Reformers Express Final Solutions

Just a day after the statement of the leader of the Islamic republic of Iran which according to observers did not display any signs of softening and one week after the 17th statement of Mir-Hossein Mousavi whose flexible points were not followed up by pro-administration groups, Mehdi Karoubi wrote an open letter to the Iranian nation and while declaring his readiness to accept “any consequence”, presented five options out of the current “crisis” facing the country.

“Confessions, repentance by oppressors and acceptance by people, correction in the revolutionary path, refrain from using violence, search for the roots and causes of recent events, and, a discussion with the representatives of the regime” for the purpose of resolving the current political crises in Iran have been stressed by Karoubi in his statement. In addition to this letter, seyed Mohammad Khatami also issued a warning to the consequences of not accepting the existence of a crisis in the country, while Ali Akbar Rafsanjani also stressed on the need to burn the roots of the differences and said, “Measures to resolve current issues and remove differences must take place by understanding the importance of time and any waste of time can destroy available opportunities.”

Strong Criticism of Ashura Events
In his letter, Karoubi harshly criticized the manner in which military men ruling Iran confronted people on Ashura and wrote, “What I saw with my own eyes and the merciless killing that took place are not something that one can easily bypass.”

“The violence perpetrated by some groups charged with maintaining security ad the devaluation of human life came to such heights that on the day of Ashura, in the Islamic republic of Iran a military vehicle drives over people, people are thrown down from high buildings, and their chests become targets of bullets, probably because they were all enquiring about their [presidential] vote and expressing their calls for justice,” the letter read.

Arguing that the actions of the regime have been bad, Karoubi asked, “Even if they succeeded in silencing everybody, what are they going to do with the video clips that show killings on Ashura and the image that is left of the Islamic republic to future generations.”

Karoubi, who is the head of the Etemad Melli party, listed the many crimes committed by the regime which includes, stabbing people in Tehran, Mashhad and other cities, charging people with Mohareb (fighting God on earth), etc. He also charges agents of the regime to have broken the sanctity of Ashura, noting that the martyrs were wearing black this Ashura.

In his letter, this mid level cleric who had been a presidential contender in 2009 blasted the repressive measures of the ruling circles in Iran and wrote, “They feel so lonely and fearful that they pressure clerics to come and cooperate with them. They mobilize Friday prayer leaders to condemn protestors as Mohareb.” He even blasted a cleric group in Qom, the Jame Modaresin Hoze Elmie Qom (the Qom Theological Society Teacher’s Association) saying, “The current Jame Modaresin is under the impression that it enjoys the same status that it did during the revolution and in its initial phase. Some of its new members believe that in the absence of the grand scholars they can get rid of a senior cleric through a statement,” which was a reference to the Association’s recent denouncement of grand ayatollah Sanei’s critical comments.

Karoubi even went as far as openly charging the regime of using religion to govern. “They rule in the name of religion and thus deeply disgrace it.”

Readiness for Any Consequence
Karoubi’s letter and proposals for a resolution of the current crisis in the country comes ten days after Mir-Hossein Mousavi issued a similar conciliatory statement and suggested five ways to end it, stressing that so long as the authorities of the Islamic regime did not acknowledge and accept the existence of a crisis, no solutions will emerge. His solutions were that the government accepts responsibility vis-à-vis the Majlis and the judiciary, reforms the election law, released political prisoners, guarantees freedom of the press, freedom expression and freedom of assembly. That proposal was partly welcomed by some Principalists (a pro-administration hardline group to which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad belongs as well) but die hard supporters of Ahmadinejad harshly attacked and rejected it, who in turn asked Mousavi to repent or commit suicide.

Karoubi’s letter, which was published on his website, mentioned Mousavi’s statement and calls it “honest.” He said that the way to come out of the current crisis was to fully implement the constitution, particularly respect the independence of the judiciary and refrain from interfering in its affairs.

The first of Karoubi’s five proposals is the “confession and repentance of despots and the forgiveness of the people.” They must repent because of what they have done, he writes, including “keeping people in poverty.” This he said was the first step for conciliation.

The correction of digression from the revolutionary path is the second step. “There is no doubt that those in power have diverted the revolution, which cannot be attributed to people,” Karoubi writes. “The correction of this diversion is possible through the implementation of the constitution and international conventions that we have signed and to which we are committed.” He mentions “Freedom of press, and the recognition of criticism, freedom of political prisoners and the rule of law” as the way to go.

Refrain from using violence is the third step proposed by Karoubi. “We believe in Velayat Faghih (rule of the cleric) and the Islamic Republic based on the vote of 98 percent of people and not on an Islamic republic that negates the votes of people. This is why we believe in correcting the revolutionary path through non-violent means,” the letter reads.

His fourth step is to understanding and accept the roots and causes of recent events, which he attributes to anti-people activities of state agencies such as forced confessions and says the roots lie in the 2009 elections, which in his words were the first steps in the process of negating the rights of people. Karoubi, a former speaker of Iran’s national assembly, the Majlis, advised the security apparatus of the state to search for the roots of the recent events rather than “justifying their imaginations.”

Karoubi’s last step and proposal is that he is ready for a debate and discussion with any representative of the state as an effort to show who has deviated from the revolutionary path and who is responsible for the cruelty imposed on people.

He ends his letter by saying that, “While our opponents call us hypocrites, source of riots, and affiliated to foreign governments, we do not call our opponents hypocrites, counter revolutionaries and non-Muslim. Only an open debate watched by people shall clarify who is right and who is wrong, who has shifted from the principles of the imam (a reference to ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic regime), and who continues to insist on his principles. People would be the ultimate judges in this debate, and who is better than them.”