Iran vice-president quits
Tue 12 October, 2004 16:53
"Yes, it's true I have been replaced," Abtahi told Reuters on Tuesday, confirming his third resignation letter in eight months had been accepted by his close ally President Mohammad Khatami.
Reformist cleric and former parliamentarian Madjid Ansari takes Abtahi's post as vice president for legal and parliamentary affairs. Iran's cabinet has six vice presidents.
Abtahi was retained as an adviser to Khatami whose second and final term in office ends in mid-2005.
A rotund and jovial figure who expressed liberal views on issues such as human rights that drew the ire of hardliners in the Islamic state, Abtahi told Khatami he was unable to work with the new parliament elected in February.
Islamic conservatives won a comfortable majority in the February polls after hundreds of reformist candidates were barred from running.
"Since the formation of the parliament until now I have submitted my resignation to the president three times," Abtahi wrote on his often-entertaining Web site (www.webnevesht.com) where he often posts pictures of senior officials snapped by a camera on his mobile telephone.
"I was unable to create any cooperation between parliament and government," he said.
Since taking their seats in May, lawmakers have drastically revised a government economic plan which was aimed at opening up the state-run economy to foreign investment and voted to impeach Transportation and Roads Minister Ahmad Khorram.
Abtahi, who is best known abroad as the first Iranian official to publicly acknowledge that Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was killed in a Tehran prison last year, said he remained faithful to the reformist cause.
"I believe the only way to rescue this country is Mr Khatami's pro-reform thoughts," he said. "Although there are many problems and there may be more in the future, I will help this nation."