Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Publish date: December 13 • Printable version    

Iran's Supreme Leader condemns opposition leaders


Ayatollah Khamenei in a meeting with the clergy

Senior officials of the Islamic Republic have been responding one after the other to the tearing of the picture of Ayatollah Khomeini as broadcast on Iran's National Television Network.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic declared today that the desecration of the picture of Ayatollah Khomeini was the result of the actions of the disputing candidates of the presidential elections and that they had to accept that the elections are over.

While Ayatollah Khamenei did not name anyone, MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are the two presidential candidates that have disputed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the June elections claiming the ballot was rigged. As a result the country has been in turmoil for the past six months as protesters use every opportunity to demonstrate and renew their opposition to the government. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei has refused to heed their allegations and put all his support behind Ahmadinejad.

The most recent disputes have risen over a national broadcast of images of some hands tearing the picture of Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Revolution. The two factions of the government accuse each other of the insult against the deceased leader which remains an unbroken taboo in the Islamic Republic.

Conservative forces all across Iran have been staging demonstrations and condemning the reform movement for this insult against the deceased founder of the Islamic Republic.

Sadegh Larijani, head of the judiciary, declared that “insulting anyone is a crime and this is not only a privilege for senior officials.”

Kamran Daneshjou, Minister of Science and Technology also called for direct and swift confrontation with the perpetrators of this act.

232 members of the Islamic Parliament also condemned the insult against the leader of the Revolution and supported the National Television’s decision to broadcast the images.

The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei called for calm in the universities. He claimed students are right to be angered but they must “maintain their calm.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the opposition has also condemned the tearing of Ayatollah Khomeini’s picture claiming that this is a suspect scenario concocted to justify aggressive confrontation with election protesters. Some reformist websites have even forecasted that the establishment is preparing to arrest MirHosein Mousav, former Iranian prime minister and the chief opponent and disputer of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government.

In his speech today, Ayatollah Khamenei remarked: “Some have tried to encourage people to act against the system and the result of such lawlessness was that the desperate enemies of the country were strengthened and the picture of the Imam was desecrated.”

He added: "Why don’t these former brothers of ours who owe their name and reputation to the Islamic Revolution realize that the enemies of the Imam and the Revolution are so happy with their words and actions and are cheering them on and holding up their pictures?”

Ayatollah Khamenei added that he has no desire to “reject” the dissidents but “some are intent on distancing themselves from the system and becoming isolated.”

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