Hasan Shariatmadari, the leader of the Iranian National Republicans (INR) says time has arrived for the Iranian opposition operating outside to move inside the country and continue their activities from there. 

"We must enter the political game played inside Iran by urging Mr Khatami to guarantee freedom of political parties, including those opposed to the Velayat e Faqih", said Mr Shariatmadari, the son of the grand ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari who was arrested and defrocked by the grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny moths after the victory of the Islamic revolution. 

In a wide range interview with the Editor of Iran Press Service on a lovely day of spring in his residence in Hamburg, where he lives since he left Iran 17 years ago, Mr Shariatmadari said that time has arrived for the opposition to demand from the Iranian authorities the restoration of its natural right, that of being present in Iran and to play an active role in the Iranian political society, a right confiscated by the Islamic Republic. 

He noted that until now, the opposition did played an important role in keeping alive ideals and principles such as freedom, creating civil society, struggle against the velayat e faqih etc. "Our message at that time was to talk openly about subjects the people inside could not speak of. However this situation has changed, particularly since the victory of Mr Khatami. Now, most of the subjects we would debate are also discussed in Iran itself. There are almost no taboo there, even on thorny and sensitive subjects like the velayat e faqih or the role of the vali and this greatly changes the situation for the opposition. If we want to exist, we must go inside and of course, accept all the risks, like those inside", he pointed out. 

Mr Shariatmadari was one of the founders and leaders of the Party of Muslim People of the Islamic Republic (PMPIR) which shuts itself down on order from his father to prevent a nation-wide confrontation with the followers of the grand ayatollah Khomeiny, after the Party almost took over Tabriz, the capital city of Eastern Azarbaijan, its main base, and started an open rebellion against pro-Khomeiny forces. 

"Of course, he indicates, if we want to move inside and continue our activities there, we must also accept the rule of the game, meaning recognition of the present constitution, including the velayat e faqih, which its pillar, but also on the condition that once inside, the rulers do not declare us illegal and stop our activities". 

Nevertheless, he warns that adopting such a project, the opposition needed to be well prepared. « It need carefully studied programmes and planing. It means the opposition stop with sloganship and realise that the Iranian society is opening up faster than one may think ». 

Married and father of 3 children, the 50 years-old Mr Shariatmadari describes himself as a « nationalist, religious intellectual » and has degrees in law and electronics as well as in religious studies think since there can be no reconciliation between supporters of Mr Khatami and those of the velayat e faqih, the opposition must side with the president and concentrate its attacks on the velayat e faqih. 

« One has to demand forcefully from a president who has come to power with 21 millions vote to guarantee the rights of the opponents to take part in the political process of the nation where the creation of a civil society has become an exigency thanks to a wide popular demand, starting from the students and intellectuals and stretching down to a large segment among the open-minded clergy corps which has understood the need for separating religion from politics», Mr Shariatmadari noted.  

He says the opposition must concentrate its efforts on goals like the respect of human rights, on the implementation of law and order, on denouncing the existence of all kind of discriminations against women or the minorities, on demanding the restoration of freedom, all the ideals promised by Mr Khatami during his presidential campaign. 

« On targeting such basic demands, we automatically fight the velayat e faqih, the very pillar of the regime which the PMPIR did opposed and fought from the outset, calling for a secular republican system instead », he reminded. 

Because of the « confusion and the fragility » of the situation in Iran, he refused to say when, in his view, the time will come for the opposition to be allowed to move inside Iran, adding, however, that this moment « was at hand ». 

According to Mr Shariatmadari, the opposition must accept the facts as they are and not as they wishes to be. « We must accept the fact that it’s long-time that the monster is out of the bottle. To fight the velayat e faqih, a system which has its followers, a quite strong political and military structure with 20 years of experience of power, one need a co-ordinated, patient, calculated struggle. To put the monster back into the bottle, one need to be organised and united or we turn Iran into another Afghanistan or Algeria", he points out. 

At the same time, he says, supporters of the velayat e faqih must learn to use the laws, not force and violence, to defend their ideal. « Of course, a civil society is anathema to their concept of a regime, but they also must accept the rules of the game », he adds. 

Asked to comment about the position of the grand ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri against the present spiritual leader, the ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, Mr Shariatmadari observed correctly that Mr Montazeri was opposed to the very person of Mr Khameneh’i whom he considers not eligible for the position of vali e faqih rather than the concept of the velayat e faqih.  

In his view, as a vali, Mr Khameneh’i is probably more flexible than other conservative clerics. Those who attack him on the basis that he lacks proper religious credentials are in fact defending the thesis of the velayat e faqih and not opposing it. « The importance is the position, not the man.», he says. 

Expressing his optimism about the future of Iran as a modern nation and drawing the line between « modernity and modernisation », with the first « bubbling up » from within the society and the second one introduced from high above », Mr Shariatmadari concluded the interview by warning that « without the active participation of open minded, modern political forces, the process and momentum for the creation of civil society as promised by Mr Khatami will become a farce and this will be a sad dream ».

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