reformer to prove that one can reconcile the irreconcilable: Islam and Democracy. ENDS KHATAMI ANNIVERSARY 22500