Wednesday 13 June 2012

The Latest from Iran (13 June): The Reformists and the Next Election

0520 GMT: After the disputed Presidential elections of 2009, Iran's reformists have been battered. Most of their leading figures are detained, under house arrest, or intimidated into silence. Their organisations and communications have been broken by regime measures and surveillance. Their official representation in Parliament has been reduced to a token presence.

Yet there are still reformist politicians trying to find a way back within the system. Consider this week's statement to acttivists by Abdollah Nouri, Minister of Interior in the Khatami Goverment.

Nouri held up the activities of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, both candidates in the 2009 election and both under house arrest since February 2011, as legal while considering the repression by the regime:

It is still not clear to us why, immediately after the Presidential election of 2009, a large group of political, university and media activists, including prominent members of political parties and reformist groups, were arrested through bizarre methods, why an atmosphere of terror was created and security approaches were implemented, and why reform leaders continue to remain behind bars three years after those events.

At the election headquarters of Karroubi and Mousavi --- both reformist candidates approved by the regime -00 these dear people were doing their normal work when suddenly everything changed the day after the elections and the exciting atmosphere of election campaigning turned to a security atmosphere full of tension to the point that both of these two popular and prominent personalities in the Islamic republic were eventually put under house arrest.

Nouri then looked forward, arguing that there was convergence between the Green Movement and the reformists on issues as the central place of changes to the system, work within the framework of the Constitution, the pursuit of people’s rights and freedoms, and the rejection of all forms of violence.

Nouri's remarks follows comments by Mohammad Mousavi Khoeini, a leading member of the Association of Combatant Clerics, who said reformists had not yet discussed the issue of participation in the 2013 Presidential campaign but referred to former President Mohammad Khatami as the “head of the reformers". 


from EA WorldView: EA Iran

Posted via email from lissping

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