Opposition leader wants Experts to re-evaluate Iran's supreme leader

Mehdi Karroubi speaking to Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani (right)

Mehdi Karroubi, Iranian opposition leader criticized the Assembly of Experts for failing to live up to its duty to supervise the actions of the supreme leader and dismiss him if necessary.

In a letter to Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, Mehdi Karroubi speaks out against issues such as interference of the armed forces in political and economical affairs of the country, violation of people’s rights, incompetence of executive and judicial managers and abuse of public rights by institutions under the protection of the supreme leader.

Saham News reports that the letter was written on the occasion of the eighth meeting of the Assembly of Experts in the fourth session and calls on Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani to take action against these violations and transmit the results openly to the public.

Mehdi Karroubi states that the Assembly of Experts is “the highest supervisory body” in the Islamic Republic and the Articles 107, 108 and 111 of the constitution charge it with election, supervision and if necessary dismissal of the supreme leader.

Mehdi Karroubi, a former speaker of the parliament and close ally of the former supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, disputed the outcome of the 2009 presidential election and challenges the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory despite the fact that the current supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei has given it his seal of approval.

He writes that the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij forces are heavily involved in “engineering the results of the elections” and oppressing people’s protests and their rightful demands. He also adds that large economic and investment projects are being hand-delivered to the Revolutionary Guards and the public is being denied the right to participate in bidding for these projects which has led to the monopoly of the Guards in all economic aspects of the country.

He condemns the “lack of independence of the judiciary and its verdicts” and the direct and unconditional interference of the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij paramilitary in political affairs.

He goes on to accuse the government of “incompetence, imprudence, exaggeration, irreverence and impertinence” and warned the Assembly of Experts that their inaction at this point of time could result in making the state unredeemable.

Karroubi’s letter and its unprecedented attacks against the supreme leader got no coverage in the Islamic Republic state media.