Khatami's minister resigns in protest of soft stance

IPS ^ | 7/28/03 | IPS

[freedom44]

TEHRAN 28 July (IPS) The lamed Iranian President Mohammad Khatami received another blow Monday after it was confirmed that his Minister of Science, Research and Technology, Mostafa Mo’in has submitted his resignation.

"When the minister of science is witnessing that for various illogical reasons obstacles are being thrown on the way of nation's scientific progress, he would be left with no alternative than resignation", explained Mrs. Mahdokht Boroujerdi, the Director General Ministry’s Public Relations Department.

This is the second time that the 52 years-old Mo’in resigns and though it is not clear yet if Mr. Khatami would accept it or not, but observers agree that it could produce major political impact, starting by encouraging other ministers who are not happy with the President’s soft attitude towards the ruling conservatives.

"Minister of Science, Research and Technology, Dr. Mostafa Mo’in handed over his resignation to President Mohammad Khatami on Thursday but the President gave no response to the resignation request", Mrs. Boroujerdi pointed out, according to a dispatch by the official news agency IRNA.

"Scientific progress of the country is on top of the agenda of the Science Ministry", she added, confirming indirectly that Moin's resignation was mainly due to the rejection by the leader-controlled Council of the Guardians of a bill aimed at restructuring his ministry.

But sources close to the Minister said he was mainly annoyed at the way the authorities treated the students in their last month’s protest movement, including the arrest of hundreds of students in the one hand and the numerous organs that interfere in the affairs of universities, particularly the personal Representative of the leader in the universities, on the other.

Mr. Mo’in resigned for the first time four years ago after Ayatollah Ali Khamehe’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic, in agreement with President Khatami, ordered the revolutionary Guard, the basij militias and security forces to put down "at any cost" a protest movement staged by students, an event that has since become a landmark of popular demonstrations against the regime.

"By tendering his resignation, Mr. Mo’in not only shows the courage of protesting the present political situation of the country, but he also expresses what other ministers resents in private, meaning that under present conditions, it is difficult for them to carry on their duties", one observer said, asking for anonymity.

"Mr. Mo’in in fact is protesting to the Council of the Guardians who, by systematically rejecting government’s bills for reforms, including the last ones aimed at enhancing the powers of the President and curtailing those of the Guardians, are abusing of their illegal and unconstitutional powers", another analyst said.

Analysts said that after Hojjatoleslam Abdollah Noori, the former Interior Minister and Ata’ollah Mohajerani, the former Islamic Guidance and Culture Minister, both resigned under pressures from the conservatives, Mr. Mo’in is probably the most "political" minister of Mr. Khatami who tenders his resignation.

"No doubt that few conservatives would deplore Mr. Mo’in’s decision, but there is also no doubt that his resignation would send a very strong signal to the students, scholars, intellectuals, journalists, political activists and even the people who recently have increased their voices calling for replacing the present theocracy for democracy", a university professor noted.

[freedom44]

Sign of things to come.

[freedom44]

on or off iran ping

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[nuconvert]

Boy, this guy's pushing his luck; resigning twice.
That takes nerve.

[ellery]

Our war is against a Saudi-sponsored, violent sect of Wahhabbi radical Islamists -- and these brave Iranian students and reformers like it even less, and suffer it more, than we do.

[ellery]

What's your thought -- are things continuing to build? Or have they taken a step back? What needs to happen before Persia can recover its liberty?

[JulieRNR21]

Sign of things to come.

Hope this is the beginning of the end for this oppressive regime & that the iranian people will soon achieve FREEDOM!

[chinche]

There's Big Mo', Little Mo', Four-Eyed Mo', No Mo'.

[ellery]

I'm not trying to minimize the threat -- I think it's the most serious threat to the existence of our Republic in my lifetime. I'm trying to know our enemy, so we can defeat it. Bin Laden and their state sponsors are in a muslim world civil war, too. In fact, they've murdered a lot of Sufi Muslims whom they likewise see as infidels. At the same time, they've tried very hard to make the West believe the world's one billion muslims are united against us (hence the ridiculous myth of the "Arab street rising up against us" that never happens). Of course, the problem is that it's difficult for us to immediately distinguish between a terrorist who's out to kill us, and a friend/potential ally. But that doesn't mean we have no muslim allies -- for example a lot of them welcomed us to Iraq and are helping us track down the Baathists as we speak.