MR. SHO’LEH SA’DI’S WEBSITE SHUT

PARIS 9 Dec. (IPS) The website of Mr. Qasem Sho’leh Sa’di, www.sholehsadi.com had been shut and replaced by another site, three days after it posted an Open Letter to “Hojjatoleslam Ali Khameneh’i”, in which he not only had strongly criticised the policies of the discredited leader Islamic republic, but also questioned his religious and political credentials to become leader of the contested ruling Iranian regime.

Though Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di believes that his site had been shut under pressures from the authorities, but some computer experts said several Iranian internet providers, including the one that is hosting the former lawmaker’s site, “Pidas Computer Co” have encountered technical problems.

In his letter, published last week and immediately received a large echo both inside and outside Iran, Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di, an outspoken lawyer and university professor observed that when Mr. Khameneh’i was chosen by the Assembly of Experts to replace Grand Ayatollah Roohollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution, he was a junior cleric and therefore could not become the leader of the regime.

“Even if, in the meantime, you have had time to reach the rank of a marja’, or source of imitation, yet, the Iranian people, in all the past years elections, through their votes and several opinion polls, have indicated that not only they reject your policies, but also that they want changes’, Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di had said in his Open Letter, addressing Mr. Khameneh’i as a “hojjatoleslam” and not Ayatollah, as he is referred to officially.

Observers reminded that the Assembly of Experts had elevated overnight Mr. Khameneh’i to the rank of Ayatollah -- something which normally takes over 30 years.

An opinion survey, conducted last month by three polling institutions, one of them close to the ruling conservatives, had concluded that 74 per cent of the Iranians supports resuming relations with Washington and only 1,2 per cent consider Mr. Khameneh’i as a popular leader fit for governing Iran.

Directors of two of the three institutions had been arrested afterward on orders of the leader and charged with “espionage for the United States”, facing a minimum of 20 years of imprisonment. ENDS SHO’LEH SA’DI SITE SHUT 91202