DEFYING THE JUDICIARY, INTERIOR MINISTER SAYS TAJZADEH WOULD STAY
TEHRAN 5th Mar. (IPS) Iran’s Interior Minister Hojjatoleslam Abdolvahed Musavi-Lari defied Monday the conservatives-controlled Judiciary, saying that Mr. Mostafa Tajzadeh would remain in charge of overseeing the next Presidential elections due in June this year.
His declaration, made Monday to journalists was in reaction to a court ruling that sentenced Sunday Mr. Tajzadeh, the senior Deputy Minister to on year of imprisonment, three and a half year of ban from all public activities and five years of suspension from supervising elections.
An Administrative court found the 44 years-old Tajzadeh, a diehard reformer, guilty of electoral frauds and rigging the February 2000 Legislative elections that gave the reformists a landslide victory.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Musavi-Lari said he considers his deputy as being innocent and therefore, he would continue with his responsibilities, including that of supervising the (next presidential) elections.
During his trial, Mr. Tajzadeh not only rejected charges brought against him by the leader-controlled Council of Guardians (CG) that wets all candidates and must approve all electoral results, but accused CG’s secretary Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a hard line cleric who is close to the leader of manipulating the last Majles elections.
He had also promised that he would make revelations about the case in the coming days, but then he retreated, invoking unspecified "interests of the State".
"I’m proud of the verdict, as it shows that the court of the people has innocented me", Mr. Tajzadeh commented immediately after hearing the court’s decision.
He also said not only the last elections were the "cleanest and freest" of all other ones held during the last 22 years, but if there were any rigging, it was done by the conservatives.
Independent Iranian political observers said the sentence against Mr. Tajzadeh was "utterly political" aimed removing him from the key position as elections supervisor.
"We do not find him guilty and under an expert probe, he will certainly be acquitted" Mr. Mousavi-Lari stressed, rejecting defiantly the court ruling.
Astounded by the historic defeat of the conservatives at the polls, particularly that of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, ousted outright, the 12-members CG annulled more than 500 ballot boxes and ordered several recounting of the votes in order to save the face of the former president who had entered the race with the hope to seat as Speaker.
Turned into a farce, the exercise ended after ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the fundamentalist leader of the Islamic regime ordered the GC to accept the verdict of the polls.
"No one has yet been named to replace Tajzadeh and there is no question of a substitute at this stage", the official news agency IRNA quoted Mr. Musavi-Lari as having said.
Mr. Tajzadeh is free pending an appeal, which must be lodged within 20 days.
Like his deputy, Mr. Musavi-Lari also hoped that the controversial verdict would result in a higher turnout by the voters in June presidential elections in favour of the reformist’s candidates.
Asked by journalists about rumours that he was summoned by the Clergymen’s Special Tribunal (CST) to answer charges of electoral frauds, Mr. Musavi-Lari said so far he has not yet received any subpoena from the controversial CST.
On Sunday, the state news agency IRNA said Mussavi-Lari is expected to be summoned by the special court for clergy soon.
The court also sentenced Tehran governor Ayatollahi Azarmi to 18 months in prison on similar charges of complicity in electoral fraud and a 45-month ban on holding public office and civil rights deprivation.
Mr. Azarmi’s lawyer, Ali-Hamed Tavassoli told IRNA that he would appeal the verdict and expects the Tehran Appellate Court acquitting his client of the charges.
Like most analysts, Dr. Mohammad-Reza Khatami, who is the leader of Islamic Iran Participation Party (IIPP) said Monday that for "all those engaged in politics, the court ruling in case of Mr. Tajzadeh was evident from the outset".
"The court verdict was not surprising, as he had been told (by the conservatives) to leave the scene or will be removed. But he decided to stand by his principles'', the younger Khatami said.
Asked about impact of the court ruling on the process of reforms, Khatami said the reform process would not stop with the imprisonment of one or several persons.
The few remaining reformist newspapers also slammed the court verdict against Mr. Tajzadeh.
"There is no doubt that by sentencing Mr. Tajzadeh and removing him from office is another offensive by the conservatives aimed at deceiving people from both the President and the reform process, but experiences in the past four years have shown that such moves not only backfires, but stimulates the voters", editorialised "Doran Emrooz".
But so far, the embattled incumbent President Mohammad Khatami has not made it clear whether he would seek another mandate or not, but his younger brother, Dr. Mohammad Reza, who leads the Islamic Iran Participation Party (IIPP) has said he would.
Analysts however said many of Mr. Khatami’s supporters, particularly the young ones and students are angry at his unabated silence over the imprisonment of his key allies, reformist journalists and the "bundle closure" of independent and pro-reform publications, all "guilty" of supporting him.
Ever since he came to power, Mr. Khatami has lost two strong-minded ministers in Hojjatoleslam Abdollah Nuri and Mr. Ata’ollah Mohajerani, respectively in charge of Interior and Islamic Guidance Ministers and now Mr. Tajzadeh.
"Despite being elected with a massive 20 millions votes, yet Mr. Khatami has failed to defend his closest allies and journalists who served him at the cost of their own freedom. If he decides to run again, he would be re-elected, but with much less votes", one Tehran political analyst said, adding that "and this is exactly what the conservatives are after!"
In fact, acting on orders from Mr. Khameneh'i, the Judiciary, the last of the three constitutional powers still controlled by the conservatives have jailed a dozen of influential journalists as well as several students activists, summoned reformist members of the Majles (parliament) and shut more than 30 independent and reformist publications
In another development, the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) in the central city of Esfahan confirmed Monday that it had arrested 25 protesters in clashes with more than 500 workers of a textile factory marching in the city’s main streets protesting delayed wages.
Eyewitnesses said the fighting erupted after the LEF blocked the protesters from Simin textile factory that belongs to the Deprived Foundation on the motive that their action was unauthorised.
Considered as "a state within the State", the Deprived Foundation, commonly known as "Bonyad" is in charge of more than 600 large to small size factories, hotels, industrial firms and banks that belonged to Iranians who fled the Islamic revolution of 1979 and confiscated by the Islamic Republic.
Police said the protesters, instead of heeding its call for calm and ending the march hurled stones and iron bars at the riot forces, resulting in the arrest of at least 25 people, most of the released afterward. ENDS TAJZADEH REACTIONS 6301