President Ahmadinejad has betrayed the Iranian Revolution, violated the country’s Constitution and may be unable to serve his full term, his most vocal opposition rival has told The Times.
In a surprising twist, however, Mehdi Karroubi warned the West against exploiting the regime’s weakness to strike a deal to halt a nuclear programme that was, he insisted, for peaceful purposes.
“Nuclear science and achieving peaceful nuclear technology is a right reserved for all NPT [Nuclear Proliferation Treaty] members,” he said. “We ask Western governments not to use this internal situation as a bargaining chip with the present Iranian Government to reach agreements which would undermine the rights of the Iranian people.”
He also urged the West against trying to help the opposition in its battle against the regime, saying that such efforts would “pave the way for suppression and accusations of dependency on foreigners”. He added: “The challenges in this country should be solved by its own peopl
Like Ayatollah Montazeri he is a man of stature. A dissident cleric who was imprisoned repeatedly by the Shah, Mr Karroubi went on to become an important figure in the revolution, a close confidant of Ayatollah Kho- meini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, and Speaker of the Iranian parliament.
He has rebuffed the regime’s best efforts to silence and intimidate him. It has raided his offices, closed his newspaper and arrested his aides. He has been denounced by the statecontrolled media, threatened with prosecution and attacked by government agents during street protests.
When The Times asked if he feared for his safety, however, he replied: “No. Is a fish afraid of water?” He said that he was doing his “national, legal and religious duty” and added: “I am ready to pay all the costs for that.”
Responding to written questions, Mr Karroubi mocked the regime’s charge that the opposition was guilty of sedition. He said that it was the regime that was hijacking the revolution. Mr Karroubi declared: “In today’s Iran, republicanism and Islamism are severely damaged and a lot of the revolution’s principles and the Imam’s \ have been undermined.”
The people had lost the right to make their own decisions. The military now controlled politics, the economy and even cultural affairs. The rape and torture of detainees were shameful spots on Iranian and Islamic culture. “If the Imam were alive, without doubt this would not have happened,” he said. “As one of the Imam’s students and close friends I frankly say that those who claim to act on his thoughts had the least personal, emotional and intellectual closeness to him.”
The opposition will stage further demonstrations this week to mark the religious festival of Muharram, and Mr Karroubi insisted that the movement remained strong, with support in towns as well as cities and which spanned the social classes. Taunting the regime, Mr Karroubi suggested that both camps should be allowed to bring their supporters on to the streets to see which really had the people’s support. “Where are their 25 million backers?” he asked. “We cannot see them.”
Asked whether Mr Ahmadinejad could serve his full second term, Mr Karroubi said that even the present conservative-controlled parliament would have impeached the President had he not controlled the security forces. He had insulted Iran’s culture and religious beliefs, brought its relations with the world to their lowest ebb, damaged the economy, closed critical newspapers without due process and presided over deepening corruption and illegal military encroachment on economic affairs.
“Under such circumstances the Government cannot represent the people and last for a long time,” he said.
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