August 28, 2001 No.67
Iran After Khatami's Re-election: Caught Between the
Conservatives and the Reformists
Since Iranian President Mohammad Khatami was reelected on
June 8 for a second term, the power struggle between reformists
and conservatives has intensified. Currently, the struggle centers
mainly on: a] A multi-faceted conflict between the reformist
parliament and the conservative judiciary headed by Ayatollah
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi; and b] A conflict between
Khatami and both the parliament and the conservative
establishment over the nominees for cabinet positions [although
all Khatami's nominees were eventually approved] and the future
of the reforms.
I. The Struggle Between the Parliament and the Judiciary
The Makeup of the "Guardians Council"
Although Khatami won 77% of the vote, the constitution dictates
that the country's control is in the hands of the conservative bodies
subject to the authority of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who
has absolute power over matters of state.
Khamenei maintains his control through: a] The Expediency
Council, headed by former Iranian President Ayatollah Ali
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is the supreme arbiter in
disputes between government authorities [for example, the
parliament and the judiciary]; and b] The Guardians Council,
which is higher up in the governing hierarchy than the parliament,
and which is authorized to determine whether legislation passed
by the parliament is compatible with Islamic law [Shari'a].
[Indeed, the Council has, on more than one occasion, blocked
reformist parliament legislation]. The council is comprised of
twelve members “ six clerics appointed by Khamenei, and six
jurists nominated by the judiciary but subject to parliamentary
approval.
The first major crisis occurred with Khatami's inauguration:
According to the constitution, the ceremony could not be held
without the presence of all members of the Guardians Council.
But the reformist parliament had refused to approve the Guardians
Council nominees proposed by judiciary head Shahroudi, as all
the candidates were considered by the parliament to be
conservatives.[1] Postponing the inauguration, Khamenei
instructed the Expediency Council to urgently resolve the dispute.
In a meeting attended by Rafsanjani, parliament Speaker Mehdi
Karroubi, Guardians Council representatives, and Khatami
himself, the Expediency Council decided to enforce a
"parliamentary bypass mechanism," by which Shahroudi's
nominees would again be presented to parliament for its approval,
but if the absolute majority required by the constitution was not
obtained in the first round, a second vote would be held and
candidates would be chosen by a relative majority.
Thus, in the second round of voting, two of the nominees were
approved by a relative majority of just over sixty votes. Some 70%
[166] of the MPs presented cast blank ballots in an organized
protest,[2] accusing Shahroudi of "failure to cooperate with them"
in approving the list.[3]
Some MPs even walked out in protest during Shahroudi's speech
given at the swearing-in ceremony. Deputy parliament Speaker
Mohammad Reza Khatami, the President's brother, protested
against the Expediency Council's bias in favor of the conservative
judiciary, and said that the parliament "does not agree with the
council's decision but has no other alternative."[4] Yet despite the
reformists' show of power, the crisis was resolved within three
days, after the conservatives twisted the reformists' collective arm.
The reformist daily Iran News warned that if the disputes between
parliament and the judiciary continued, intervention by the
Expediency Council would become the norm, and the Council
"was likely to replace parliament as the legislative body."[5]
Prosecuting MPs
Reformist MPs, among them women, have been prosecuted
during the past year by the conservative judiciary for criticizing
conservatives in parliamentary discussions. Fatemeh Haqiqat-
Joo, a prominent MP and a member of the women's lobby in
the parliament, called for prosecuting the judiciary speaker for
accusing parliament of "running an inquisition" during the
election of jurists to the Guardian Council.[6] She was sentenced
to 22 months imprisonment for offending Islam and the Guardian
Council.[7]
Closing down Reformist Newspapers Since April 2000, some 40
reformist newspapers “ the mouthpieces for political circles and
reformist MPs “ have been closed down by judiciary directive.
