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| Iran |
| Khatami walks out of Expediency Council meeting |
| 2003-03-16 |
| Iranian President Mohammad Khatami walked out of a meeting of the Expediency Council Saturday in an unprecedented protest against the stranglehold exercised over his reform agenda by conservatives who dominate the arbritration body. Khatami, as well as the speaker of the reformist-controlled parliament, Mehdi Karubi, and the head of its budget committee, Majid Ansari, left the meeting in protest at the Expediency Council's decision to boost the budget of another conservative-run watchdog body, the Guardians' Council. Khatami and his allies had demanded that the council's funding be determined by his government and parliament, Expediency Council secretary general Mohsen Rezaiee told IRNA. "But other members of the Expediency Council voted for a 60-billion-rial (7.5 million dollar) boost to the budget of the Guardians' Council," a more than two-fold increase from last year's 40 billion rial (five million dollar) budget, Rezaiee said. Nice to see that rift widen, just a little bit more... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |