THE
ARGUMENT OF THE YEAR IN IRAN:
HAS THE RELIGIOUS LEADER DIED?
“The
Iranian religious leader KKhamaneyi, who has been having
cancer treatment for a long time, was taken to Vanak
Hospital in Tehran 4 days ago due to his grave health
condition. His doctors say that Khamaneyi, who has lost 10
kilos during the last 10 months, may not see the Nowrouz.
Taken to hospital due to his complaints of too much sweating
and shivering and placed in his private room, Khamaneyi’s
tension is said to fall and pulse slightly felt. Doctors
think that the Leader has had internal bleeding and is
having problems with his hearth because of anemia…” This
news is quoted from a letter sent to “Balaterin” website by
a person who believes that Iran will have potentially hard
days in the future. The writer of the news is one of the
well-known Iranian mullahs.
Soon after
this news, the researcher writer Michael Ledeen, a member of
the “American Enterprise” institution, wrote in his own web
log that: “Ayetullah Khamaneyi… Iranian religious leader
died…” This publication initiated the first of all the
speculations regarding the issue. Known as the voice of the
regime, Baztab site published a rawly prepared article and
the denied the news disseminated by Michael Ledeen. Despite
this, the echoes of the news (or the gossip) spread all
Europe after America. The Italian news agency stated that
“the news regarding the serious state of his illness was
confirmed by an unidentified member of the Assembly of
Experts and by Ayetullah Naseri”. According to Ayetullah
Naseri, Khamaneyi completely lost his senses of hearing and
seeing. The news about Khamaneyi’s death has not remained as
news only brought forward by Michael Ledeen. This issue was
mentioned as follows in the evening news broadcast on TISK
TV that belongs to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran;
“as a result of his long-lasting illness, the Religious
Leader got worse on December 31, 2006 and was taken to
hospital and passed away on January 5, 2007”. The fact that
not any official announcement was made after this news that
led curiosity in the public accelerated the concerns. Other
news agents denied this “unconfirmed” news. USA Today, San
Francisco Times, Washington Post, Washington Times,
Financial Times, Daily Express, Sun, Fax News, BBC and CNN
touched on this speculation in their issues on Friday.
Depending on the statements by the statesman Mohammad Javad
Zarif, only the Reuters news agency reported that news to be
untrue.
Subsequently, the spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry,
Mohammad Ali Hussein, officially denied during the press
meeting on January 7 the speculations that the Religious
Leader Ali Khamaneyi died and said, “the Religious Leader’s
health is good and I wish him a long life”. Despite the
denials by the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry and the
Iranian Representative to the UN, the researcher writer
Michael Ledeen, who first brought forward on January 4 the
claim he disseminated in his blog on Internet and claimed
for the first time that the Religious Leader was ill, and
is known as an export of the neo-conservatives (Neo-con)
trend in America, repeated that he has not appeared in the
public for a long time and that if he does not receive the
members of the foreign missions during the ceremony, the
‘information given him by the source might be true’.
Is Michael
Ledeen, who does not tell his source of the news, a liar? Or,
has Khamaneyi really died? The answer of this question would
become clear on Ghadir Khom ceremony, which is very
important for Shiite world… Eventually, the voice and images
of Khamaneyi were broadcast… when you look at the images
carefully, you could see the signs of the illness and the
loss of weight in his face.
Another
attention drawing point is that those listening to him
shouted death slogans for Saddam! But Saddam had already
been executed long ago. In this case, either the people
listening to the Leader did not know about Saddam’s
execution or there was a timing problem with the images!!?
On the
other hand, according to the witnesses who did not want
their identities to be made known, the Religious Leader
Khamaneyi has been having cancer treatment for a long time
in “Emamý Devazdahom Hospital” in Vanac district to the
north of Tehran. Ali Khamaneyi comes to the mentioned
hospital to have treatment once two weeks or once a week
sometimes according to the course of the illness. Although
no detailed information regarding to his current condition
is available, it is claimed that he uses high amount of
anesthetic medicine in order to ease his pains. It is known
that the speculations regarding this disease, tried to be
keep secret from people, “remains to be serious despite any
kinds of treatment and has not shown any improvement”
disturbs the regime. Political observers draw the attention
to the fact that if Khamaneyi dies, a short power struggle
may take place in the domestic arena, and to the importance
of this change that may emerge under the pressure of the
international public opinion.
All
information known by the public about the Iranian Leader
Khamaneyi’s health only consists of the ones broadcast by
the state radio and television and of the images that does
not include much explanation. Nobody knows anything about
the history of the “images regarding Ghadir Khom ceremony”
aired by this broadcasting organ... The dominating bigoted
and oppressive censure and limited communication make this
atmosphere worse and ambiguous.
Maybe,
those who brought forward these claims and speculations
thought as follows; “it would not be plausible that a
statesman who served in several high-ranking positions,
including as Iranian President, for 28 years, turns a blind
eye to the tense situation in the country and shows no
reactions against internal and external warnings!
Khamaneyi’s silence should have resulted from not inertia
but death! Everybody clearly say that this country ‘has been
entrusted to an incompetent President.’ And Ahmadinejad,
like someone who does not know driving, directs the country
and hits the car here and there. What is most saddening is
the ‘President’s desire to fool everyone’ and ‘demonstrate
Iran to be a nuclear super power’. The situation is so grave
that it is as if there was not any leader in Iran or even
the Religious Leader is physically alive, he is politically
dead… Looking from outside, everybody wonders how and why
the Leader does not see so many problems… Does the Leader
have a problem?
If we
consider the issue more carefully, we can easily realize
Khamaneyi’s wish to keep his disease secret and to control
all events… The Iranian Religious Leader is very well aware
of the crises the country faces; the tense atmosphere, and
most importantly the strife and disputes that the Elections
for the Assembly of Experts may lead.
Besides,
the Iranian Majles is expected to interpellate both the
religious leader and Ahmadinejad. The interpellation
prepared upon the unprecedented level of costliness in
Iranian history; incompetence in the state administration;
the imminent probability of sanctions in the fields of
economy, politics and science; not addressing the domestic
and foreign problems; the electricity and gas cutoffs, and
the claims for the failure of the statesmen to keep their
promises seems to put Ahmadinejad and the group of his
supporters in difficulty…
Also, the
Iranian Majles is preparing a draft bill that may shorten
Ahmadinejad’s term of office for one full year… Surely, this
application has pleased Rafsanjani, the major rival of the
current president, and his circle very much. Meanwhile, the
pressure of the Iranian people against the state is
continuing. The fact that on various occasions, students
continuously speak out the disturbance they felt from the
state, or for instance the protest demonstrations organized
by the laborers of the Mazanderan province during
Ahmadinejad’s visit to the region is eye-catching…
