Rafsanjani Calls for Emergency Meeting of Assembly of Experts

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17 June 2009 :: J.E. Robertson

An Iran observer last night told CNN that sources inside Iran report Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran’s most pre-eminent political figures, and a powerful leader of the Expediency Council —which resolves disputes between Parliament and the Guardian Council—, cleric and former president, has called for an emergency meeting of the Assembly of Experts, in Qom. The Assembly of Experts is a group of clerics who are the only body in the Islamic Republic able to select or unseat the supreme leader of the Guardian Council.

The news suggests an effort by Rafsanjani to charge that Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i may have violated the Iranian Constitution and participated in or condoned the rigging of the election. Rafsanjani himself is the current head of the Assembly of Experts, and is formally referred to as Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Some say the political tide began to shift away from Pres. Ahmedinejad when Rafsanjani, a conservative but a fierce critic of the hardline president, when Rafsanjani was named speaker of the Assembly of Experts in 2007. 

As we reported yesterday:

Article 3 [of the Iranian Constitution] lists as one of the principle goals of the state “the elimination of all forms of despotism and autocracy and all attempts to monopolize power”, as well as “the participation of the entire people in determining their political, economic, social, and cultural destiny”. Article 8 establishes on religious grounds a community principle, a “universal and reciprocal duty that must be fulfilled by the people with respect to one another, by the government with respect to the people, and by the people with respect to the government”.

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Rafsanjani could press for reprimand of or removal of the supreme leader on the grounds that he violated his duty to the people, or that he engaged in prohibited despotism, or that he obstructed the right of “the entire people in determining their political, economic, social and cultural destiny”, should it be shown he had a hand in or knowingly condoned the adoption of a falsified count in Friday’s election. While the supreme leader’s title and the reputation of the office holders has always suggested expansive almost unchecked power, there are constitutional constraints that could be brought to bear, and Khamene’i has apparently made serious errors in judgment over the last week.

His immediate and unconditional approval of the dubious official vote-count favoring Ahmedinejad implicated him in any scandal that may emerge if wrongdoing is publicly confirmed and uncovered. Rafsanjani resigned his post as head of the Expediency Council, which has often sided with the supreme leader, thus distancing him from the potential misdeeds of the current leadership. 

Pictures and video are emerging reporting that the Basij militia have raided university dormitories, seizing and destroying computers, arresting students and opposition supporters, and threatening and using violence. There are reports that as many as 7 people were killed yesterday when security forces opened fire on unarmed demonstrators. Another man was shown dead in the street, appearing to have died after being attacked by security forces over the weekend. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has called for a national day of mourning to honor those who were killed demonstrating in favor of a fair election.

The result of Ayatollah Khamene’i's administration of security forces and the election has led to the most widespread public demonstrations since the 1979 revolution that established the Islamic Republic. Beginning on the night of the election, when Khamene’i claimed a “divine” victory for Ahmedinejad only hours after voting had ceased, in an election with 40 million ballots to be hand-counted, the supreme leader has made almost no effort whatsoever to demonstrate personal allegiance to the constitutional requirement that “the entire people” have their say in electing the president.

What’s more, his pronouncement that the less than credible process was a “divine assessment” could be interpreted by the Assembly of Experts as “detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam”, the one category of media freedom banned by the Iranian Constitution (Article 24). Should he be found to have degraded Islam by his actions or statements, that might be enough to disqualify Khamene’i from continuing as supreme leader, even if he is not demonstrated to have conspired in the rigging of the vote or the killing of unarmed civilians.

Since Friday evening, when Khamene’i declared an absolute victory by landslide to Ahmedinejad, his preferred candidate, the supreme leader has agreed first to a thorough investigation of all allegations of vote-rigging, then to a partial recount, which was rejected by the opposition as an attempt to justify an illegitimate process. Now, his legitimacy is being called into question, an escalation in the campaign for legitimacy in the democratic process that puts Khamene’i at a significant disadvantage politically.

It has been reported that the struggle between Rafsanjani and Khamene’i, rival candidates for the succession to the nation’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, is really about the republican structure of the state. According to a report by the Guardian newspaper, Khamene’i enjoys the support of a network of “radical mullahs, revolutionary guards and intelligence officers who may not have been in the vanguard of the Islamic revolution but cut their teeth in Iran’s bloody 1980-88 war with Iraq”.

In this account of Iranian political affairs:

[Khamene'i's camp] which has coalesced around Ahmadinejad, harbours dreams of transforming Iran from an Islamic republic to an Islamic government, a distinction which would do away with elections and the need to observe the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s invocation to respect the “people’s will”. By this vision, Iran would forever take its guidance only from the divine, in the form of an all-powerful spiritual leader.

This then would explain the emergence of a powerful coalition of cross-party opposition figures, including reformists, conservatives, clerics and former military officers, whose critical voices have permitted a vastly expanded public space for open dissent and criticism of the nation’s top political leaders. 

It may be that the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to strip the supreme leader of all political authority and replace him, is contemplating with concern the massive nationwide opposition to the official results of the election and is preparing to make a choice between continuing to back Khamene’i personally, or replacing him in order to overturn the discredited election and reaffirm the constitutional legitimacy of the Islamic Republic as such.

Though the Assemby of Experts has never yet exercised strict supervision of the activities of either Khamene’i or his only predecessor in the post, Ayatollah Khomeini, it is also true that Iran has not seen such widespread anger at official misdeeds or open dissent since the revolution of 1979. Khamene’i may have handed the reformers their most significant victory, by robbing them of it.

UPDATE, 21:22 GMT: McClatchy reported yesterday that the Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, another of the founding circle of revolutionaries and one of the most prominent religious figures in Iran, has said that “No one in their right mind” can believe the official results declaring Ahmedinejad the winner of Friday’s vote. 

Montazeri’s online statement reportedly suggested official endorsement of the current count would call into question the legitimacy of the regime, saying  ”A government not respecting people’s vote has no religious or political legitimacy”. He also admonished security forces not to resort to brutality in order to silence dissent: “I ask the police and army personals (personnel) not to ‘sell their religion,’ and beware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God.”

Montazeri’s statement also urged the reformist movement to continue their calls for full electoral fairness in peace and non-violence, saying “I invite everyone, specially the youth, to continue reclaiming their dues in calm, and not let those who want to associate this movement with chaos succeed.”

He is not the only establishment figure to side with the opposition against Ahmedinejad and Khamene’i. Reports from Tehran also suggest at least 16 senior members of the Revolutionary Guards have been detained for communicating with the army to possibly join the opposition movement. Some or all of those detained are reportedly being held at an undisclosed location in or near the capital. 

• Pro-Mousavi Demonstrations & Iranians’ Constitutional Rights (video)
• Iran Opposition Movement Forces Khamene’i to Investigate
• Iran Crackdown: Is it Tacit Admission Vote was Rigged?
• Iran Declares Ahmedinejad Winner, Results Widely Questioned as Fraudulent
• Rivals Ahmedinajad & Mousavi Both Declare Victory in Iran Election
• Iranian Polls Kept Open Several Hours Longer than Planned
• Iran Votes, with Popular Reformist Challenging Hardline Ahmedinejad

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