Khatami boasts of civil society amid intensifying medieval punishments
Rajavi: Stoning is not Islamic, mullahs use it to prolong their rule

Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance, congratulated the Iranian people on the occasion of Eid-al Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Mr. Rajavi stressed that the anti-Islamic conduct of the clerical regime is contrary to the spirit and essence of the teachings of Islam. The Iranian Resistance and the National Liberation Army of Iran will overthrow this anti-Islamic and anti-Iranian regime, he vowed.

In a speech last night at a gathering of the National Liberation Army combatants, the Iranian Resistance's leader noted the international community's outrage over the footage on the actual scene of the stoning of four men in Tehran which the Mojahedin have transferred abroad. Mr. Rajavi said: Stoning is not an Islamic punishment and the Quran makes no mention of it.

Mr. Rajavi emphasized that the tortures which the mullahs inflict on dissidents, particularly against Mojahedin women, are far more ruthless than stoning. He added: Despite Khatami's hollow sloganeering about a "civil society," stoning, repression and terrorism -- the hallmarks of this medieval regime -- have escalated under his presidency. Since he took office, the state-run newspapers have reported at least seven cases of stoning.

Mr. Rajavi said: As we approach the end of the twentieth century, we are faced with a regime which in order to preserve its rule, utilizes the most advanced technical and professional achievements, including long-range missiles, and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and at the same time upholds and promotes penal laws of the past millennia, including stoning, retribution, beheading, amputation of limbs and flogging.

In a discourse on Islam, Mr. Rajavi said that according to the Quran itself, its verses could be divided into muhkamat (the fundamentals whose interpretation remains immutable) and mutashabehat (those which can be interpreted according to changing circumstances). Citing many Quranic verses to support his discourse, Mr. Rajavi said: As a dynamic and populist religion which before all else heralds freedom, justice and compassion, Islam can adapt its social and economic precepts, including penal decrees, to the needs of the developing human society.

Mr. Rajavi concluded: The mullahs ruling Iran have nothing to do with Islam neither in practice nor in theory; they merely exploit Islam as a means of retaining power. Today, two diametrically opposing Islams are engaged in a destiny-making battle in Iran. One is a despotic and retrogressive Islam advocated by Khomeini and his like-minded mullahs who are in the minority. The other is a democratic and dynamic Islam espoused by the Mojahedin and backed by the masses of Iranians who yearn for freedom and justice.

People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran
January 30, 1998

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