IRANIAN MEDIA TOLD NOT PUBLISH DEPUTIES LETTER TO THE LEADER
TEHRAN 25 May (IPS) Iran’s highest authority on national security ordered all Iranian media not to publish the letter 127 MMs (Members of the Majles, or the Iranian Parliament) have sent to Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, urging him to save the regime from total collapse by taking a "cup of poison".
"Surrounded on all sides by hostile forces, with a people having lost all hopes in the regime, with the elite silent or leaving the country and with investments flying out, you have no other choice between bowing sincerely to the people’s demands for real democracy and rule of law, or continue dictatorship, which would lead directly to the disappearance of the regime", the signatories warned the lamed leader.
Sources in Tehran told Iran Press Service that an angry Khameneh'i had instructed the Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS) to prevent "all forms of the media" from publishing the letter, which political analysts said was the "most blatant collective work" ever addressed to the leader, criticising openly the concentration of all powers in the hands of one person and warning him on the damages some un-elected organs under his direct control have done to the regime by abusing their powers, citing namely the Council of the Guardians, the Revolutionary Guards, the Radio and Television and the Judiciary.
Though Mr. Khameneh'i has not by yet reacted to the letter, but he has already accused them of "playing in the hands" of the enemies of the Islamic Republic by questioning the legitimacy of the system, which he described as "the most democratic in the world".
However, he has invited the lawmakers for a meeting on Tuesday.
In his Friday sermon, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, an influential member of the CG and the former Judiciary Chief known for the virulence of his speeches as well as for the vulgarity of his tone warned the authors of the letter of "wasting their’s and people’s time and energy" by writing such open letters to the leader, "encouraging the enemies of the regime who pretend that Islam has failed and people wanted a secular system of governance".
"Mr. Khameneh'i and his aides are afraid that the publication of the controversial letter would create a precedence for more such move, but also more critical, more open in disclosing the shortcomings of the theocratic system and more damaging to the ruling conservatives", one analyst commented.
Under the present laws, any direct criticism of the leader is considered as a crime and offenders could face harsh punishments, as seen in the case of Dr Qasem Sho’leh Sa’di, a former MM and a respected lawyer who pioneered writing open letters to the leader and was jailed two months ago over a letter to Mr. Khameneh'i, questioning his religious and political legitimacy as well his conduct of both domestic and foreign affairs, including his stubborn opposition to dialogue with the United States.
The independent Iranian Students News Agency ISNA, which first carried the letter immediately it had received it five days ago and posted it on its website again after it was published outside on Saturday, withdrew it after the SCNS’s decision and no other media, even the pro-reform papers, mentioned it.
"Though there is nothing new in the letter, but the authorities, including President Mohammad Khatami, were unanimous about preventing the people to have direct access to it, fearing that the publication of the letter by the press would be interpreted as a sign of weakness of the ruling authorities, particularly the conservatives, producing the same impact that led to the downfall of the late Shah", the analyst observed, asking for his name not being cited.
As to the reason why the pro-reforms deputies wrote the letter, Dr. Hamid Alizadeh, a student’s leader and a political analyst in the United States says it was an effort from their part to reconcile the people with the reform movement and the President, "both of them badly repudiated by the people" as seen in the last city and rural councils elections, where the "official reformists" suffered a heavy defeat.
"Not only because the letter’s content and criticism addressed to the leader are far below the people’s demands, but also because the people, tired of this kind of correspondence, have definitely lost all hopes, reaching the conclusion that this regime is not reformable from within", he told IPS.
He also criticised the author’s insistences that their moto in writing the letter was to "save" the present establishment, a mix of Islamism and republicanism "before it is too late".
"The signatories say they want to save a system that is rejected by the great majority of the people, mostly the young generation, who insist on a radical change from theocracy to secularism. But the real problem is that by writing the letter, they want to save their skin, knowing well that when the ship sank, even the mouse dies", added Mr. Alizadeh, who recently landed in Texas.
Nevertheless, by going as far as openly and collectively defying the taboo of the velayat faqih, the corner stone of the present Iranian regime and by denouncing the shortcomings and abuse of powers by organs controlled by Mr. Khameneh'i, the writers have placed a new marker in the road from theocracy to democracy. ENDS LETTER TO KHAMENEH'I 25503