Although confronting dissident clerics is not a new phenomenon in the Islamic republic, the harsh treatment of Fars representative ayatollah Dastgheib at the Assembly of Experts reveals that members of that assembly cannot tolerate the smallest criticism of the supreme leader or government.  Religious scholar Mohsen Kadivar tells Rooz about the recent Assembly of Experts conference, “the Guardian Council has selected the members of that Assembly deliberately for the day of emergency.  That day of emergency is today.  

In his interview with Rooz, Dr. Mohsen Kadivar explains that the Assembly of Experts hesitance in criticizing the supreme leader’s performance in these terms: “This is not a strange phenomenon.  It is not as if the Majlis or judiciary are performing their duties, so why should the Assembly of Experts?”

Dr. Kadivar adds, “all institutions in the Islamic republic, from the cabinet to the judiciary, from the Majlis to the Guardian Council and state radio and television and army and police, act in coordination and move in the same direction.”

Noting that “I am not surprised by what is happening,” he says, “If the Majlis was going to check the performance of the executive, as is mandated by the constitution, we would have witnessed the impeachment of several ministers, including the interior minister.  Or if the judiciary was going to perform its duties as mandated by law, we would not have witnessed these sham trials that are held under these circumstances and in the absence of a jury or a lawyer.”  

According to Kadivar, because of the Guardian Council’s engineering, 85 percent of the Iranian people do not have a representative in the Assembly of Experts, and current members of the Assembly represent only 15 percent of the Iranian society.  

This religious scholar referred to the majority of Assembly of Experts members as palace clerics, adding, “we have a saying from the prophet of Islam, which says, do not get your religion from clerics that are connected to the palace.  Now, the majority of our Assembly of Experts members are palace clerics.”  

Although it seemed that the project to remove Ayatollah Dastgheib from the scene would be left silent for some time with the supreme leader’s opposition, media outlets supporting the Ahmadinejad administration continue to pursue that project.  Hardline Kayhan daily wrote in its yesterday issue, “the support of the aforementioned individual of certain leaders of the disturbances aroused the widespread support of anti-revolutionary media outlets beholden to America, England and the Zionist regime.”