0625 GMT: Today may be the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, but --- at least up to now --- the news lies elsewhere.
Political developments are dominated by the manoeuvres for the Parliamentary elections on 2 March, and it looks like former President Hashemi Rafsanjani is worrying some people. Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi --- former Minister of Culture and the current cultural advisor of the Revolutionary Guards --- criticised Rafsanjani for his behaviour during and after the Presidential election of 2009.
Referring to Rafsanjani's son Mehdi, accused of financial irregularities in an attempt to manipulate that vote, and Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh, sentenced to six months in prison for "anti-regime propaganda" , Saffar Harandi said, "Hashemi’s relatives have started a war against the Supreme Leader, and not only has he done nothing to stop this, but in a way he has supported them."
Saffar Harandi added, "During the 2009 election, Faezeh Hashemi stated that we don’t recognise any one as the Supreme Leader, and Mahdi Hashemi said that if my father becomes the president once more, he will limit the Supreme Leaders power."
That last sentence appears to be a reference to a proposal, supported by Rafsanjani in the past, for a group of clerics --- on a limited, rather than a permanent, term --- to replace a single Supreme Leader at the head of the Islamic Republic.
Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani was also concerned with Rafsanjani yesterday, saying that even though the former President has done a lot for the Islamic Revolution, "I don’t like some of his attitudes."
Larijani also criticised government’s economic policies, while defending his politics, "I was one of those who condemned the 'sedition current'. But my political literature does not contain phrases such death to this and that."
This week pro-Ahmadinejad MP Hamid Rasaei implicitly accused Larijani of waving a "Green cloth" and chanting in support of the Green Movement on Election Day in 2009.
Posted via email from lissping
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