KHATAMI’S GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF WORKING FOR THE CIA
By Safa Haeri
PARIS 3 Sept. (IPS) Iranian newspapers controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i and the conservatives he leads accused the government of President Mohammad Khatami of behaving on orders from the American intelligence services "CIA" by presenting the Majles a bill aimed at reforming the present electoral laws they described as "a dubious move to infiltrate the most vital organs of the Islamic Republic".
The unprecedented attack on the embattled Khatami came from both the hard line evening daily "Keyhan" that reflects the views of the leader of the regime and "Resalat", close to the League of Islamic Associations, the most powerful and influential group behind the ruling conservatives.
"Let’s not get angry and please, do not indulge in fairy tales telling, for, we too, we hope that this dubious and question raising action is not related to the repeated demands from the outside enemies and unabated efforts by America’s fifth column to eradicate the Special Rights from the Majles elections, but, however, unfortunately, some evidences leave no place for such an optimism", wrote Keyhan’s Editor, Mr. Hoseyn Shari’atmadari, referring to the bill which was presented the Parliament on Sunday.
Mr. Khatami, in his last press conference, disclosed that he intended to present the Majles two bills aimed at reforming the present electoral laws and to give the president more powers to implement the Constitution.
The electoral bill aims at reducing the power of the Council of the Guardians (CG), a 12-members, conservatives-controlled body, by transferring its Special Rights to approve or reject candidates to any elections in the Islamic Republic, -- a right that reformists opposes as unconstitutional -- to the Interior Ministry.
The CG must also approve the conformity of all Majles legislations with Islamic laws. Ayatollah Khameneh’i appoints its key members.
Reformists have long complained that the CG is biased and that it regularly rejects their candidates for elections.
Iranian analysts observed that the proposed bill not only propose the eradication of the Special Rights, but is also drastically limiting the scope of hopefuls to enter parliament, as it bars all those who have been accused of opposing the Islamic system of absolute rule of the leader or activities against the regime.
For this reason, some expect the reformists-dominated Majles to abstain from approving it and anyhow, for the bill to become law, it must be approved by the CG, which analysts are "certain" that they would reject it.
The Guardians have rejected most reforms proposed by the present Majles.
Iranian political analysts said considering that Mr. Shari’atmadari, a high-ranking officer of the Intelligence services specialised in interrogating dissident intellectuals and politicians, has been appointed to the post by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, there should be no doubt that the article, which, albeit indirectly, accuses the president of being an American agent, had his personal blessing.
"After American’s repeated strong attacks on the "Special Rights", and few months after George Tenet, the Head of the American Intelligence and Secret services "CIA", in a report to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, had described the Special Rights as the main obstacle to the infiltration of enemies of Islam and the revolution inside the Islamic Republic’s most sensitive decision-making centres, and addressing the so-called reformers inside the country, had called on them to eliminate this article from the Islamic Consultative Assembly’s (Majles) laws and…the Interior Ministry yesterday (Sunday first of September) presented the Majles the bill aiming at eliminating the Special Rights in the form of reforming the electoral laws, and by this surprising and question-raising action, left an undeniable black point in its five years-long record sheet", Keyhan wrote.
Mr. Shari’atmadari did not say when Mr. Tenet made the remarks about the Special Rights to the American lawmakers and Iranian analysts doubted if Mr. Tenet ever heard about these prerogatives.
In a similar article, "Resalat" said the aim of the controversial bill is to "pave the way for the secularists to infiltrate the Majles as the most sensitive part of the Iranian Islamic system" and accused the Interior Ministry of being behind the "secularisation process".
"If approved, strangers would penetrate the very body of the system and install a western-type democracy in our country", the paper warned in the article which confirms that the order for the harsh attacks had come from the office of the leader.
Also writing in the same paper, Mr. Habollah Asgar Auladi, the Secretary General of the League of Islamic Associations, the most powerful and influential hard-line group behind the conservatives raised same kind of accusations against the reform bill and called on the government to explain why it wants the Special Rights be transferred to the Interior Ministry instead of the Council of Guardians, if not paving the way for a one side dictatorship?
"America aims at penetrating all decision-making centres of the Islamic Republic and to achieve its goals, it try hard to deprive the Council of Guardians from the Special Rights. By paying attention to Mr. Tenet’s remarks about Special Rights, one can understand American’s worries and why they insist on depriving the CG from this all important tool which prevents American agents inside the country", he said.
"All these noise making around the Special Rights are baseless and for nothing, as the Guardians would reject it anyway", concluded Mr. Mohsen Esma’ili, one CG member. ENDS SPECIAL RIGHTS 3902