Here's to hoping that the regime's crisis is "deep and terminal" like the writer suggests it could be.
Moderate breakthrough
August 1
It had to take the death of an Iranian-Canadian journalist for the reformists in Iran to score a minor victory against hardliners.
The authorities now admit that Zahra Kazemi, who died in police custody on July 10, was murdered. Kazemi, who lived in Montreal, was detained by the Revolutionary Guards for taking photographs of student demonstrations in Teheran and died under mysterious circumstances, although the government blamed her death on head injuries "caused by an accident". It was an uncharacteristic move for Iran's Vice-President Mohammed Ali Abtahi to come out openly, as he did last Wednesday, and admit that Kazemi was murdered. This suggests a moral victory, however tenuous, for moderates like President Mohammad Khatami and the reformist MPs who dominate Parliament.
That said, as long as the real war for democracy against the entrenched hardliners remains to be waged, Kazemi's death would be in vain. The Islamic republic has all the trappings of a democracy: a Constitution, political factions and local and parliamentary elections. Even women are empowered to vote and stand for election. So what's keeping democracy at bay, despite widespread disaffection with the clergy-inspired repressive policies? It's the fact that real power remains with the clerics under Ayatollah Khamenei.
President Khatami and his reformist allies are in a helpless position, therefore, despite enjoying popular support. Besides, they have yet to win over former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's powerful centrist faction to their side. As a result, the contest is still on between Mr Khatami's modernist ideas of an 'Islamic civil society' and the conservative clergy who condemn western-style democracy. As Iran's political experimentation goes on, there may be more tragedies like Kazemi's murder.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_326161,0012.htm