MAJLES REBELS AGAINST KHATAMI

By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor

PARIS 10 Mar. (IPS) For the first time since he was swept to the presidency of the Islamic Republic six years ago, President Mohammad Khatami faces an open revolt coming from his own flank, with many reformist lawmakers and personalities warning him either to change his policy drastically or face national disaster.

The “rebellion” against Khatami was triggered by the humiliating defeat the reformists were dealt by Iranian voters in the last city and rural elections, where a large majority of the voters refused to go to the polls, and those who went, elected independent candidates close or supported by the ruling conservatives.

In Tehran, less than 10 per cent of the more than five million eligible voters voted, giving all the 15 seats to the pro-conservatives nominees.

Several important members of the reformists-dominated Majles, as well as the Mojahedeen of Islamic Revolution’s Organisation (MIRO), the most influential group that supports the reforms, have openly blamed Mr. Khatami for their first defeat at the polls, accusing his policy of “conciliation” with the hard liners in the one hand and his constant bowing to the conservatives.

Analysts say ever since the first anti-state revolt staged by students in July 1999, Mr. Khatami has systematically bowed, or sided with Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the orthodox leader of the regime on the ground that the system could be reformed from inside, thus alienating the young generation, the same that, at three occasions, had consecrated the victory of the reformists at the polls.

“The great number of abstentions in the last elections shows that not only there is a will that prevents reforms being implemented under peaceful conditions, but also that none of the two wings of the leadership could bring the changes people demand now”, observed Mr. Mohsen Armin, a member of the executive Board of the MIRO and deputy Chairman of the Majles’ Foreign Affairs and National Security Committee.

In his view, the weak performance of President Khatami’s government as well as his own lenient and compromising attitude have brought the people to conclude that the government, nor the reformists have any political determination to face the hard liners.

“The process of divorce between Khatami and the bulk of the Iranians started after the Judiciary, on the orders of Mr. Khameneh'i, closed tens of pro-reform newspapers and jailed a dozen of influential journalists following the famous Berlin Conference of April 2000, and was consumed after the leader personally intervened at the Majles on August of the same year, stopping a resolution calling for reviewing a press law that had been passed by the previous House, just days before the end of the session”, noted Mr. Nima Rashedan, a political analyst and journalist based in Switzerland.

In a letter to the President, lawmakers and top reformist figures like Mr. Mohammad Salamati, the leader of the MIRO, have urged him to reshuffle his cabinet and change political tactics and policies “immediately”, or, they warned, they would start censoring several of his ministers, accused of being against the reforms.

In the past, the Majles has on many occasions expressed dissatisfaction with ministers for Foreign Affairs, Finances and Economy, Higher Education, National Education and Transport, without going to bring their resignation.

Joining the rebellion, Mr. Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, a member of the pro-reform Hambastagi (Solidarity) fraction of the parliament, openly blamed the reformist’s defeat on Mr. Khatami and his “double speak”.

“Khatami’s ambiguities and his lack of clarity in explaining the difficulties to the people is one of the major reasons for the reformists defeat in the last elections”, Mr. Khabbaz was quoted Sunday by the Persian service of the BBC.

Expressing his disillusion with the Chief Executive, Mr. Khabbaz warned that the more patience, more leniency and more understanding with the conservatives from the part of the President was detriment to the future of the regime.

According to Mr. Sadeq Saba, the BBC’s senior analyst and commentator on Iranian affairs, the reason that the deputies are urging the President to change policies and stand firm to the conservatives pressures and their obstruction of the reforms is that they know well that with the presence, next door, of the leader-controlled Council of the Guardians, which systematically rejects all laws passed by the Majles aiming at introducing reforms, there is not much they can do in salvaging the reformists boat for total sinking.

“But, he notes, the hands of the President are not more open than those of the deputies. Some key ministerial posts are reserved to the leader while some others need compromise”, Mr. Saba pointed out, adding that anyhow, unless Khatami accepts a real confrontation with Mr. Khameneh'i, there is not much the reformists could do in recapturing the favour of the voters.

Meanwhile, some 125 members of the Majles served a notice on Sunday to Mr. Khatami for a series of crackdown against university students by the disciplinary committees of different universities.

In a letter read out at the formal session, the lawmakers called on the President to stop the unjust and unfair action being taken against the students by the Universities Disciplinary Committees (UDC).

The Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), which is presided over by the President, in a directive has excluded students activists from being brought to public courts, entitling instead the disciplinary committees of universities to deal with them.

According to the MMs, the UDC have “exceeded” the scope of their authority by handing down “hefty sentences” against activists including suspension for several semesters, expulsion from universities or exile to other remote places.

The 125 signatories called on the president to assign the disciplinary committees to provide a democratic mechanism, which provides the defendants with the counsel rights, and form a jury for the disciplinary committees to stop violation of rights of the activists of the universities. ENDS MAJLES REVOLT 10303