President Mohammad Khatami withdrew two key reform bills Tuesday, even as an official reviled by reformers as an enemy of press freedom was publicly honored as the "best manager" in the Iranian judiciary — small signs of the waning strength of the reform movement.
| I'd say the reform movement is dead. Since there's no middle ground, it's come down to either continue being ruled by mullahs or kill them. Eventually the Medes and the Persians will kill them, if we don't do it first... |
The bills, which Khatami announced last month he would remove from further parliamentary consideration, had sought to bring democratic change to Iran's religious theocracy. Abandoning them was an acknowledgment of the failure of a major reform battle advanced during Khatami's presidency.
| At least partially attributable to Khatami's failures as a person... |
One of the bills was aimed at increasing presidential powers in order to stop constitutional violations by unelected hard-liners. The other sought to bar the hard-line oversight body, the Guardian Council, from disqualifying parliamentary and presidential election candidates. Khatami withdrew the bills in a letter addressed to the parliamentary speaker, Mahdi Karroubi. The letter was read Tuesday in an open session of parliament and broadcast live on Tehran radio. The Guardian Council, which vets all legislation, rejected the parliament-approved bills in April and May 2003, saying they were unconstitutional and against Islam. "Since there is possibility of more changes against the spirit of the bills in the future, I demand withdrawal of both bills from the parliament," Khatami wrote. In recent years, Khatami's image has changed from leader of a once hugely popular reform movement to Alexander Karensky a weak president afraid of standing up to unelected hard-liners.
Also on Tuesday, Iran's unelected clerics honored one of the biggest enemies of Khatami's reform program: Saeed Mortazavi, a former judge and now Tehran prosecutor who was behind the closure of about 100 pro-democracy publications. Mortazavi was praised as "best manager" in the judiciary. Reformers have described Mortazavi as the "killer of press freedoms" for the closures and for jailing dozens of writers on vague charges of insulting Islamic sanctities. Iranian television showed a smiling Mortazavi receiving the award from top judiciary official, Abbas Ali Alizadeh. Alizadeh is also known as an opponent of democratic reforms. |