Iran’s hard-liners declare jihad on reformers

The Daily Star ^ | December 6 2002

[knighthawk]

Vigilantes accuse dissidents of undermining regime Conservatives threaten to drive out democracy, campaigners after confrontations triggered by death sentence on popular professor

TEHRAN: Hard-line vigilantes, best known for disrupting reformist gatherings and beating up students, declared a “holy war” Wednesday to rid Iran of reformers who promote democracy and challenge the country’s supreme leader.

The declaration in the weekly newspaper of the hard-line group Ansar-e-Hizbullah, the chief organization of the vigilante movement, appeared to be a direct challenge to Iran’s reformist president, Mohammad Khatami.

Masoud Dehnamaki, a vigilante ideologue, also said Wednesday that Iranians who try to appease Iran’s enemies such as the United States “should be stopped.”

The article in the weekly newspaper Ya Lesarat, the usual vehicle for announcing Ansar-e-Hizbullah decisions, warned that the time has come for a “revolutionary jihad,” or holy war, to remove reformers from power and replace them with “idealist and religious” officials.

The declaration follows some of the largest demonstrations in years by students protesting a death sentence imposed on a reformist professor, Hashem Aghajari, for making statements questioning the rule of the clergy over Iranian society.

Also Wednesday, Mohammad Reza Khatami, leader of the reformist Iran Participation Front made a statement suggesting further confrontations were likely between the country’s liberals and conservatives.

Khatami, the younger brother of the president, was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying the behavior of conservatives may bring Iran to a “situation that no one would be able to control.” He had earlier warned that moderates would walk out of government if conservatives continued to thwart efforts toward reform.

Wednesday’s toughly worded article in Ya Lesarat coincided with an open letter to the press in which Aghajari took on his conservative opponents, mocking his death sentence last month for blasphemy as a political verdict.

Khatami also backed up the dissident and other reformers on trial, by accusing the hard-line judiciary of failing to respond to widespread criticism of their conduct. Aghajari, who drew the anger of the country’s religious establishment when he delivered a speech last July questioning clerics’ right to rule in Iran, dismissed his death sentence as “resembling a political communique rather than a court decision.”

Despite the judiciary’s announcement Monday that it would review his punishment, Aghajari accused the judge who handed him his death sentence on Nov. 6 of “not respecting the principle of impartiality.” He said it was “certain” he would be acquitted in a public trial “where popular feelings will be taken into account.”

For his part, Khatami called Wednesday on student activists to remain “vigilant and alert” over the Aghajari verdict.

He said he regretted the last minute brinkmanship between the courts and Aghajari that only ended Monday when the dissident’s lawyer formally filed an appeal after the courts threatened Aghajari’s death sentence was binding despite supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s call for a review.

“It would have been much better if the order of the Guide (Khamenei) had been applied. I regret that this was not done,” he said.

“We should not intervene in the business of judges,” Khatami said. “But the country has interests that have to be respected.”

Khatami also shrugged off his critics ­ both conservatives who accuse him of undermining the Islamic Republic with his brand of “Islamic Glasnost” and students who criticize what many see as his failure to challenge his hard-line rivals.

“I accept all criticism. In the history of Iran, I am without doubt the most criticized and insulted politician, and I accept that with pride,” he said. “I think that as a politician I have been succeeded. In general, people never stop criticizing successful politicians. For me, a leadership should leave people with the freedom to criticize.”

Ya Lesarat described the Khatami government as a “paralyzed executive branch” and threatened to take action against it and against the “unfaithful (reformist) lawmakers who have penetrated into the Parliament.” The paper added that the “revolutionary clean-up” entails a “comprehensive attack on the cultural invasion bases of liberal and secular intellectuals.”

Vigilantes are the main force undermining pro-reform students and are rarely punished for attacks. Two years ago, vigilante Saeed Asghar shot and wounded a Khatami colleague. He and his accomplices were sentenced to jail terms of up to 15 years but were released after several months.

Dehnamaki said people who have taken posts in the Islamic establishment but do not carry out Khamenei’s orders need to be punished.

“Those who seek changes to appease enemies including the US should be stopped. People will come to act if they (reformists) go beyond their limits,” Dehnamaki told The Associated Press.

Dehnamaki also said enemies of Iran such as the United States should not think clashes between the country’s liberals and conservatives would bring the collapse of the Islamic establishment.

“Iran’s enemies should not pin hopes on these clashes … Vigilantes and so-called reformers will join hands to target the heart of American soldiers if they decide to attack us,” he said.

[knighthawk]

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