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The daily Khordad quoted Faezeh Hashemi-Rafsanjani's, the daughter of the regime's former president, defending her father against a political attack by Khatami's faction.
In a harsh attack on Khatami, Hashemi said, "If our advocates do not defend Rafsanjani and their party, it's because they are concerned about creating a rift in Khatami's government." She added: "Investments are stagnant now. Construction has been forgotten. These are all due to the fact that Khatami has fallen behind the second five-year development plan. A country which has been run without an economic plan for two years would face such a situation… Unemployment figures have reached 30 percent."
Hashemi also acknowledged to
Khordad that "dictatorship and using force" had been used by the
mullahs to keep their power.
Candidates' Qualification Conditions, Daily Hamshahri, June 1
According to [the state-run news agency] IRNA, Ayatollah Khazali, a member of the Council of Guardians said: "When the Council of Guardians states its view…then everything is finished and cannot be questioned."
Khazali added: "If a candidate
[for Majlis] is competent, the Council will confirm him. But if someone
has had greetings with a lady, or has made money from somewhere, or does
not believe in velayat-e faqih, or if he is a nationalist or monarchist…he
will be disqualified."
Torturing of A State-Affiliated Official, State-Run Iran News, June 2
The daily Arya reported
that Manouchehr Mohammadi, the leader of the National Union of Students
(NUS), who was arrested last Tuesday during a gathering in Tehran University
and was released on Sunday, claimed that he was tortured during his detention,
and he was asked to sign confessions that he was a spy and received money
from foreigners for giving information to them.
Where Is Khatami's Moderation?, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 2
Two years ago, Mohammad Khatami's election as president was hailed in the West as the beginning of the long-awaited transformation of Iran's religious dictatorship into a (relatively) moderate state. Proponents said Khatami was a reformer, locked in an uphill struggle against "the hard-liners." Others disagreed, saying judge the man by his deeds, and you will find an insider, firmly committed to the clerics' monopoly on power.
Where does Washington stand? Apparently on the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" side.
The tricky question on terrorism, rights violations, regional interference and other "sensitive" issues are side-stepped, so as not to rock the boat….
This policy has produced numerous goodwill gestures, but little else. Last December, Tehran was removed from the list of major drug-producers. Trade sanctions were loosened last month….In its annual terrorism report, just released, the [State] Department dropped its designation of the mullahs' regime as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.
The reality is quite different. Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk acknowledged in April that Iran still supports terrorist groups; is still pushing for weapons of mass destruction and remains firmly opposed to Middle East peace.
In fact, there is not a single example of substantive improvement in Tehran's behavior. The U.N. Human Rights Commission concluded in April that grave, systematic violations ----including public executions, torture, stoning and arbitrary arrests--- continue. Meanwhile worsening poverty, unemployment and inflation are fueling political unrest. Iran is a powder keg.
Those searching for a solution within the theocracy are on the wrong track. The government is based on velayat-e faqih, meaning the mullahs' rule is divinely ordained. Any meaningful change means renunciation of this medieval notion, but Khatami's credentials are based on his being a mullah. It would be political suicide for him to dismantle the mullocracy. The vying factions do not disagree on principles, only on power.
The facts are clear: Two years into Khatami's presidency, there is no sign of moderation.
The people's conflict with their dictatorial rulers is irreconcilable.
They see Khatami's presidency as a repeat of the final months of the monarchy, when the shah's eleventh-hour "reforms" only precipitated his downfall.
Genuine reform demands that the people be allowed in. Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi has challenged the mullahs to try their luck against the Resistance's President-elect, Maryam Rajavi, in a free election supervised by the United Nations.
But the clerical regime will never surrender to the will of the people. Whatever he does, Khatami cannot allow them to take to the streets.
Moderation of the clerical regime is a kiss of death. Two years into his presidency, Khatami has proved to be the poison chalice ----not the magic potion---- of the mullahs' rule.