Comparison with Bani-Sadr
In an unprecedented complaint letter to Iran’s supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei, Hashemi Rafsanjani references the accusations that Ahmadinejad made during his televised presidential debate earlier this month with the reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi in which he attacked a number of senior leaders of the Islamic regime, and said, “It is expected that you will take any effective measures that you deem appropriate to solve this problem and to remove dangerous ploys and prevent the inflammation of the fire that has been ignited in the process of the elections.”
Rafsanjani complained to the state-run national television organization for not being given the opportunity to respond to the accusations raised by Ahmadinejad. In another part of his letter, he compared the president to the administration of Bani-Sadr (the first president of the Islamic Republic who was removed from office because of his differences with ruling clerics and forced to flee the country) and wrote, “I do not intend to equate the current administration with that of Bani-Sadr’s, or call for a similar outcome for it, but the goal is to prevent the country from being dragged into the same quagmire as then.” In another part of the letter Rafsanjani writes that he has “refrained from giving an immediate response -something that the nation expects - in an effort to refrain from further contaminating the political atmosphere of the country on the eve of its elections.”
He took the verbal battle beyond himself and said that Ahmadinejad’s accusations also indirectly included ayatollah Khomeini and the current leader of the state, adding, “Unfortunately the remarks that Mr. Ahmadinejad made during the debate with engineer Mir-Hossein Mousavi which lack any truth and are irresponsible, and the preparations that were made for them before hand and what followed after them, bring to memory the bitter events and actions of the hypocrites (a term referred to identify the Sazemane Mojahedin Khalq of Iran, an armed opposition group residing in Iraq) and counter-revolutionary groups during the initial years after the victory of the [1979] revolution.”
Rafsanjani, who head the powerful State Expediency Council that mediates differences between the various political institutions of the Islamic state, called for action against Ahmadinejad and asks, “If those responsible for enforcing laws do not or can not deal with the express violations of the law and if the person of the president negates all respect and dignity and feels he has the right to commit such serious and unethical sins - despite having taken the oath to respect the Sharia and the law - how could they see themselves to be followers of the holly Islamic state?”
Finally, Rafsanjani through his letter, asks the leader to intervene to keep elections healthy and writes, “In the remaining days it is necessary that your desire and that of the nation to hold healthy and grand elections be upheld. A measure can be the savior of the country from danger and which would also lead to national unity and general trust and prevent culprits from pouring gasoline on fire.”
Plays Against the Revolution
In another unprecedented event, as a protest to what he called were “numerous violations” by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hossein-Ali Nayeri, the legal deputy of the Supreme Court called on the head of the judiciary to not invite Ahmadinejad to be the keynote speaker on the first day of the “judiciary week”. In his letter, which was fully published by the conservative Jomhurie Islami newspaper last Tuesday, Nayeri requests ayatollah Shahrudi [the head of Iran’s judiciary branch] that “in view of the situation that has come up this year and because of the numerous and express violation of Mr. Ahmadinejad, particularly his insult, slander and accusations against the leading and key members of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he should not be invited to the event to give a talk.”
In related news, 50 prominent clerics from the Qom Theological Center (Hoze Elmie Qom) issued a statement protesting the campaign activities of Mahmud Ahmadinejad. This news was widely quoted in domestic websites. The statement comes soon after four senior ayatollahs in Qom issued fatwas last week that any violations in elections were haram [i.e. a religious sin]. Ayatollahs Makarem Shirazi, Mousavi Ardebili, Javadi Amoli, and Sanei issued these fatwas which were published on websites affiliated to them. This came after a group of employees at the Ministry of Interior published an open letter which revealed that ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, the spiritual Godfather of Ahmadinejad’s administration, had issued a Fatwa sanctioning manipulations in elections and voting.
