Mr. Mohajerani goes to Washington

Former Minister of Islamic Guidance calls for impeachment of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei

Balatarin
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Mr. Mohajerani goes to Washington
by Tara Mahtafar
20-Oct-2009
 

Ataollah Mohajerani's political career began in 1980 when he entered the Islamic Republic's first Majlis as a representative from Shiraz as its youngest member. He served as the deputy for parliamentary affairs under Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi and later under President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Mohajerani is best known for his tenure as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance during Mohammad Khatami's reform-minded presidency. His official policy of "leniency" ushered in Iran's cultural renaissance in 1997, which initially saw an explosion of free press and arts in the country. His liberal policies won him many enemies; he survived an impeachment by the conservative-dominated 5th Majlis, but eventually sent a 50-page letter of resignation to Ayatollah Khamenei and stepped down in April 2000.

Mohajerani currently lives in London with his wife Dr. Jamileh Kadivar, a former parliamentarian, and maintains a personal weblog at www.maktoub.ir.

In Iran's 2009 presidential election, the ex-Ershad chief backed Reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi. He is now a vocal supporter of the pro-democracy Green Movement, a cause he promoted this week at a high-profile conference at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a conservative DC-based think tank.

Dr. Ataollah Mohajerani ('Ata' to intimates), a famously polished speaker, thwarted impeachment when serving as Mohammad Khatami's Culture Minister by virtue of an eloquent defense to Majlis. His talk on "The Future of the Green Movement" to a packed audience of Iranian diaspora Monday night at Montgomery College in Virginia, true to form, was laced with philosophic references and poetry.

Yet Mohajerani did not mince words when it came to the nuts-and-bolts questions facing the opposition movement in Iran's ongoing internal crisis.

He began by cautioning against haste and expectations for fast results. "The Green Movement is an opportunity for the Iranian people to define themselves on their own terms. The process requires time -- it's not a sprint, but a marathon."

He warned that any act toward radicalization would spell "the death of the Green Movement," and stressed the need to preserve its non-violent nature. "The age of armed resistance is passé, unless you're al-Qaeda," he said. "If we answer violence with violence, we are no different from them [the government]."

The veteran Reformist named Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami as the political leaders at the helm of the movement. He said that while a multitude of demands had escalated after June's fraudulent election, the original goal of the post-election protests is the "national" banner under which the movement should unite, in order to avoid becoming divided and ineffective. "We must move together in an organized and cohesive manner, just as birds trapped in a net will be able to lift off only when they all fly in one direction."

He next expounded on this 'original goal' of the Green Movement, adding that a 'second goal' had emerged in the wake of the government's brutal response to protests.

The foremost demand, Mohajerani said, centers on the signature question "Where is my vote?" -- a phrase "coined by the country's youth" to "denounce the [Ahmadinejad] government as illegitimate."

"Those who orchestrated the vote fraud imagined that society would show no reaction if faced with a fait accompli. But in fact, they are now unable to manage the country."

The former parliament deputy went on to say that Majlis, the Iranian parliament, can help end the country's political deadlock by voting to impeach Ahmadinejad on grounds of being unfit to head an administration [adam-e kefayat] and lack of legitimacy [adam-e mashruiyat].

He added that the Iranian public must keep up efforts of staging anti-government protests on calendar occasions, as has been the trend thus far. He also encouraged artists not to attend award ceremonies, as a way of refusing to recognize the government.

But the Green Movement doesn't stop at Ahmadinejad, Mohajerani told his audience. In light of the state-sponsored violence, jailing, detainee torture, and show trials that met protesters who were exercising their "constitutional right to free assembly," the top authority in charge of the country must also be impeached.

"The Leader is responsible for these events. This word comes from "responding" to questions. He must answer to what has happened in Iran. Just as he ordered the closure of Kahrizak [detention center], he could have stopped these other terrible incidents."

"The Assembly of Experts has a duty to weigh in on the role of the Supreme Leader and hold him accountable. If it fails to do so, the Experts will have deviated from their primary function."

