Khatami Voices Concern Over Future of Islamic Regime, Slams ‘Fascism’
August 06, 2003
Arab News
Agence France Presse - Reuters
TEHRAN -— President Mohammad Khatami has voiced concern over the spread of “fascism” in Iran, in a strongly-worded attack against detractors of his reformist policies, newspapers reported yesterday. “The goal of the Islamic revolution is not to establish a fascist vision in society in the name of religion and the (1979 Islamic) revolution,” Khatami told a joint meeting of the Cabinet and Parliament.
“Nor is it to attack and put pressure on those who do not share this vision,” the Iranian president said. “The disaster today is that we are trying, through a fascist vision of religion and the revolution, to push out the competitor” from the political arena, he said.
According to Khatami, “the only way to defend Islam, independence and freedom is to twin religion with liberty,” adding that Iranian society was becoming “bipolar and that is a big danger”. Khatami charged that two groups were fighting his policies.
“The first is made of those who compare reform to counterrevolution,” the moderate cleric said. He pointed to ultraconservatives who he said charge that “presidential draft resolutions were cooked up by the United States and their valets inside the country”.
Khatami identified the second group among his detractors as “those who think that reform is the suppression of religion”.
Meanwhile, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the judiciary yesterday to show leniency to dozens of students who were arrested during pro-democracy protests in June and July, the official IRNA news agency said.
The announcement follows growing calls by student bodies, reformist politicians and human rights groups for the release of students arrested during street protests which took place in several Iranian cities in the past two months.
Judiciary officials said in July that 4,000 people were arrested during the protests although more than half of them were quickly released.
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