Free Republic

HARD LINERS WANT THE HEAD OF ALI AKBAR MOUSAVI-KHO’EINIA Iran Press Service March 8th 2004 Paris, France TEHRAN, 8 Mar. (IPS) Mr. Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho’einiha, a reformist lawmaker came under strong attacks from the conservatives-controlled media on Monday for his remarks in the Majles on Sunday, criticising the Assembly of Experts for not doing its job properly in controlling the actions and performances of the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i. As Mr. Kho’einiha was addressing the outgoing House, accusing the leader-controlled institutions such as the Council of the Guardians of trying to transform the Majles into a rubber stamp parliament, hard...

The Last Public Call to European Union's leaders SMCCDI (Public Statement) Mar 8, 2004 Mr. Blair, Mr. Chirac, Mr. Schroeder, Mr. Berlusconi and Mr.Klestil, Twenty-Five years of oppression, mass killing, barbarism, and mismanagement of our country by the Islamic republic and its indoctrinated technocrats have now brought Iran to the edge of collapse and civil war. As an increasing number of young Iranians are starting to shift towards armed struggle, the masses tired of 7 years of empty promises of reforms from within the theocratic system boycotted the sham elections of Feb. 20th in the greatest yet act of Civil...

ISLAMIC IRAN PARTICIPATION FRONT OFFICE SEALED OFF TEHRAN, 19 Feb. (IPS) The office of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), Iran’s largest political formation that controlled the outgoing Parliament was sealed on orders from the Judiciary, it was learned late Thursday night. The move, on the eve of the controversial elections, was expected, as the Judiciary, which is controlled by the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, had on Wednesday night shut down the party’s official organ Yas e No as well as the reformist daily Sharq. Mr. Ali Shakkoori-Raad, an outspoken reformist lawmaker barred by the leader-controlled...

The End of Illusions in Iran February 18, 2004 Arab News / Amir Taheri “We must turn a page and move on.” This is the advice that Ali Khamenei, the supreme guide of the Islamic Republic in Iran, gave to his compatriots earlier this week. He was referring to the parliamentary elections to be held on Friday and pre-arranged to ensure almost total victory for his own faction within the regime. Even a month ago, many would have predicted such an easy victory for the faction of which Khamenei is the figurehead. The rival faction, whose standard-bearer is supposed to...

<p>BAGHDAD — The grandson of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the fiery cleric who launched an anti-American Islamic revolution in Iran, said in an interview that his countrymen would accept U.S. military intervention to liberate their nation.</p> <p>"In Iran the people really need freedom, and freedom must come about. Freedom is more important than bread," Hussein Khomeini, 45, a midlevel cleric who has taken up temporary residence in Iraq, told The Washington Times.</p>

A grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, the late leader of Iran's Islamic revolution, has denounced the country's religious regime as "the worst dictatorship in the world", reminiscent of the "church during the Dark Ages in Europe".In extraordinary remarks that will outrage hardliners among Teheran's ruling mullahs, Hossein Khomeini almost seemed to invite America to overthrow the clerical regime, as it did to Saddam Hussein in Iraq.   Hossein Khomeini: feared by hardliners in Iran The fact that Mr Khomeini's comments were made during a visit to Iraq will stoke hardliners' fears that, under US sponsorship, Iraq's Shi'ite holy cities of Najaf...

Middle East - AP Khatami Offers to Resign if Iran Wants 1 hour, 34 minutes ago By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran - President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) said in a speech he would resign if people want him to, 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...

TEHRAN, July 21 (AFP) - Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards Corps issued an unprecedented warning to reformers within the Islamic regime Sunday, saying they had exceeded all bounds in recent months by "openly supporting subversion on the streets." Opponents of the Islamic state, who had infiltrated the regime, were hoping to take advantage of the country's economic woes to sweep elections due over the next three years and introduce a secular regime amenable to the Islamic Republic's enemies, the Guards Corps's high command charged in a statement. The Guards would not stand idly by but would defend the revolution and the...