KHATAMI´S BILLS WOULD CHANGE NOTHING, ARE A WASTE OF TIME
By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor

ZURICH, 31 Jan. (IPS) As Iran’s highest-ranking cleric finds his freedom from five years of house arrest, a leading Iranian political analyst say Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i yield to pressures from the European Union in ordering the release of Grand Ayatollah Hoseynali Montazeri.

"It is a pity that Iranian clerical leaders, most particularly Khameneh’i, always yield to pressures from the most powerful, like the Europeans or the Americans, but never to wisdom, or to demands from the 70 millions Iranians. In the case of the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, several high-ranking sources of imitations had urged Mr. Khameneh’i to release him, but he refused, until the European Union stepped in!”, said Mr. Nima Rashedan, an Iranian journalist and political analyst.

Speaking to Iran Press Service in the snow-covered city of Zurich, in Switzerland, where he lives with his Muslim Bosnian wife, Mr. Rashedan said the two bills President Mohammad Khatami has presented to the reformist-dominated Majles "would change absolutely nothing" in the present Iranian political structure.

The bills are aimed at curtailing some of the prerogatives of the Council of the Guardians and at the same time give the president some more powers in implementing the Constitution.

But all analysts are convinced that the 12 member, leader-controlled CG would reject the bills.

"Even if the Guardians approve of the bills as they are and some of their powers, like the one about vetoing candidates, are taken away, what about the unlimited, unopposed and divine powers of the leader? Did he not veto the press bill two years ago?”, Mr. Rashedan reminded.

Asked to comment on the various reforms urged by the students on the one side and the reformists on the other, Mr. Rashedan said any referendum must guarantee the full freedom of the people and democracy for Iran.

"But I doubt the conservatives would accept any form of referendum, even one for amending the Constitution and not changing the regime. Given the experience of the past five years of government by the reformists, they suggested referendum is nothing but limiting the powers of the leader and his interventions in the daily affairs of the government. But it is unlikely that Mr. Khameneh’i and the conservatives would accept even these limited changes", he added.

Like many former supporters of the President, Mr. Rashedan is now resentful of Mr. Khatami, whom he considers as "the prime source" of the present stalemate on the Iranian political scene.

"Most of the present day difficulties and impasses we face in Iran are due to Mr. Khatami´s personal behaviour, starting with his not listening to those who would urge him to change the gun from shoulder. The bills you mentioned earlier would solve nothing but waste more time", Mr. Rashedan pointed out, adding: "he should take more risks with the start of his second and last term, but instead he became even more cautious compared to his first mandate". ENDS RASHEDAN 31103