CONSERVATIVES IN A NO-WIN SITUATION OVER AQAJARI CASE
PARIS 15 Nov. (IPS) The death verdict pronounced by the conservatives-controlled Judiciary has dealt a deadly blow to the clerics who rule the Islamic Republic, creating sharp divisions among both the conservatives and the reformists, according to a well-informed source.
"Contrary to what the authorities try to explain, the death penalty
imposed on Dr. Hashem Aqajari was decided not by the Hamadan city
court, but by the highest decision-makers", the source, who has access to
some ruling clerics, told Iran Press Service on condition of not being named.
"With the movement, led by the students, protesting the verdict growing every passing day, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic republic and the conservatives he represents now face the difficult choice between supporting the Judiciary and confirm the execution of the popular dissident academic or giving in to the national and international outrage, he pointed out.
"The choice is not an easy matter, for if he decides to back the Judiciary, the only power he still fully controls and serves as his political and police arms, he might unleash a popular revolt and in case he goes for clemency, he would definitively loose face, which, in his case, is tantamount to drinking his own cup of poison", the source added.
Mr. Ali Ansari, a lecturer in Middle East history at Durham University, England, confirmed the comment by IPS source, arrived recently from Tehran to a European country.
"Aqajari’s decision to refuse to appeal the verdict placed more pressure on the conservatives, who are in a no-win situation. If they execute him, he will become a martyr and it could prove a catalyst for public unrest and if they don't execute him, which is the most likely option, they open themselves up for question on a whole range of issues. Either way, this could be a pivotal moment", Mr. Ansari told the British news agency Reuters.
"The tension is rising now in each camp. A lot of conservatives are unhappy because they know that if the protests continue it would cause them problems and if they step back it will encourage the students even more", Reuters quoted Mr. Mohsen Malekzadeh, a political analyst in Tehran.
According to our source, the conservatives are divided between the hard line clan, led by Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, which wants to go ahead with the death sentence on Aqajari, making it an example for all other dissidents and proclaim an emergency cabinet to prevent troubles getting out of control, and a more flexible wing suggesting pardon from the leader and "rapprochement" with the President to form a kind of "national salvation" government.
Aqajari's case has revitalised both the students and the reformists, including the embattled President Mohammad Khatami, who has presented the reformists-dominated Majles with two bills aimed at curtailing the powers of the leader-controlled Council of the Guardians (CG) in the one hand and enhancing those of the president on the other.
Students, who have gathered in the thousands in universities across the country this week, have used Aqajari's case as a platform to press for greater political freedoms and genuine reform of the Islamic Republic's political system.
The demonstrations are the largest sustained political protests in Iran since a similar wave of rallies was brutally suppressed in 1999 by the Revolutionary Guards, the Basij volunteers forces and Hezbollah pressure groups, acting on the direct orders from Mr. Khameneh'i and the approval of Mr. Khatami, a precedent many fear could be repeated.
Ayatollah Khameneh’i on Monday warned he could unleash "popular forces", assumed to mean the Basij and Hezbollah militia, if reformers and conservatives fail to settle their differences in the one hand and the students continue with their protest movement on the other.
But his menaces where ignored by the students.
"Long live political prisoners, death to their jailers". "No to the Taleban, in Kabol or in Tehran" protesters chanted at rallies in universities campus in Tehran and other major cities.
They also carried slogans against the Head of the Judiciary, the Iraqi-born, leader-appointed Ayatollah Mahmood Hashemi-Shahroodi, the Chairman of the Expediency Council, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a close ally and adviser to Mr. Khameneh'i and President Khatami.
Some of Mr. Khatami’s allies, including Mr. Abbas Abdi, another outspoken reformist who has been jailed on charges of espionage for the Americans, have urged him to resign if, as expected, the CG blocks the bills, both of them already approved by the Parliament.
Conservatives tenors have denounced the bills, claiming they would give the president "dictatorial powers", giving him the possibility to even check the leader of the regime, a position that constitutionally, is above all laws.
But Mr. Khatami argue that what he is after is to restore some of the president’s prerogatives that have been denied to him by the Judiciary and the CG, like the right to supervise the correct application, and the respect of the Constitution by all the regime’s power centres and institutions.
The other bill calls to limit the self-appropriated power of the 12-members Guardians to reject the validity of any candidate to any election without providing any explanation. AQAJARI CONSERVATIVES 151102