Mr. RAFSANJANI MIGHT HAVE CREATED THE ANTI-BELGIUM STORM
By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor
PARIS 5TH Mar. (IPS) The national dimension given in the Iranian Capital to an order issued to the Police by a Belgian Judge to investigate charges of crimes against humanity brought against former Iranian president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani by a Belgian national of Iranian origin prompted Iranian observers and analysts both inside and outside the country to speculate if he himself is not behind storm.
The Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS) chaired by President hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, the conservative Speaker of the Majles and MPs of all walk, political parties of both left and right closed ranks behind Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani and firmly condemned Belgium for the "co-ordinated attack" against the lamed Chairman of the Expediency Council.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry had summoned Saturday the Belgian Ambassador to Tehran Mr. Guillaume Metten to present him a "strong protest" and "condemnation" of the Belgium's "blatant interference in internal Iranian affairs".
The Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) that secured the largest of seats in the next Majles (parliament) and the pro-Hashemi Rafsanjani Servants of Reconstruction Party (SRP) in separate but similar statements, accused Sunday "international Zionism" to be behind Judge Damien Vandermeersch's decision to order the Police to investigate accusations brought against the former Iranian president by a female Belgian national of Iranian origin.
The unidentified accuser says she suffered sustained tortures, both physical and mental, threats and violence between 1983 and 1989 in Iranian prisons of Ghezel Hesar and Gohar Dasht.
This is the period when thousands of Iranian political prisoners were executed in prisons on order from grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny, the founder of the Islamic Republic and when Mr. Rafsanjani was Speaker and the regime's number two man.
In its statement, the IIPF harshly condemned the action of Judge Vandermeersch it said was based on "unfounded allegations" and denounced it, as a "blatant interference" in Iranian internal affairs.
The statement by reformist organisation accused "international Zionism" of "plotting" both to "damage" improving relations between Iran and the European Union and undermining Iranian people's march towards democracy and a further sign of hostility to the Islamic Republic and its democratic system".
"Therefore, the IIPF condemns the patently illegal move by a Belgian Judge as being not only contradictory to international law but also an insult to the system, officials, and honorable people of Iran", the statement added, calling on the Government, political parties and the press for an end to this nasty plot and for compensation by the Belgian government for the damage that it has caused to the reputation of the Islamic Republic.
For its part the SRP condemned the order for investigation against Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani as an "unprincipled act evidencing the domineering nature of foreigners" and called on the Iranian people to be aware of plots hatched by the enemies against Islamic Iran and it's respected leaders.
Regardless of these sign of sympathy, hard line newspapers Sunday accused the reformists of having "co-ordinated" with the enemies to finish the Chairman of Expediency Council.
In Brussels, the State Prosecutor told the French-language Belgian Television that Judge Vandermeersch will continue his investigations regardless of foreign pressures.
Not only Belgian government can not interfere with the action of the Justice let alone a foreign power like the Islamic Republic that wants to halt the Judge's investigations with noisy propaganda and threats", he said.
"If there is interference in one country's internal affairs, here we must say it is the Islamic Republic that has grossly intervened in Belgium's internal affairs for, so far, the affair is a purely Belgian, having nothing to do with Iran", pointed out Dr Karim Lahiji, the president of the Paris-based League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran.
Mr. Lahiji was commenting on the validity of the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry that summoned the Belgian Ambassador to lodge protest against Judge Vandermeersch's action.
"The Judge has done what any judge with any independent justice has to do: Order the police to investigate complaints he has received from a citizen. Not having an independent justice, the leaders of the Islamic Republic can not understand these subtleties and immediately hide themselves from realities by blaming imaginary plots hatched by Zionism, imperialism or the enemies. But these tools have lost their efficiency, these kind of arguments do not satisfy Iranians", he added.
Reading through the IIPF's statement and it's blaming of "international Zionism", a leading political analyst saw it as Mr. Mohammad Reza Khatami's political "immaturity".
"He (the President's younger brother) may be a good vote-catcher, but by reading his statement in defence of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, I would say they are birds of the same feather and since the Party of the young Khatami is going to be the next Majles largest fractions, this is a bad omen", he said.
"Instead of listening to hearsay, Mr. Mohammad Reza Khatami should have read carefully the news in order to realise that there is nothing insulting, even against Mr. Rafsanjani, let alone the regime. By issuing such a childish, third worldist statement one would expect from Mr. Khameneh'i, young Khatami has made a great mistake", he noted.
Other observers wondered if Mr. Rafsanjani himself is not behind the storm, taking into account the slap he received at the polls by the great majority of the Iranians and the mounting accusations and charges brought against him in the Iranian press concerning his action during the eight years of his presidency, the murder of more than eighty intellectual and political dissidents under his term and above all, his role in the conduct of war against Iraq.
Mr. Rafsanjani's two sons Yaser and Mohammad have offices and luxury residences in Belgium, where they lived until 1989 when he became president.
Considering this "Belgian connection" in the one hand and the fact that he almost lost in the recent Legislative elections but was "pushed" into the Majles thanks to vote rigging in his favour on the other, one informed analyst said Mr. Rafsanjani could well be behind the whole affair as to make himself a "living martyr" by blaming "international plots".
He was joined by Mr. Lahiji who told Iran Press Service that in his opinion, the storm built-up in Tehran around Mr. Rafsanjani was not only of "purely domestic brew for local consumption, but also made by Mr. Rafsanjani in order to refurbish his lost credit capital". ENDS RAFSANJANI INVESTIGATIONS 5300