Two of Iran’s opposition leaders, Mohammed Khatami and Mehdi Karroubi, have apparently dropped their demand for a new presidential election, saying that while they still believe the vote in June was fraudulent, they accept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the head of state. Mehdi Karroubi is a former presidential candidate, who has been very vocal in his criticism against the government for raping and sodomizing protesters arrested in post-election crackdown. Mohammed Khatami is a former reformist President, who has also criticized the government for the election fraud and treatment of the protesters.
The New York Times cited Iranian news agency, the Fars News Service, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, as the source behind this shocking story. Fars has quoted Mr. Karroubi as saying “In response to your question in particular, I must say that I also recognize the president of the Islamic republic officially.” But before we all start getting agitated against Karroubi for giving up on the reformist movement, Mehdi Karroubi’s son, Hussein Karroubi, contacted Saham News, a news service affiliated with the reform movement, to clarify that his father had not backed off any of his charges of fraud, or of protesters’ mistreatment. In an interview with Sahem News, Hussein Karroubi quoted his father as saying, “I stand firmly by the belief that cheating took place in the election and the results were doubtful, and I believe the vote count was completely rigged. However, since Mr. Khamenei (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is Iran’s Supreme Leader) endorsed Mr. Ahmadinejad, for this very reason I consider him the president of the current government of this system.”
Mohammed Khatami also expressed similar emotions saying that “The reform movement and I personally recognize the current administration of Mr. Ahmadinejad, but we must combat extremism.”
The New York Times states that “while the intention of the two statements was not entirely clear, it was also not clear what, if any, impact they might have on the many thousands of people who have taken to the streets of Iran in postelection protests.” But I think it is not unreasonable to believe that the reform movement will not be too effected by these shifts in position. Reform movement has shown over and over again its resilience and its independence.
