Ahmadinejad Lacks Political Legitimacy

Two days after the results of Iran’s elections for its tenth president were officially certified, Mir-Hossein Mousavi issued a statement in which he calls Ahmadinejad’s administration to lack political legitimacy, while another reformer and former two-time president Mohammad Khatami called the event a “coup d’etat against republicanism.”

In his statement, Mousavi mentions that the Guardian Council had ignored the massive evidence of violations and fraud perpetrated during the election and warns, “The state cannot replace the trust of a people [that it needs] with a para-security force,” adding, “We shall now have a government that has the worst relations with the public, as a majority of the populace, including myself among them, do not accept its political legitimacy.”

To his supporters, Mousavi advised to keep alive their hopes in their hearts and stressed, “All the efforts that are undertaken these days in opposing you are for the purpose of making you hopeless in achieving the fruits of your legal protests, because until we become hopeless, this government shall not enjoy true credibility.”

To those who have been pressuring him to stop him from pursuing his rights, Mousavi said, “I forewent my personal right from the beginning, but I cannot compromise the usurped rights of the people.”

Mousavi concluded his statement by stressing, “A group of elite are planning to pursue the lost rights of the people in the election by forming a legal association and publishing documents and records indicating the [election] fraud and cheating that took place, pursuing these in courts of law and publicly announcing the results to the people. I will be joining this group.”

At the same time, seyed Mohammad Khatami, former 2-time president of Iran and a staunch supporter of Mousavi recently spoke in public and called the recent elections a “soft coup against the public and the republicanism of the system”.

Addressing the protestors, he called them “Iran and state lovers” while criticizing the Ministry of Interior for not issuing permits to those official and revolutionary based groups who desired to hold public gatherings, and the closure of all communication channels between the reformists and the public, adding, “What was the government’s response to this massive people’s movement: Bloodshed, turning society into a security atmosphere and launching accusations against those well-wishers of the system.”

Khatami also strongly criticized state-run radio and television networks for its one-sided propaganda and the government for limiting access to the Internet and the press. He  ridiculed the government’s questioning of people’s interest and turn to foreign news sources for information when they were kept in the dark by the government about the tens of arrests and detentions of the security forces.

“Millions of people came into the streets to protest while all legal communication channels had been closed to them, tens got killed and hundreds were beaten up! Where is the national television to show this to the country?” Khatami asked.

Addressing ayatollah Shahrudi, the head of Iran’s judiciary, Khatami said, “It was your duty as the head of the judiciary to intervene in these incidents strongly right from the beginning and forced those who resorted to arrest, mistreated prisoners, denied defense attorneys, engaged in interrogations, and broke the law to obey the law.”

He also called on the government to respect all the rights of the citizens and those who have been arrested and said, “Individuals whose actions are not officially held accountable by anyone arrested and pressured people who love the system and Iran, while the judiciary and intelligence agencies of the country officially express ignorance of these events.”

“If you want peace in society, those who perpetrated this violence and illegal arrests must be quickly identified to the public and judicial officials and the ugly security atmosphere must be lifted,” Khatami said, adding, “Those who are expected and tasked to be the defenders of people’s rights, but who have in fact humiliated the public, are the criminals, and not those who have been imprisoned for defending people’s rights including those of self determination and the people’s votes.”

Pointing to the public’s distrust and rejection of the announced election results said, “If this infected atmosphere continues, in view of what has taken place and the unilateral announcement, I must say that a velvet coup has taken place against people and the republicanism of the state.”

Mousavi’s statement and Khatami’s remarks came at a time when supporters of the ninth administration have accused Mousavi of committing a color coup and have engaged in attacking him and his supporters while a group of Majlis representatives are reported to have filed complaints against Mousavi. On Wednesday, a Basiji group wrote a letter to the attorney general of the country asking it to prosecute Mousavi.