Khatami Calls for Referendum to Judge Iran Government’s Legitimacy
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Former president and leading reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami has urged that Iran hold a nationwide referendum to allow voters to judge whether the 12 June election was legitimate or whether the government has sought to stay in power through mass fraud and other illegal means. Several reformist websites have reportedly carried the news, with Khatami saying “Durability of order and continuation of the country’s progress hinge on restoring public trust”.
The announcement comes on the heels of an embarrassing display of brutality by the government, which attacked opposition supporters with tear gas, while Friday prayers were ongoing, and then assaulted one of the opposition candidates, Mehdi Karoubi, when he emerged from Tehran University, where the powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon denouncing the government’s use of violence to intimidate dissenters.
Rafsanjani’s address, Karoubi’s being bloodied by pro-government militia and now Khatami’s call for a referendum, appear to be crystallizing public sentiment against the government and breathing new life into the opposition protest movement. Rafsanjani, himself a leading cleric and former president, said the nation is now in “crisis” and urged all parties to find a way to work together to emerge from the crisis with a legitimate democratic process and without the use of force to resolve political disputes.
He urged the government to release all political detainees. Khatami says the current leadership, which would include the president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i, betrayed the principles of the Islamic republic and threatened democracy by backing an election process so marred by fraud and manipulation.
“From the start,” said Khatami, “we said there is a legal way to regain that trust. I openly say now that the solution to get out of the current crisis is holding a referendum”. Iran’s constitution requires that any national referendum be called by the supreme leader himself and monitored by the Guardian Council, a committee of jurists and clerics that normally supports the supreme leader. Since Khamene’i has so visibly chosen sides, Khatami proposes a more independent body, like the Expediency Council.
Last week, opposition candidate Mehdi Karoubi sent a letter to Iran’s chief judiciary officer, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, accusing the government of effecting a military coup d’etat in order to stay in power. Karoubi enumerated crimes like raiding homes, destroying property, kidnapping people and murdering young people in the streets. He warned that failure to take some legal action against the leaders of the government could result in further abuses:
Assuming that government officials and perpetrators can silence this wave temporarily thought violence, imprisonment, and coercion, what will they do with the smouldering ashes? What will they do in the face of their lack of domestic and international legitimacy?
Karoubi also accused the regime of mistreating prisoners. He said:
A great number of the detainees are ill and even include pregnant women. A number of them have held posts within the system at various points in recent decades. None have been given the right to legal representation or consultation. The locations where a majority are being held have not been made clear to their families, and even the state of the health of many of them is still shrouded in mystery for their families.
Karoubi also attended a rally last week, in which he is reported to have said the alleged manipulations of the electoral process mean the government is “illegitimate”. He repeated the opposition’s call for the vote to be annulled and a new election held. Whether Khamene’i could be forced by popular support or pressure from influential clerics to call a referendum on the legitimacy of the party he favors is unclear, but Friday’s crackdown is being treated as a sign by many who believe his days as supreme leader may be numbered.
- Iran Government Attacks Civilians During Friday Prayers
- Rafsanjani Decries Iran Crackdown, Urges Release of All Political Prisoners (updated)
- Mousavi, Karoubi to Attend Friday Prayers Led by Rafsanjani
- Iran Security Forces Rush Demonstrators, Who Chant “We are Not Afraid”
- Iran Association of Researchers & Teachers of Qom Declares Vote-count Illegitimate
- Iran’s President Ahmedinejad Orders Probe into Shooting Death of Neda Soltan
- Mir Hossein Mousavi’s official message to Iranians abroad (transcript)
- Kalemeh, Mousavi’s Web Site, Shut Down by Iranian Authorities
- Detained Reformists Reportedly Tortured to Induce Testimony About ‘Foreign Plot’
- What Happened at Baharestan Square?
- Iran Protesters Reportedly Attacked ‘Like Animals’ by Security Forces
- Iran’s Guardian Council Finds Ballots Cast Exceeded Number of Voters in 50 Cities
- Update on State Violence Against Demonstrators in Iran (video)
- Reports of Shots Fired at Iranian Demonstrators (video, links & updates)
- Khamene’i Demands End to Protests, Says Disputed Results Will Stand
- Open Letter from Iranian Academics to UN Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon
- Massive Opposition Rally in Tehran Mourns Slain Demonstrators (video)
- Pro-Mousavi Demonstrations & Iranians’ Constitutional Rights (video)
- Iran Opposition Movement Forces Khamenei to Investigate
- Iran Crackdown: Is it Tacit Admission Vote was Rigged?
- Iran Declares Ahmedinejad Winner, Results Widely Questioned as Fraudulent
- Rivals Ahmedinejad & Mousavi Both Declare Victory in Iran Election
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