Posted on 03/07/2004 1:35:31 PM PST by TheConservator
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Scuffles broke out in Iran's parliament Sunday when a reformist lawmaker called on Islamic clerics to question the performance of the country's supreme leader.
Hard-liners consider Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, above the constitution and answerable only to God.
The Experts Assembly, a clerical body that elects the supreme leader, is required by law to supervise Khamenei's performance but has never issued a national report.
"Was the performance of the supreme leader and bodies under his control compatible with honesty, prudence and fairness in the recent sham legislative elections?" outspoken reformist Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoeini asked.
He was questioning the Feb. 20 parliamentary elections, which enabled hard-liners to secure a majority of seats. Reformists boycotted the vote after the Guardian Council, another group of unelected clerics, disqualified thousands of reformist candidates, a decision backed by Khamenei.
"This question should be put to the Experts Assembly, whose most important responsibility is to supervise the leader's performance," Khoeini said during a session aired live on state radio.
The Experts Assembly includes 86 high-ranking clerics who strongly support Khamenei.
"Shut up!" lawmaker Mousa Qorbani shouted as fellow hard-liners ran to the podium, shoving and kicking Khoeini.
Other lawmakers intervened to calm the situation.
"You can't tolerate listening to a clause from the constitution," shouted Mohammad Reza Khatami, a vice speaker of the parliament and the leader of Iran's largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front.
Assembly member Mohsen Mousavi Tabrizi said their role does not extend to supervising the supreme leader.
"A majority of assembly members believe their responsibility is only to appoint the leader. We haven't agreed to supervise him," said.
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