REFORMISTS ARE CRITICISING THE ADMINISTRATION
In Iran, the criticisms against the administration have
increased inthe recent period. In particular, the assessments and warnings made
by the reformist leaders with regard to the political developments are
noticeable. The first development in April concerning this subject took place on
April 05-06. The reformist deputies in the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran
visited the reformist leaders Mir Hussein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, Mahdi
Karroubi and the Head of the Council of Experts Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjany and
exchanged views. During the talks, the Leader of the National Trust Party
Kerrubi stated, “Some groups and formations in the country continuously keep the
calumnies based on lies on the agenda regarding the groups and figures of
opposite views in the name of Islam and Religion.” The former President Khatami
has drawn the attention to the fact that “the arrests carried out in violation
of the laws and Sharia have turned into oppression against the public.”
On the other had, on April 08, the reformist leader
Mousavi met a group of former parliamentarians which are the members of the
reformist Organization of the Islamic Revolution Mujahidins. Mousavi stated that
“the Islamic republic was faced with deep problems, all the elements ensuring
legacy to the state had been destroyed, the issues such as rampant corruption,
foreign policy and moral issues caused public mistrust against the state.” The
following day, in a meeting held in Tehran University with the participation of
a group of reformist students Khatami said that “The political situation in the
country was bad, the intellectuals were subject to various accusations, unless
effective measures were taken, social crises would occur, the formal media
organs followed a manipulative broadcast strategy that was based on lies, the
reformists were tried to be presented as ‘the supporters of coup de’tat” and
called for the release of the political prisoners and the establishment of the
freedom of election.
Following the statement and assessments, the Organization
of the Islamic Revolution Mojahidins issued a press release on 11 April 2010
calling for the release of the reformist prisoners. The press release stressed
that “Many detainees in prisons were under inappropriate conditions, the social
activists and media members were kept in the same wards as the suspects of
murderers and drug smugglers.” Also an open letter was sent to the Head of
Judiciary so as to release the journalists under arrest with the signature of
110 Iranian journalists. The letter called for the release of the colleagues
detained in prisons and permission for the activities of the Iranian Society of
Journalists. Stressing that the administration in Iran should take into
consideration the growing criticisms against the regime recently, the political
observers state that the problems are deeper than the streetdemonstrations.
