IRAN NEEDS THIRD FORCE TO GO TOWARDS DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE
By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor
PARIS 25 Oct. (IPS) "With reforms that are dead and both the reformists and the conservatives unable to govern, because both are discredited by the people, only a third force could salvage Iran and lead it towards democracy, freedom, justice and independence", according to a leading Iranian scholar and lawyer.
Speaking at the Paris Foreign Press Centre on the "present situation in Iran and its perspectives", Mr. Qasem Sho’leh Sa’di said both the conservatives and the reformists have not been able to fulfil people’s basic demands for freedom, justice and independence.
"The millions who, in an instantaneous movement, without any prior coordination, created the surprise by choosing Mohammad Khatami in the second Khordad (27 May 1997) elections had hoped that by saying massively no to Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, they could prepare the regime for smooth changes, but this hope was quickly dashed", Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di said, noting that the second Khordad vote was more a "no" to the leader of the Islamic Republic than a "yes" to Mr. Khatami.
In his opinion, the reformists around Mr. Khatami lacked the proper credentials to implement reforms in the one hand while the new president himself was not "a man of challenges he was facing".
"Soon after the second Khordad, Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di added, the two main clerical movements known as the Assembly of Combatant Clergymen and the Association of Militant Clergymen changed their signs to become respectively the conservatives and the reformers, but while the first one would grab the huge chance the victory of Mr. Khatami had created for their survival, the latter had no plan, no strategy, no preparation for governing", he explained.
A former lawmaker at three past Majles, Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di said by closing down all independent and reformist press, jailing influential journalists and intellectuals, increasing oppression and reinforcing the machine of repression, the ruling conservatives themselves "produced and signed documents proving their inability to be reformed".
After accusing the present reformists to be "no better than the conservatives", Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di pointed to the fact that "at the age of global village and internet communications", the present leadership does no more represent the bulk of the Iranian people, which is made of the young, women and students.
He took as example the recent opinion poll that showed 75 per cent of Iranians who said to favour normalising relations with the United States rejects the policies of the leader who adamantly reject any talk with the Americans.
"This poll create difficulties for the leadership of Mr. Khameneh'i, for he must now say if he is the leader of a people of which 75 per cent are dumb and lack pride or a people where 75 per cent disagree with his policies?" Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di told journalists, referring to a statement by Mr. Khameneh'i in which he had said those who support dialogue with Washington either ignore the abc of politics or lack proud and honour.
According to an unpublished question, Mr. Khameneh'i is the least popular leader in Iran, coming 18th on a list of ten personalities, with only 1.2 per cent of the interviewees considering him as a popular personality.
The conservatives accused the government to be behind the poll, which they labelled as "fabrication" and jailed Mr. Behrooz Geranpayeh, the Director of the polling firm that had conducted the survey on behalf of the Majles.
Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di, described as one of the spokesmen of the Iranian "Third current" also called "Neo-reformers" said, "we had hoped that we could operate reforms in the framework of the present regime and go forward reaching justice, democracy, rule of law and independence, but we failed, because this system can not be reformed, hence a need for a third way capable of responding to people’s aspirations", he added.
Answering questions on American plans of attack on Iraq and Iran’s reaction, Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di criticised Tehran’s policy towards both the Afghan and Iraqi problems. "In Afghanistan, despite our opposition to the Taleban whom had assassinated nine of our diplomats, and despite cooperation with the United States, we became the only loser and it is going to be the same with Iraq and Saddam Hoseyn, our biggest enemy who killed hundred of thousands of our sons and destroyed our country, all this because of wrong policies, like giving money helping dubious organisations, that made us being labelled as supporters of terrorism", he said, referring to the Islamic Republic’s support for Arab and Palestinian groups opposed to peace with Israel. ENDS SHO’LEH SA’DI PRESS CONF 251002