Faced in recent weeks with a heavy counterattack by mullahs' leader Ali Khamenei, Khatami embarked on trip to the city of Qom in the past two days and met with a number of senior clerics to declare his loyalty and allegiance to Khamenei and sure up his fragile position.

Bowing to Khamenei, Khatami formally retreated from his rhetoric about "civil society" and "the rule of law." He said: "The axis and the pillar of the state... was the Imam of the Ummat [Khomeini] yesterday. Today, it is another honorable son of the seminaries, His Eminence, Ayatollah Khamenei... Civil society is impossible if not based on religion and relying on the clergy."

Underscoring that "the state is facing enormous pressures," Khatami added: "Parting ways with religion and the clergy is the beginning of our fall." He said: "Abiding by the foundations of Islam determines the limits on freedom," and the yardstick for "the law to be enacted" is "the view of the esteemed members of the Guardian Council."
 
 

 Political Tug-of-War Over Election of New Tehran Mayor, Agence France Presse, May 30

TEHRAN - Tehran's 15-member municipal council on Sunday continued its tug-of-war over the choice of a new mayor for the Iranian capital, although officially the issue was not on the day's agenda.

The appointment of a new mayor for Tehran, one of the world largest capitals, was postponed twice last week. The Iranian press reported serious disagreements among council members, who are all members of a pro-Khatami coalition, but stem from different factions.
 
 

13 Hanged in Public in Iran, Agence France Presse, May 29

TEHRAN - Thirteen convicted drug traffickers were hanged in public in two Iranian cities on Friday, the official IRNA news agency reported Saturday.

Five men were executed in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, while eight were put to death in Torbat-e-Jam in the eastern province of Khorassan, IRNA said.
 
 

Pro-Khatami Press Under Increasing Pressure, Agence France Presse, May 30

TEHRAN - The detention of the head of Iran's official news agency was portrayed in the Iranian press Sunday as the latest twist in a campaign of pressure by conservatives against media, less than a year away from parliamentary elections.

IRNA director Fereydoun Verdinejad was released from a six-hour detention Saturday after posting a bail of 60,000 dollars at the official exchange rate.

A close associate of former president Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and an ally of his successor, Mohammad Khatami, he faces some 30 complaints filed against him by state-run television, some 20 members of the conservative-dominated parliament and the police.

[According to Reuters, "Verdinejad, a former senior intelligence officer now close to the president, was acquitted by a press court last year of charges of ridiculing a hardline MP in a cartoon and weakening police authority by printing critical articles."]

Iran News sees Verdinejad's detention as a way for his adversaries to apply further pressure on Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani, who is ultimately responsible for IRNA.

In a series of blows over recent months, Mohajerani has lost his vice-minister in charge of press matters, Ahmad Bourghani, as well the top official responsible for the local press, Issa Saharkhiz.

Saharkhiz appeared in court Sunday charged with disobeying a court order by allowing a newspaper to publish a special supplement while under a suspension order.

Newspapers have reported that Mohammad Reza Zohdi, director of the reformist Arya paper was also detained Saturday for "defamation, spreading false information, and publishing confidential military information."

Said Hajarian, director of the pro-Khatami Sobh-e-Emruz and member of Tehran municipal council, is also about to be arrested, according to several papers.

Newspapers reported Saturday that a journalist with another paper close to the government, Jahan-e-Eslam, was detained Tuesday during a gathering of students and held for 35 hours.

Ahmad Zeidabadi, chief editor of the Azad newspaper, resigned recently after the director of the moderate daily was called before a revolutionary court.

In an open letter to Khatami, Zeidabadi said he was stepping aside to prevent the closure of the newspaper.

And in February, Iran's revolutionary court ordered the closure of the women's paper Zan.

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