Free Republic

'Lame duck' Khatami concedes defeat to Iran's hardliners By Behzad Farsian, in Teheran and Robin Gedye (Filed: 18/03/2004) The reformist President Mohammad Khatami of Iran conceded that he had reached the limits of his powers and would be a lame duck head of state until his term ends next year. He said he was withdrawing two bills that sought to limit the power of the ruling conservative hardliners "so that the few powers that the president still has are not eliminated. "I have met with defeat," he said. President Khatami: powerless One of the bills was intended to increase presidential...

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has said Saddam Hussein is unlikely to receive a fair trial because he could reveal too many embarrassing details. "Saddam will undoubtedly make statements that will not be pleasing to many people among those who are now standing against Saddam," he said. Iran - which was invaded by Iraq in 1980 - is preparing charges against the ousted Iraqi president. Mr Khatami has said he does not "like the death penalty". Double standards "But I believe if there is one case where there should be an execution, the fairest case would be for Saddam," the moderate...

PARIS 12 Dec. (IPS) In an unprecedented rebuke to his superior clerics who insists that hejab, or the Islamic dress, is mandatory for Muslim women, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami for the first time said that women were free to wear it or not. Mr. Khatami made the surprising comment in an interview published Friday by the influential French daily "Le Monde" dated 13 December to a statement attributed to one of his aides, saying that Mrs. Ebadi had "the right to not wear the veil outside Iran". "Wearing the veil is a tradition that everybody respects in Iran. That said,...

Iran's policy of blocking access to certain websites has been defended by the country's authorities at the UN digital summit. Iranian authorities claim only sites not compatible with Islam are blocked Speaking in Geneva, Iran's President Mohammad Khatami insisted that the country only blocks access to 240 "pornographic and immoral" websites. He said the ban only applies to sites that are incompatible with Islam, and a government official added that "all political sites are free". Online censorship in Iran became a big issue at the summit after hundreds of Iranians flooded a website covering the event with complaints about restricted...

Iranian President Mohammed Khatami has denied that his country ever sought to develop nuclear weapons. Speaking at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, the Iranian leader said that the Islamic religion forbids the use of weapons which kill indiscriminately. The Iranian president criticized what he called the fanfare, hullabaloo and exaggeration which have surrounded his country's nuclear program. He said there is no truth to Western assertions that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. "We cannot go and seek a nuclear program because of our religious faith," said mr. Khatami. "I said, in one of my speeches to...

Khatami says Iranians free to demand he step down Thursday, August 21, 2003 - ©2003 IranMania.com TEHRAN, Aug 21 (AFP) - President Mohammed Khatami, who is facing mounting public disillusionment over his failure to bring promised reforms, said people were free to demand that he step down, local media reported Thursday. He that the people voted into power must keep in mind that the people can sideline him if they want," Khatami told former prisoners of war from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war in a speech Wednesday. Last week, conservatives blocked three bills passed by parliament authorizing the government to adopt...

Reformers: Iran Must Chose Democracy or Despotism Tue July 15, 2003 08:47 AM ET By Jon Hemming TEHRAN (Reuters) - Some 350 reformist intellectuals urged Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Tuesday to end repression and free political prisoners, saying the Islamic Republic must choose between democracy and despotism. The politicians, academics, activists and lawyers said Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure, should overhaul the hard-line judiciary and conservative institutions that have blocked much of moderate President Mohammad Khatami's reforms. Around a dozen journalists have been arrested since violent protests last month and one Canadian photographer died after being detained. Some...

Iran's president offers to resign USATODAY 7.12.2003 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — President Mohammad Khatami unexpectedly said he will resign if people want him to go, amid growing public dissatisfaction over his failure to meet promises of democratic reform, a newspaper reported Saturday. It was the first time Khatami has publicly offered to resign. Iran's formerly popular president has come under increasing pressure in recent months to stand firm against unelected hard-line clerics and fulfill election promises of freedoms and democratic change. "We are not masters of people but servants of this nation. If this nation says we don't want you,...

Below is an Opinion from the Daily Star in Lebanon: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/26_06_03_a.asp The 3-Way Battle for Iran’s Uncertain Future The struggle in Iran is frequently described as one between two camps: reformists gathered around President Mohammad Khatami and hard-liners loyal to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These two groups are certainly at each other’s throats, but no analysis of the situation is complete without an appreciation of the role being played by a third force: former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The latter’s efforts are deployed behind the scenes these days, but whatever happens in the more public contest, he...

Iran's Khatami Urged to Take Stand Over Arrests June 25, 2003 Reuters Paul Hughes TEHRAN -- Reformist Iranian lawmakers are urging President Mohammad Khatami to take a firm stand over an apparent mass round-up of students following this month's protests against clerical rule in the Islamic Republic. Student leaders and legislators have said scores of students were arrested in cities across the country in recent days by plainclothes security officials. The whereabouts of many of those detained is still unknown, they say. While defending people's right to protest, pro-reform Khatami -- whom protesters called on to resign during the recent...