More on Iranian pre-campaign politics
Ahead of Election, Iran’s Hard-Liners Crack Down"As the race for Iran’s presidential election heats up, hard-liners are cracking down on activists who have supported reformist candidates in the past...
"Last week, the authorities shut down the daily Kargozaran, one of the few major reformist newspapers... Iranian Web sites say pressure on students to end their political activities has also increased...
"And in another clear signal to activists, some 150 radical students demonstrated outside the house of Shirin Ebadi, the human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, on Thursday, accusing her of supporting the killing of Palestinians in Gaza...
"Last month, government officials shut down the group she founded, the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, and last week they raided her office, taking her computers and files. Ms. Ebadi has received death threats in the past but this was the first time that authorities had taken action against her...
"'The crackdowns are all part of the efforts to prevent Mr. Khatami from winning the elections,' said Farzaneh Roostai, the foreign editor of the daily newspaper Etemad...
"Hard-liners have increased pressure on political activists before previous elections. And the Guardian Council, a body of clerics and jurists that vets candidates for office, has prevented many reformers from running. But Mr. Khatami is a high-profile and charismatic leader, and it would be difficult for the Guardian Council to block his candidacy...
"Meanwhile, the issue of whether Mr. Khatami should run has set off a debate in political circles. Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice president to Mr. Khatami, said on his Web site last week that a senior conservative politician asked him in a meeting to urge Mr. Khatami not to run. 'If he becomes a candidate, we will be forced to support Ahmadinejad,' Mr. Abtahi said the official told him...
"Yet Saeed Leylaz, a reformist political and economics analyst, said that many reformers were urging Mr. Khatami not to run. 'First of all, there are many who think even if Khatami gets elected, he will face the same obstacles that he did when he was president before,' he said, referring to the opposition of powerful conservative institutions when Mr. Khatami was president from 1997 to 2005.
"'Secondly, there are serious concerns that they won’t let Mr. Khatami win under any circumstances, even if it means rigging the elections,' Mr. Leylaz said."
See Basiji strike again
Labels: Iran, leadership, politics
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:13 AM
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