ENDING THEIR SIT-IN, LAWMAKERS DENOUNCED A "PARLIAMENTARY COUP".
TEHRAN, 5 Feb. (IPS) Iranian reformist lawmakers on Thursday reiterated they would not take part in elections that they denounced as "unjust, illegal and unfair" and accused the Council of the Guardians of a "parliamentary coup".
In a statement read to hundreds of Iranian and foreign journalists, the protesters reminded that not only the leader controlled CG had rejected all efforts to diffuse the electoral crisis amiably by accepting to review the situation of the reformist deputies it had barred from the 20 February elections, but it had even increased the number of disqualified candidates.
"In such a situation, the deputies who had stage a protest sit-in have
no other choice than present their resignation and proclaim solemnly their
decision not to take part in the elections, becoming part of a political
offence", the statement added.
The unprecedented crisis which coincides with the 25th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution started after the 12-members Council that, among other duties, looks into the backgrounds of all candidates to all elections in the Islamic republic rejected most of reformist deputies from running for the forthcoming Legislative elections.
In the statement, the disqualified deputies reminded that they had been barred on charges of "not believing in Islam, in the Islamic Republic and in the system of velayat faqih", or the leadership of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i as well as "attachments to illegal groups".
The protesters also attacked both Ayatollah Khameneh’i, without naming him, for having denounced the lawmakers as "greedy and Mafiosi-type people" who "facilitate the plots of the enemies" and President Khatami for his "leniency and hesitations".
On Wednesday, Ayatollah Khameneh’i backed the decision of the Guardians and criticised the protesting lawmakers, describing them as a "bunch of greedy people who ask for more".
"Who are greedy and Mafiosi-type, the lawmakers who wants Constitution be applied or those who ignore it, make a sham of elections, who orders serial killings, who close down the universities, who insult representatives of the people", said Mr. Behzad Nabavi, the second deputy Speaker referring to article by Mr. Hoseyn Shari’atmadari, an intelligence officer specializing in interrogating dissidents appointed as the Editor of the evening daily Keyhan by Mr. Khameneh’i.
"With this sit-in we have forced those who oppose reforms to either hold the elections themselves or stage a military coup", he added.
Intervening at the press conference, Mr. Ali Qanbari described a meeting of the protesters with President Mohammad Khatami on Tuesday as "sad and chagrined" and asked "why a President who is in charge to apply the Constitution and speaks of détente is so fragile, doubting what is taking place?"
Reading the statement, Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the first deputy-Speaker and leader of the Islamic Iran Participation Front said by stating the sit-in, the disqualified deputies wanted to protest the CG’s "illegal" right to reject candidates.
"For years, we were trying to get rid of this right the CG had bestowed on itself and also reform the electoral laws, but all our efforts were dashed by the Council of the Guardians", he pointed out while denouncing what he described as a "parliamentary coup" by the Guardians.
"With our action, we have in fact unmasked those who acts against the legitimate rights of the people in electing freely their candidates and revealed to the people a parliamentary coup that was in the making for two years", he added, not saying why they did not revealed the "coup" earlier?
"Our sit-in was for the defence of democracy. We have effectively torn down the pillar of authoritarianism. We have taken from their (hard liners) hand the tools of repression. By announcing our resignation and staying away from the elections, we also end our sit-in, the first phase of our protest movement", the younger brother of the embattled President announced, adding that the action "would continue".
Analysts said the statement was tantamount of a "divorce" between the reformist lawmakers with the President who, by his contradictory declarations, had badly weakened the ranks of the protesters.
While his cabinet had threatened to resign and the Interior Minister, Hojjatoleslam Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari was engaging the powerful CG for delaying the polling, Mr. Khatami said elections would take place on due time.
"What also encouraged the conservatives in standing firm to the reformists was the tragic lack of support from the public, deceived by the reformists and the President’s failure to carry out their promised reforms", commented Mr. Qasem Sho’leh Sa’di, a former Member of the Majles and a political dissident. ENDS DISUQALIFICATIONS 5204