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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Focus Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Conservatives defied
By Safa HaeriConservative hard-liners in Iran suffered two humiliating defeats this week at the hands of the moderates led by President Mohamed Khatami. The first occurred on Saturday when the Majles (Iran's parliament) confirmed Ayatollah Mohajerani in his position as the Islamic guidance minister. A motion introduced last week by 31 hard-line MPs to impeach Mohajerani was defeated by 134 votes with 121 in favour and seven abstentions. Two days later there was another significant victory for the moderates. The first popularly elected city and village councils started their official work this week in spite of attempts by the conservative-controlled Supervisory Board to disqualify five leading members of Tehran's city council. The five not only kept their seats, but Hajatoleslam Abdallah Nouri, the former powerful interior minister who was impeached last year by the Majles, was elected president of the new Tehran city council.
Both victories against the hard-liners were good news to the Iranian progressives. The victory of Mr Mohajerani is regarded as an important triumph for all moderate reforming forces within Iran according to Mashallah Shamsolva'ezin, the editor of the liberal Neshat daily. "It is a triumph for the democratisation process" and one that was greeted with relief by the press and intellectuals.
Pro-Khatami newspapers -- Neshat and Salam -- hailed the Majles vote against the impeachment as confirming support for President Khatami's reform programmes. But hard-line papers affiliated to the conservatives downplayed their defeat. "Threats against Islamic and revolutionary values must be taken seriously," warned Resalat, a conservative daily that reflects the views of the bazaar oligarchy and the influential Islamic Coalition Association. Keyhan, the mouthpiece of the Information (Intelligence) Ministry, agreed noting that the war against corrupters would continue "unabated".
During the Majles debate that lasted more than seven hours and was broadcast live on Tehran radio, several hard-line MPs accused Mohajerani of a catalogue of offences. These included "leniency that encouraged depravity, corruption and prostitution; supporting corrupt Westernised artists, writers and intellectuals against those who were zealously defending Islamic and revolutionary values; preaching the separation of religion from the state; insulting Islam and Islamic personalities and praising the monarchy and anti-revolutionaries".
"Does the minister not sense a plot when affiliates of the dirty Pahlavi dynasty [the family of Iran's deposed Shah] and an executive of Radio Israel express satisfaction with the content of newspapers like Jame'eh or Toos? [Both banned on orders from the Supreme Guide of the Iranian Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.] Does he have any plan to counter such plots against the foundations of our regime?" asked Morteza Nabavi, the editor of Resalat.
MPs opposed to the Khatami reforms have been vocal in their condemnation of a broad spectrum of intellectuals, writers, journalists and scholars including two prominent Iranian poets Ahmad Shamlou and Simin Behbahani. They have denounced them as "enemies" of Islam, "apostates" and "blasphemers". The MPs claim that Mohajerani has authorised the publication of "hundreds" of immoral books encouraging perversity, homosexuality, love and depravity.
"The Prophet personally ordered the beheading of poets and his son-in-law, Ali, their whipping," pointed out Hojatoleslam Mousavi Hosseini, the MP who introduced the impeachment motion.
Mohajerani was not to be brow-beaten. In his defence he expressed doubt that his fellow legislators had read the books or knew the authors they were condemning. "There is a big gap between what one hears and what one learns by one's self," an ever smiling Mohajerani counter-charged. He reiterated his intention of continuing his policy of liberalising the cultural life of the nation as this is an "integral part" of the reforms promised and undertaken by President Khatami.
Analysts explain Mohajerani's stunning victory in the conservative-controlled Majles as the result of two factors. The impact of the minister's polished performance before the Majles and the fears felt by many independent MPs that they could lose their seats if they sided with the hard-liners and voted against Mohajerani, Khatami's most powerful minister and ally. To many MPs the minister's reasoned and factual explanations contrasted unfavourably with the vague and mostly unsubstantiated accusations of his hard-line opponents.
"The vote proves that the monopolists have lost steam, that despite their hold on the majority of traditional and deeply religious minded sections of the Iranian population, they are on the defensive, even in the Majles. This is proof that some conservatives have begun to think seriously of changing direction and of swimming with the current," said Sa'id Barzin, a university professor and analyst of Iranian affairs.
Before appearing in the Majles, Mohajerani had hinted that the draft to impeach him was "totally political". "Experience has shown that such moves will backfire and only add to the popularity of the person put under pressure," he said defiantly. In his first reaction, President Khatami defended his minister and praised him as "a man of culture, wisdom and potential". He described the achievements of the Culture Ministry in the areas of literature, arts, and culture and information dissemination as "valuable and extensive".
The action that sparked the whole impeachment controversy against Mohajerani was his open criticism of the head of the Judiciary, the hawkish Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, for ordering the closure of Zan, a feminist daily run by the daughter of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. The paper printed a two line New Year message from former Empress Farah Diba-Pahlavi to the Iranian people. Yazdi, who is a Khamenei appointee, interpreted this as a deliberate "anti-revolutionary, anti-Islamic, anti-state" action.
In a move to discredit Mrs Rafsanjani, hard-line newspapers disclosed that while on a recent visit to Cairo she had prayed at the tomb of the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who rests in the Al-Rifa'i Mosque. Mrs Rafsanjani issued a denial saying that her visit to that mosque was part of a sight-seeing tour organised by her Egyptian hosts.
Mrs Rafsanjani, who sits as the second elected MP from Tehran, boldly challenged Mr Yazdi. "Who are you to dare to accuse me, a member of the Rafsanjani family that has given blood for the revolution, of anti-revolutionary activity? Where were you when we were fighting for the revolution?" His only merit, she said, would appear to be his appointment by the nation's leader. The Guidance Ministry that controls the press says the insertion of the announcement was not a crime and is certainly not against Islam or the revolution. It has already earned the owner of the paper a warning from the ministry but was not thought serious enough to merit being dealt with by the Islamic Revolution Court (IRC).
