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Non abbiamo motti fissi, alla casbah. Li scegliamo di volta in volta. L'ultima volta, comunque, la scelta è stata facile: "We do not want to publish the address of the
Internet site where this film can be seen, in order to avoid propagating corruption in society" (siasat-e rouz & agence france presse, 11.6.07)

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september 11 - principalists see khatami as threat

Autore: Orma



Principalists See Khatami as Threat
Sahar Zahedifar, Mianeh, 11 September 2007

The possibility that former president Mohammad Khatami might return to power has become a major concern for “principalist” supporters President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and one that is constantly increasing as Iran moves forwards to the parliamentary election scheduled for March 2008. Few people outside Iran are likely to know that young hard-liners have demonstrated against Khatami during the last few weeks. Groups of up to 350 have rallied in the cities of Qom and Mashhad, accusing the moderate cleric of being anti-religion and an American stooge.

In an unprecedented move, around 5,000 young clerics wrote an open letter to the Special Court for Clerics and to the Association of Theological Lecturers in Qom asking for Khatami to be tried and banned from wearing clerical attire. And Fatemeh Rajabi – a media icon for the hard-line principalists, and wife of Justice Minister Gholam-Hussein Elham, also wrote to the special court, calling for Khatami to be put on trial.

The reason? A month ago, principalist websites broadcast a six-minute film showing Khatami shaking hands with a number of Italian women during a visit to Italy in May. The film created huge controversy because according to Islamic teaching, men and women must not shake hands. The question of whether to shake hands with women has been a problem for Iranian diplomats and international representatives for the last three decades.

In the eyes of religious principalists, Khatami has flouted Islamic rules by shaking hands with the women, and they argue that this is grounds to put him on trial, ban him from dressing as a cleric, and ultimately prove he is not eligible to stand for election.

Principalists have also accused the former president of being willing to promote an Americanised version of Islam, and of damaging the international reputation of Iran's revolutionary system.

Media reflecting the principalist position, including the daily Kayhan newspaper, have published strongly-worded attacks on the former president. The Raja News website, a hard-line outlet which supports Ahmadinejad, reported on June 1 that Khatami was going to transform the Islamic revolution and ultimately appease America and Israel.

Khatami is now under pressure from three disparate groups. The first group consists of principalists, who are concerned that if he stood in either parliamentary or presidential elections, he might derail their own changes of winning a monopoly on power.

The second group consists of reformists who want to harness Khatami's popularity and get him back into power. Even those who used to be critical of him, holding him responsible for the defeat of the reformist movement under his 1997-2005 presidency, are now calling for him to stand.

The third group is made up of those who favour “regime change”. They believe Khatami's return would lead not to reforms but to continued failure of government, and that that this would cause popular resentment and disenchantment with the system.

Despite the media onslaught against the latter two groups – the reformists and the proponents of regime change — Khatami continues to be one of Iran's most popular political figures.

In January, a poll conducted by the state-run, conservative-controlled broadcaster IRIB showed that Khatami outshines other figures such as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, head of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, parliamentary speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and Tehran mayor Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf.

It seems that regardless of Khatami's failure to deliver on pledges to bring greater political and social freedom, and of the increasing wealth and class divisions that occurred during his term in office, many Iranians continue to respect the former leader as an unsuccessful yet honest and truthful figure.

In a political climate where principalists accuse former officials of financial corruption on a daily basis, so far no one has levelled any such accusations against the former president.

Khatami — a religious, intellectual, moderate and uncontroversial figure — is one of the few politicians who could win support from a large part of traditional society as well as students and the elite.

Numerous trips abroad and travel within Iran in the last few years in order to promote a “dialogue among civilisations” have also worried Khatami’s opponents. In addition to the visit to Italy in May this year, the former cleric also visited Britain and the United State in the latter part of 2006.

The principalists were infuriated at the warm welcome Khatami received from the Pope and the international community, as well as by unprecedented favourable remarks made about him by former US president Jimmy Carter.

Khatami enjoys a more positive image abroad than Ahmadinejad, in spite of the current president’s efforts to promote himself. These have included penning an 18-page letter to President George Bush in May 2006, in which he discussed religious values, history and international relations, as well as a missive to Pope Benedict XVI in December 2006.

If he decided to stand, Khatami’s chances of success could be boosted by the current leadership’s poor performance over the last two years. In mid-term, Ahmadinejad's government is faced with mounting criticism on the economic, political and foreign policy fronts.

In spite of the current president’s fiery pledges, inflation, unemployment and the gap between rich and poor have all increased, while Iran's international relationships have deteriorated. Deprived sections of Iranian society have not yet seen the effects of oil money on their tables, as Ahmadinejad promised they would during his election campaign. On the contrary, they are experiencing declining wealth.

Increasing restrictions on the press, students, women and civil-society institutions are among the other issues that have infuriated the elite.

Under such circumstances, a return to the past begins to offer a possible way forward. This possibility seemed stronger after the 2006 city council elections in which supporters of Ahmadinejad's principalist government suffered heavy losses to the reformists in Tehran and other cities.

Ten days after those elections, Khatami made what amounted to his first formal appearance as a mobilising force for Ahmadinejad's critics. Addressing the Elected Council Members Conference, he emphasised that this victory was the reformists' first step towards creating new conditions in the country.

Another factor that contributed to the reverses Ahmadinejad suffered in the council elections was the coalition forged by supporters of Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami and Mehdi Karrubi. This so-called "triangle" is a fragile and unconventional alliance, but it could offer the only means of achieving victory over the principalists, who currently control all the institutions of state.

Khatami and other reformers have said they will deploy the same triangular coalition in the parliamentary and presidential elections. The principalists are naturally alarmed at the prospect.

The reformist coalition has decided to put forward prominent and influential figures as candidates in the March 2008 parliamentary election. According to domestic media reports, most of those who served as cabinet ministers and vice-presidents under Khatami would be able to run by representing their place of origin.

The reformists are trying to encourage Khatami to run in Tehran, as the first on a single list of reformist candidates designed to ensure maximum success. They believe that if he made it into the next parliament, this would guarantee that he would be elected president.

Of course, this analysis has not been missed by the principalists. This is reflected in the repeated attacks in the faction’s media outlets against Khatami, Hashemi-Rafsanjani and Karrubi. The trio come under fire almost every day, and each has been the subject of numerous media attacks in recent months.

The criticism has been so intense that following the controversy caused by his Italian trip, Khatami assured his political opponents that he had “given up any interest in holding official posts". In this statement, dated June 22, he made it clear to his rivals that he did not wish to stand for election and would not "disturb" the rule of his opponents, whom he characterised as wishing to hold onto power at any cost.

Prior to this, the former president had dismissed the idea of standing for parliament on a number of occasions. Yet two vice-presidents who served under him — Mohammad Ali Abtahi and Masoumeh Ebtekar — and his then interior minister, Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari, have all suggested he might stand,

Observing these mixed signals, some principalists believe Khatami is dissembling and is manoeuvring quietly so as to avoid provoking his rivals.

It seems likely that Khatami’s own comments about his political future are more accurate than those of his supporters, who are desperate to get him to take part in the polls. Yet the threat that Khatami could return to power — however unlikely that may be — is of grave concern to the principalists, and will remain an issue for them from now until the election.


Sahar Zahedifar is a journalist and commentator in Tehran.

This article is an abridged and translated version of the full original text published on the Farsi pages of Mianeh, with editorial adjustments agreed with the writer made to provide clarity for English-language readers.

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