| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Ahmadinejad defies supreme fearless leader over VP |
| 2009-07-24 |
| President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad showed rare defiance of his strongest backer, the Iranian supreme leader, by insisting on his choice for vice president on Wednesday despite vehement opposition from hardliners that has opened a deep rift in the leadership. Many clerics and politicians have denounced Ahmadinejad's choice for the post of first vice president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, because Mashai said last year that Iranians are friends with Israelis. There are also concerns because Mashai is a relative of Ahmadinejad -- his daughter is married to the president's son. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered Ahmadinejad to remove Mashai, semiofficial media reported on Wednesday. Arguing for a further chance to make his case, Ahmadinejad said, "there is a need for time and another opportunity to fully explain my real feelings and assessment about Mr Mashai". Clerics on Wednesday demanded the Iranian president obey Khamenei. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said whether Mashai is immediately dismissed "will test Ahmadinejad's loyalty to the supreme leader". "When the exalted supreme leader takes a position explicitly, his statement must be accepted by all means and implemented immediately," he said, according to the Mehr news agency. "Those who voted for Ahmadinejad because of his loyalty to the supreme leader expect the president to show his obedience ... in practice." Iran expert Suzanne Maloney pointed out that the supreme leader has not publicly spoken on the issue and reports of his order have been leaked by hardliners through semiofficial media. "If Khamenei comes out in Friday prayers calling for (Mashai's) removal, then it would be difficult to imagine Ahmadinejad would refuse that," said Maloney, with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Washington-based Brookings think tank. Ahmadinejad is "not looking to open his second term by picking a fight with his most important ally in the system", she said. Mousavi's wife: Meanwhile, the wife of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said her 62-year-old brother was among those detained after last month's disputed election in what she called a futile attempt to pressure her husband and herself. Zahra Rahnavard's comments, in an interview published by a pro-reform Iranian news agency on Thursday, were the latest in a series of defiant statements by Mousavi and his allies, who insist the June 12 presidential poll was rigged. Rahnavard, a prominent artist and academic who broke ground in the conservative Islamic state by campaigning for her husband in the election, told ILNA news agency that her brother, Shahpour Kazemi, was detained more than a month ago. Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform activists, journalists, academics and lawyers, were arrested during a post-election crackdown on the opposition. The authorities say most of those held have been released. A defence lawyer voiced concern on Wednesday about two other detained Mousavi backers, former government ministers Mostafa Tajzadeh and Behzad Nabavi, saying he did not know where they were being held. Rahnavard said she and other Iranians would not believe any "confessions by force" obtained from her brother."Those who make (such legal) cases should know that by continuing such actions ... the nation will abandon them, and putting pressure on Mousavi and me will not work," she said. Separately on Thursday, Iranian newspapers said seven members of parliament's national security commission had urged Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei to air confessions made by detainees on state television. In early July, a senior pro-reform cleric, Grand Ayatollah Yusof Saanei, said "confessions taken while in captivity and under critical conditions, are religiously, legally and logically invalid and worthless," according to his website. Rahnavard said her brother was a telecommunications expert and not a political figure. "One cannot imagine any accusations against him, such as seeking riots or having relations with foreigners," she said. "But now we are witnessing an organised method of making cases (against people) through immoral ways ... by some people who play with other people's reputation because of their short-term political goals." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 TOPIX > RUSSIA AND IRAN WILL NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO GET A FOOTHOLD IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS; + ONLYA "RANDOM" COURSE OF EVENTS CAN PREVENT IRAN FROM CONSOLIDATING ITS POWER IN REGION [read, US andor Israel milstrike]. * SAME > UPCOMING WAR: IS AZERBAIJAN SECRETLY PREPARING FOR WAR AGZ ARMENIA??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-07-24 20:16 |