MOSTAFA TAJZADEH SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR JAIL AND SUSPENDED FROM ACTIVITIES

TEHRAN 5 Mar. (IPS)    Mr. Mostafa Tajzadeh, the Deputy Interior Minister who was condemned Sunday by an Islamic revolution court to one year jail called on the people to massively turn out in the 8th presidential elections and show on June 8 which ideology and program   
they accept.

He also rebuked the court, telling journalists that he had not admitted the charge of fraud he was accused of.

The court also found Mr. Tajzadeh guilty of complicity in vote rigging and sentenced him to three years and nine months lay-off from government posts and five year ban from involvement in administration of polling process.

"It is not important that this court has condemned me, for I am proud that the court of the nation has innocented me", Mr. Tajzadeh told journalists after the ruling.

Analysts said if confirmed in the appeal, the condemnation of Mr. Tajzadeh, a reformist close to President Mohammad Khatami, may have dire consequences.

They saw Mr. Tajzadeh's sentences as another manifestation of the leader-led conservatives to weaken as much as they can the reformists before the next presidential race.

Mr. Tajzadeh, an active member of the Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen Organisation (IRMO), a group that is part of the pro-Khatami and pro-reform second Khordad Coalition (SKC), was accused by the court of fraud and rigging in the Legislative elections of February 2000 in favour of the reformist.

But Mr. Tajzadeh reiterated that not only these elections were one of the "cleanest and freest" of all previous ones held in Iran since the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, but the rigging was the work of Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a member of the conservatives-controlled Council of Guardians (CG) who headed the Guardians supervisory committee.

The elections gave the pro-reform candidates a landslide victory over the conservatives who, for the first time in the past 22 years, lost the control of the Majles (Iranian parliament).

Following the conservatives crushing defeat, the 12 members CG accused the interior ministry of "tampering" with the votes.

Political analysts said the condemnation of Mr. Tajzadeh did not surprised them, as the conservatives wanted him removed from the Elections Head Quarters before the forthcoming presidential race scheduled for 8 of June this year.

"I tried my best to prevent plots aimed at the illegal annulment of the elections. I had intended to defend the elections under any condition because they had been healthy", he further added.

As the conservatives realised the magnitude of their crushing defeat in the Legislative elections, with some of their stars like former President Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani rejected by voters in Tehran, the Guardians annulled more than five hundred ballot boxes and order several recount of the votes, until the leader decided it was better to accept the people's verdict.

Mr. Tajzadeh said that he had done his best to ensure sound elections and on this basis he did not accept the charge that there were irregularities in the elections in Tehran since this could serve as a prelude to another conspiracy, the official news agency IRNA reported.

He said he would object to the ruling issued by the court and make the public opinion aware about it as well as his defense.                                                           

"Some people are angry about the way the people voted and this is not my problem'', he said,

The court, presided over by Judge Nasser Daqiqi, held eight hearings for the deputy minister.    
                                     
Tehran Governor Ayatollah Azarmi, who is not a cleric, was sentenced by the same court and on the same charges to one year and a half in prison and was given 20 days to appeal the verdict.                             

Judge Daqiqi said that he found Mr. Azarmi guilty of preventing the Guardians Council's Supervisory Board from inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the process of parliamentary elections in Tehran, Shahr-e-Rey and Islamshahr.       

According to IRNA, Interior Minister Hojjatoleslam Abdolvahed Musavi-Lari, would also be appearing soon at the controversial Clergymen's Special Tribunal on the same issue.

Using the leader-controlled Judiciary, the conservatives have also engaged the reformists-dominated Majles, summoning several reformists MMs (Member of the Majles) to various courts.

With President Khatami on the retreat and failing to say whether he would seek a new mandate, Majles had taken over the torch of defending reformists against assaults from the conservaives.

The latest clashes between Majles and the Judiciary came after Mrs. Fatemeh Haqiqatjoo, a reformist, formally attacked the Islamic revolution court over the brutal arrest, by the court's agents, of Mrs. Fariba Davudi-Mohajer, a journalist covering for some banned pro-reform newspapers.

She was immediately subpoenaed Mr. Abbasali Alizadeh, the Head of Tehran Justice Department on charges of "inciting the public and insulting the judiciary". 

But she refused, claiming parliamentary immunity in the one hand and warned Mr. Alizadeh that he could not afford the cost of having her arrested.                            

Iranian reformists accuses the Judiciary of acting as the political and police arms of both the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i and the conservatives.

This was confirmed by Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi Saturday when, addressing a conference of jurists, he told them that the leader has placed the Judiciary above other two powers, making the Judiciary the strongest and the freest in the world.

Firing back at reformists in the parliament, Mr. Alizadeh criticised them for their all-out support of the jailed reformists, according to IRNA.

"Why do you question the judicial system for the so-called reformers whose reformism is regretted," Alizadeh said in a letter to a parliamentary committee which investigates the status of jailed reformists and journalists.                                          

Taking cue from latest statements by the leader, he said that the judicial decision should be seen as "conclusive argument" and no other person or apparatus should be allowed to interfere in the judicial affairs, under any circumstances.          

"Why are you making such a fuss over several journalists who have been legally detained? Why do you raise questions about legal proceedings for the sake of a bunch of so-called reformers and newspapers?", he added, referring to the dozen of reformist journalists arrested and the closure of more than 30 titles by the Judiciary, acting on orders from Mr. Khameneh'i.                               

In a letter written to the Majles and read in public session, Mr. Alizadeh had stated last Monday that the Majles was not in a position to probe into the business of the justice administration.

Mr. Majid Ansari, a reformist deputy had called on the parliamentary presiding board should take "legal action" against Alizadeh who, he added, has disparaged the chamber.ENDS TAJZADEH CONDEMNED 5301