THE "GREATEST MAN OF THE CENTURY" INSULTED BY THE CIA
TEHRAN, 12 Jan. (IPS) Angry protests by fanatics against the publication, last Wednesday, of a cartoon in the pro-reform daily "Hayat No" (New Life) continued Sunday in several Iranian cities, as hard line newspapers commentators and personalities urged "maximum punishment" for all those responsible for what they claim is an unprecedented insult to the founder of the Islamic Republic.
The cartoon, originally published in an
American newspaper 65 years ago, deals with the fight between the then American
president, Franklin D. Roosevelt with the Chief Justice, who, drawn dressed in a
dark robe and bearded -- and looks strangely to the late Khomeini --, is crushed
under the strong thumb of the president.
In an emotional speech in the Majles Sunday, Hojjatoleslam Hadi Khameneh'i, the reformist brother of the orthodox leader of the Islamic Republic, denied accusations that the cartoon was an insult to Grand Ayatollah Roohollah Khomeini, whom he described as his "great master and guide".
"I wish I had died under torture in the Shah's prison and was not seeing these days", the younger Khameneh'i, who is an adviser to the embattled President and was jailed for supporting Mr. Khomeini before the revolution, said.
Despite all the efforts by the editors and staff of the paper, including Mr. Khameneh'i, explaining that the incriminated cartoon had nothing to do with the leader of the Islamic revolution of 1979, and their apology, the conservatives-controlled Clergymen’s Special Tribunal ordered the closure of the daily.
Responding to calls by conservative clerics and seminaries, all on the payroll of the leader, hundreds of men, dressed in white sheets with red stains and carrying black flags in sign of mourning, protested against the newspaper, marched in Qom, the "cradle" of hard line Shi’ism, shouting slogans against the government of President Mohammad Khatami and demanding his resignation.
Smaller demonstrations also took place in Tehran, Mash-had, Tabriz, Esfahan and some other cities, the official news agency IRNA reported.
Mr. Mohammad Na’imipoor, the leader of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) fraction in the Majles attributed the protests to a "powerful centre" that has orchestrated the campaign against the reformers. "The people would answer them in 47 days", he said, referring to the city councils elections that most observers say the reformists would win.
"Who would believe that a newspaper owned by Hojjatoleslam Hadi Khameneh’i would publish anything insulting to Grand Ayatollah Khomeini? Who would believe that a cartoon published 65 years ago represented emam Khomeini?" he said.
Mr. Na’imipoor said as a result of the of the tumult created by the conservatives, hundreds of thousands of the drawing, had been reprinted and distributed to the people.
"This is crime not less serious than the publishing of the cartoon", he added, assuring that that one should expect more turbulences, as the cartoon was published Wednesday and printed in the interior pages of the paper with few readers while the first organised protests in Qom took place on Friday.
Hojjatoleslam Ahmad Qabel, a reformist cleric, confirmed that view. "Visibly frightened by the resistance put up by the reformists who continue their struggle despite all the pressures and intimidations, the conservatives are planning the physical elimination of several pro-reform personalities, including myself", he disclosed during an interview with Persian service of Radio France International.
But conservatives dailies presented the event as a deliberate act by the reformists aimed at destabilising and fragilising the Islamic Republic by targeting the man one hard line newspaper described as the "greatest man of the century".
"Those who are abroad, by this plot, showed that they have hands everywhere in the country and they are capable of conducted whatever plot", the daily "Resalat", which is close to the bazaar and clerical oligarchy, wrote in an editorial signed by its editor.
Mr. Hoseyn Shari’atmadari, the leader-appointed editor of the hard line evening newspaper "Keyhan" and a high-ranking intelligence officer specialising in questioning political and intellectual dissidents gave it an espionage colour.
"This is a plot prepared long time ago and connected to the polling case in which pollsters were spying for foreigners, if not, then why the name (of) Roosevelt on the sleeve of the hand had been deleted from the (Hayat No) reprint?", he asked.
For his part, Mr. Habibollah Asgarauladi, the Secretary of the secretive League of Islamic Associations went even further by attributing it to the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
"The CIA had placed the cartoon on the internet in order to be available to Hayat No" he told the official news agency IRNA, describing the paper as an "agent" hired to carry out the CIA and other espionage networks dirty plots against the Islamic Republic.
Intelligence Minister Hojjatoleslam Ali Yoonesi meanwhile confirmed that three journalists of Hayat No, namely Alireza Eshraqi, Hamid Qazvini and Ahmadi had been arrested in connection to the cartoon.
More than eighty pro-reform and independent publications have been shut in the past two years by the leader-controlled Judiciary, that last one being the daily Bahar, closed at the same time as Hayat No, but on charges of printing seditious articles offensive to the Islamic Republic. ENDS CARTOON 12103