Many reformist journalists have been arrested and jailed, accused
of circulating "propaganda against the regime" or endangering
state security.[8] Moreover, after "Journalists' Day" was marked in
Iran, and just one day after Khatami's inauguration, the judiciary's
Press Court shut down the prominent reformist paper Hambastegi
[Solidarity] on charges of slandering Judiciary head Shahroudi.[9]
The paper's owner, MP Ibrahim Bai-Salami, was subpoenaed
several times by the conservatives, and 15 complaints against him
were made by conservative individuals and institutions which are
pending. The Iranian Islamic Participation Front [IIPF], the
parliament's large reformist forum, claimed that "some members
of the judiciary are planning to thwart the reforms."[10] Following
Bai-Salami's acknowledgement that "insulting articles and
mistakes" had indeed appeared unintentionally in his paper, the
"temporary" closure order was lifted.[11]
Students Protest Over the Acquittal of Police for 1999 Riots
In July 1999, severe rioting spread throughout Iran after
plainclothes police broke into the University of Tehran and
attacked students protesting the closure of a reformist paper.[12]
MPs harshly criticized the judiciary for dragging its feet in
prosecuting the police.
Finally the judiciary acquitted the police. Moreover, in early July
of this year the court convicted the students and sentenced them to
six months to one year prison calling them "hooligans."[13] A
majority of 159 MPs submitted a petition to the judiciary head
Shahroudi criticizing "the transformation of victims into the guilty
party."[14] Student organizations severely criticized the judiciary,
and complained that the laws of the state were being perverted so
as to work against the reformist political movement. They claimed
that the verdicts were "worse than the blows in the [university]
dormitories¦ even [worse] than being killed."[15]
II. The Composition of the Cabinet “ Khatami between
Hammer and Anvil
After his inauguration, the path was clear for Khatami to present
his government. It was expected that Khatami would institute far-
reaching cabinet changes so as to implement the reforms to which
he had ceremoniously committed himself before his base of
support “ the students and the women.
But Khatami, caught between the hammer - conservatives who
effectively rule the country, and the anvil - the reformist
parliament calling for reform and for the approval of the
ministerial nominees, presented a government fundamentally
similar to the previous one.
The rightist ministers “ Defense Minister Shamakhani, who had
run against Khatami in the presidential election; Justice Minister
Shoushtari; Foreign Minister Kharrazi; Intelligence Minister
Younesi; and Interior Minister Moussavi-Lari, kept their seats
despite the reformists' demands in parliament to oust them. Most
of Khatami's changes concern the interior portfolios. Furthermore,
in Khatami's government, women, students, and the working
classes have no representation whatsoever, although they
constitute most of Khatami's base of power.
Both the reformist and the conservative press are sharply critical
of Khatami's timidity in his ministerial nominations, particularly
in light of the country's dire economic straits. Not only were there
only five new ministerial nominees, but the nominees to economic
posts were not sufficiently qualified or experienced.[16]
Despite threats by both conservative and reformist MPs, all of
Khatami's cabinet nominees were finally approved by the
parliament.
*Ayelet Savyon is Director of the Iranian Media Project.
[1] IRNA, July 18, 2001.
[2] Iran News, August 8, 2001.
[3] IRNA, August 9, 2001.
[4] IRNA, August 7, 2001.
[5] Iran News, August 6, 2001.
[6] Iran Daily, August 9, 2001; Aftab-e Yazd, August 8 2001.
[7] IRNA, August 20, 2001.
[8] Iran News, August 9, 2001.
[9] The Judiciary closed down the paper after it published MP
Rasoul Mehrparvar's harsh criticism of Shahroudi and the
Judiciary.
[10] IRNA, August 9, 2001.
[11] IRNA, August 20, 2001.
[12] IRNA, July 7, 2001.
[13] IRNA, July 9, 2001.
[14] IRNA, July 18, 2001.
[15] IRNA, August 2, 2001.
[16] Iran News, August 13, 2001; Tehran Times, August 13, 2001.
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