Although Mousavi and others opposition leaders had previously hinted in various statements at the involvement of the man at the top of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the so-termed 'electoral coup,' they had never directly called for his removal (to do so, while living in Iran, would be tantamount to suicide). Grand Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, Iran's top Shia theologian, issued a fatwa declaring Khamenei's rule as Supreme Leader illegitimate.

Mohajerani pointed out that both these demands -- the impeachment of Ahmadinejad by Majlis and Khamenei by the Assembly of Experts -- are "within the framework of the constitution."

The former Culture Minister ended his speech by emphasizing that the Green Movement is a "national and independent" movement that does not need "support" from the United States or other external forces.

It was interesting to watch a former Islamic Republic official, who still looked and sounded like one, addressing a roomful of Iranians -- the women were hejab-less and the men in ties -- on a visit to the capital of the United States (to speak at the Washington Institute, no less).

First published in Frontline/Tehran Bureau.

Balatarin
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Fred

Farah

by Fred on Wed Oct 21, 2009 04:22 AM PDT

Few months back without mincing his words “Ata” answered your question in a BBC Persian T.V. interview

In response to do you agree with your friends like Kadivar (not identified as his brother in-law) and Soroosh having come out saying they now believe in total separation of mosque and state, “Ata” had an unequivocal NO.

He went further and opined and this is paraphrase, Islam out of political power cannot achieve its mandate and be Islam. Although not as clearly, he has been saying very much the same thing during his sermons/lectures at the Towhid center in London.

 

For his openness, at least in that interview, he should be commended.


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Farah Rusta

Not a single mention of Secular!

by Farah Rusta on Wed Oct 21, 2009 03:49 AM PDT

The writer of this report tells us:

"Yet Mohajerani did not mince words when it came to the nuts-and-bolts
questions facing the opposition movement in Iran's ongoing internal
crisis."

What a surprise that the not-minicing-his-words 'Ata' managed to so eloquently (!) dodge the core question: Is your proposed democarcy a secular one in which religion is not the basis of governance? 

FR


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Darius Kadivar

For this Fokoli Islamist ...

by Darius Kadivar on Wed Oct 21, 2009 03:24 AM PDT


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Red Wine

...

by Red Wine on Wed Oct 21, 2009 01:45 AM PDT

برحسب عادت، ملّا زاده از نشخوار ملّا ی دیگر تناول کند، غیر از این چاره ندارد که نوکر است و نانش به اینجور در روغن است .


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jamshid

Re: FG

by jamshid on Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:01 PM PDT

Without agreeing or disagreeing with you, I want to say that I believe you have touched an important topic in your comment. This topic deserves better than just being a mere comment! I suggest you blog on this sensitive but impotant issue.


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oktaby

Molla

by oktaby on Tue Oct 20, 2009 08:30 PM PDT

The only thing your comments expose is you.

OKtaby


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Mola Nasredeen

سخنرانی مهاجرانی در آمریا آب در لانه مورچه گان ریخته است

Mola Nasredeen
Tue Oct 20, 2009 07:48 PM PDT

حتی حضرت اخ تف سلطنه نیز درین ارتباط اظهار نظر کردند.

سلطنت طلب ها, جنگ طلب ها, طرفداران جورج بوش صغیروالعقل, این جمع مرتجع, همگی توی این بلاگ ریختن و به یکی از مهمترین رهبران جنبش رفرمیستی ایران فحاشی میکنند.

از کوزه همان برون تراود که در اوست.


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Red Wine

...

by Red Wine on Tue Oct 20, 2009 04:24 PM PDT

خاک بر سر امریکأی‌ها کنند که اینقدر خار طلبند و الکی‌ به این اسلام گرای بی‌ خانواده ،ویزا میدهد !  این مردک رادیکال مار صفت بدانجا میرود برای چه ؟! این دمکرات‌ها آمدند که امریکا را خرابتر آن چیزی که هست کنند...


