Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 23 - 29 November 2000 Issue No.509
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Mother of all trials

By Azadeh Moaveni

With their parliament rendered impotent, their leaders behind bars, and their constituency's patience long expired, these are gloomy days for Iran's reform movement. Cowed and silent, reformists are facing a final blow in a trial that began in early November of participants who attended an allegedly "anti-Islamic" conference in Germany in April. The conference, which charted the future of reform in Iran, drew a cadre of prominent reformists to Berlin, eager to expand their international presence after their resounding victory over conservatives in February's parliamentary elections.

The conference turned into a domestic scandal of grand proportions when state-controlled television ran footage of the Iranian opposition abroad stripping in the aisles to disrupt the conference. Reformists believe the exiled opposition, in either circumstantial or coordinated measures, conspired with the hardline establishment to embarrass the reform movement.

Participants of an allegedly "anti-Islamic" conference in Germany standing trial (photo: Reuters)

Like most of the spring's domestic scandals, many Iranians believed the fuss over the Berlin conference would soon blow over, especially with the reformists already weakened significantly by a massive conservative clampdown on their press activities and parliamentary agenda. But reformists have had no such luck, and the trial appears poised to yank behind bars the handful of key reformists still outside jail.

Several close allies of President Mohamed Khatami participated in the conference, including dissident cleric Yusefi Eshkevari, and investigative journalist Akbar Ganji. The former faces prosecution in the Special Court for Clergy, and could face death on apostasy charges. Most of the participants who stand trial have been released on bail, save the two who are perhaps the most serious challenge to the hard-line establishment: Eshkevari for his clerical defense of tolerance and pluralism, and Ganji for his series of investigative reports that inexorably linked forces in the government to the murder of political dissidents. Appearing in court last week, Ganji claimed he had been tortured by prison guards and announced a two-week-long hunger strike in protest against his mistreatment.

The prosecution shows no sign of tempering its legislative onslaught against even minor participants. It has demanded the death sentence also for Khalil Rostam-Khani, for "waging war on God" and participating in a communist organisation. Fifteen others who stand trial include Ali Afshar, the most prominent student leader in Iran, Shahla Lahiji, a book publisher, popular female MP Jamileh Kadivar and reformist editor Hamid-Reza Jalaipour.

The trial comes at a time when most Iranians have turned off politics. Gone are the days when the latest joust in the domestic power struggle was on the lips of every taxi driver and the subject of every dinner party conversation. The energy and vibrancy of the reform movement's heyday has clearly evaporated, and though pro-reform politicians warn of rising public disillusionment, they are poorly placed to make any substantive progress to rehabilitate themselves in the public's eyes. Iranians are now taking bets over whether or not Khatami will enter his second term as president, when months ago they spoke in terms of "when" rather than "if".

The fate of Iran's independent press also looks increasingly dark. The Islamic Iran Participation Front, the main reformist political party, only recently emerged from its six-month press ban. The embattled Culture Minister Ayatollah Mohajerani, who stands as a symbol of Iran's independent press for the permits his ministry dispensed so liberally, is a frequent target of hardline attack and constantly on the verge of resigning. Last week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei bluntly criticised the Culture Ministry "for doing what it should not have done, and not doing what it should have." Iranian government officials now admit candidly that the age of the independent press in Iran is resolutely over. Whether the movement's leading lights are finally snuffed out in what is known here simply as the "Berlin trial" remains to be seen. But perhaps the most serious damage has already been done -- most Iranians aren't following politics enough to notice one way or the other.

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