Iran's opposition increases demands despite clampdown

The opposition movement has increased its demands as the government has continued to clamp down on its activities. Michael Theodoulou and Maryam Sinaiee, foreign correspondents, report Iran's flagging opposition leaders issued defiant statements condemning their "totalitarian" government as they called for radical reforms of the country's system of clerical rule. Some even dared raise the taboo subject of the Supreme Leader's absolute powers and conduct.

Their statements, seemingly coordinated, are a sign that the opposition "green" movement feels confident, and perhaps desperate, enough to define itself and inspire a far-reaching debate of the future of the Islamic republic, analysts said. Mehdi Karrubi yesterday attacked the authorities for jailing protestors and "filling cemeteries" with those killed in the mass public uprising against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election as president.

Mr Karrubi, a septuagenarian cleric, also took aim at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, supposedly a neutral arbiter and lofty guide, who is meant to stay above the tumultuous fray of factional politics. The ayatollah, to the dismay of many Iranians, swiftly endorsed Mr Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory as a "divine blessing". Ayatollah Khamenei is Iran's Velayat-e Faqih, or supreme jurisprudent, a concept at the core of the Islamic Republic's constitution.

In an open letter to Iranians, Mr Karrubi demanded: "Why have they resorted to Velayat-e Faqih to undermine the constitution and the Islamic republic which depends on people's votes?" Stingingly, he added: "The authority and domain of Veyalat-e Faqih has been expanded so much, it is unlikely that God could have granted so much authority to the prophets and Imams." Days earlier, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who millions of Iranians believe was the real winner of last June's election, published the "green" movement's first political charter. It strives to unite the disparate opposition behind a definable set of goals.

"I'm not so sure that the green movement has evolved from 'what I am against' to 'what I'm for', and it seems to me that's probably what Mousavi's trying to do," Gary Sick, a renowned Iran expert at Columbia University in New York, said in an interview. The opposition started out by merely demanding a vote re-count. But its demands have grown in the face of regime intransigence. Mr Mousavi's charter came a day after a dissident politician, who held ministerial posts in governments that preceded Mr Ahmadinejad's administration, apologised for mistakes by administrations since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

These, Mostafa Tajzadeh said, included the mass execution of opponents in 1988, the jailing of dissidents in the early days of the revolution and the ousting of senior clerics who opposed the fledgling system. "If we had objected back then, we would not have these problems now," Mr Tajzadeh wrote in an open letter. He also called for an end to veto rights by the Guardian Council, a powerful, unelected vetting body that screens candidates for election.

Mr Tajzadeh's apology was of great importance "because many of the young see all these people as part of the same group," said Ali Ansari, the director of the Institute of Iranian studies at St Andrews University in Scotland. "Tajzadeh is basically seeking to address this point by accepting past mistakes," he added in an interview. A green movement supporter in Tehran, who requested anonymity, said that Mr Tajzadeh's "apology touched me a lot … Many reformists I know are very repentant of their radicalism in the past and now see religion as a personal matter rather than as a matter of state."

Some younger followers of the disparate grass-roots green movement have been wary of its nominal leaders, who emerged from the establishment they are now challenging. Mr Mousavi was a former prime minister and Mehdi Karrubi, who also stood in last year's election, was a parliament speaker. Both men, loyal to the Islamic republic they helped found but highly critical of its governance, are pressing for reform within the constitution through peaceful means.

Mr Mousavi, however, stressed that the constitution is not an "eternal and unchangeable" document. His charter contains condemnation of the present government, which he brands as "totalitarian". He called for a fair trial of those he said "committed fraud" in last year's presidential election, prosecution of those who led the violent crackdown on last summer's protests, and the release of political prisoners.

Referring to corruption, he said "taxpayers' money is prone to pillage by holy-looking thieves". And he called for an "end to the involvement of police and military forces in politics". Mr Mousavi went on to outline the principles of the movement, which envisage a nationalist, reformist Iran with free elections and an independent judiciary and press. He demanded equality for women, minorities and ethnic groups.

On foreign policy, his charter asserts the movement's independence from foreign groups but - in a tacit sideswipe at the current government - calls for "transparent and constructive interaction with the world, rejecting adventurous and populist diplomacy". He stressed the importance of social networks, whether virtual or otherwise, in the context of pluralism, tolerance, freedom of expression and the interaction of ideas. "Every Iranian is a movement" is the slogan. His charter is only "a first step" and "guideline".

A key passage insists that the best way to strengthen religious values is to emphasise the "compassionate aspects of Islam". The green movement, Mr Mousavi said, should "oppose the use of religion as an instrument and protect the independence of religious institutions and clergymen from the state to preserve the prominent position of religion". Some analysts have interpreted this as a dramatic call for the separation of religion and state. Others doubt Mr Mousavi went so far.

He was most likely calling for a return to the early years of the Islamic republic, before the constitution was revised in 1989 to give the supreme leader greater powers, an analyst in Tehran said. His statement could be seen as a call for the government to end its "huge funding" of seminaries and mosques that have made them dependent on the regime, the analyst, who declined to be named, added. Mr Mousavi and Mr Karrubi represent two wings of the green movement, the first cautious, the latter more outspoken.

Both men, however, have publicly committed themselves to the reform movement, despite the personal risks. Mr Mousavi's nephew was assassinated in the post-election unrest; Mr Karrubi has been repeatedly roughed up while his son claims to have suffered a severe beating by government-backed goons. Mr Karrubi declared once again to the green movement yesterday that "I will be committed to my pact with you until the end".

mtheodoulou@thenational.ae

Maryam Sinaiee reported from Tehran