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FG

Sorry but I must disagree with some opposition responses here.

by FG on Tue Oct 20, 2009 03:22 PM PDT

I can understand the bitterness here toward the Islamic Republic and those who supported it early, considering past crimes.  I share in in it, including doubts toward the whole concept.

Yet you must think strategically and long range if you expect to get anywhere.   

People change.  There are hundreds and more likely thousands within the opposition who once supported the regimes.   That includes not only some opposition leaders but even ex-Revolutionary Guard.  Then there are more recent and growing defections even among the Basilj. Besides, many members of the public supported such crimes or turned a blind eye in the eighties and earlier before having their eyes opened to reality.   Should they be expelled from the opposition for not having purist credentials?

Such defections are a sure sign of progress and shouldn't be discouraged.  The opposition needs unity.  Who benefits except the worst of men if it is disunified and divided?   I'd agree that there should be no forgiveness for those who whole-heartedly supported or participated in more recent crimes  to the end. Off with their heads by all means.

Let it be the regime--not the opposition--that suffers from increasing divisions.   Defections and speeches of this sort eat away regime morale far more than student defections, so welcome them.  Let's not forget the end goal we become so anxious to pick at potential allies over such matters.

If the hard liners are ousted and the regime "reformed," such change won't satisfy everyone fully but it will open the door to further evolution quickly since freer institutions and media will be part of the package.  If most people in Iran have by then have lost all confidence in the concept of an "Islamic" republic by then--as I suspect is likely--then pressure for further demoncratization will become overwhelming while the reform regime will lack means or heart for further crackdown.

Do you recall the attempts to preserve a sort of refomed communism in post-coup Russia and in Germany after hardliners fell?  Neither lasted long because the concept of a communist government and state had been so long underlined by the previous regime as to be unsalvageable.   I suspect the same will be the case here given the regime's ham-handedness.   So be patient.

PS: Notice the Ayatollah's absence of turban and robes. 

 


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shushtari

this guy is one of them....

by shushtari on Tue Oct 20, 2009 02:18 PM PDT

we don't need another 'reformed' bache akhoond who is asking for forgiveness of his previous sins....

 

iran needs a secular republic, without the existence of any akhoond, basiji, or pasdar.....THAT'S IT, PURE AND SIMPLE!!

fools like this guy want to keep 'islamic' in the repulic.....their time is gone, and our brave brothers and sisters know better

 

javid iran 


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oktaby

Much obliged for giving the Green movement wisdom and direction

by oktaby on Tue Oct 20, 2009 01:59 PM PDT

In the context of his former and current existence his cliche  'wisdom' and soundbites are not just hollow but self serving, hence, the references to 'legality' and constitution. The islamic regime is a bastard child and stain on Iranian history and no constitution can change that. Cosa Nostra have rules too but that does not make them legal or legitimate. He is welcome to join the movement in the back row. The last thing Iranians need is advice and 'insight' from those who served and were served by the islamic regime that curiously never end up in other muslim countries once out of favor but in London, DC and Paris. In a secular Iran he can be a citizen and get used to working for a living (assuming he was not in on student murders during period of his ministry), and that is more than the current regime will offer him which is prison, rape and execution. This movement will go where it will go peacefully which is more than the totality of islamic republic ever offered since inception. And resort to any means necessary to defend the Iranian national identity when it sees fit. That decision will come when it comes and it will be made in Iran by the leaders in the making and those who defend Iran now because they love her, our heritage and want some resemblance of normalcy.

OKtaby


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arash_zlord

Montgomery College

by arash_zlord on Tue Oct 20, 2009 01:53 PM PDT

Montgomery college is actually in Maryland, and the one that Mohajerani was speaking at was the rockville campus.


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MRX1

How did he a get a visa

by MRX1 on Tue Oct 20, 2009 01:43 PM PDT

I thought as an Iranian citizen you have tough time getting U.S visa, so how is it that these IRI lackeys are always in washington giving lectures and seminars that bunch of bikar attend.What happend to war on Terror and not talking to terrorists?

He wants Ahmadinejad impeach. some one should tell him we want the whole regime impeach including him and his pals!


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