IRNA Reports: Former president Mohammad Khatami has no intention to nominate himself for the 8th Majlis election slated for March 14, 2008, it was announced here on Monday.
Head of reformists coalition headquarters, Abdolvahed Moussavi Lari told IRNA that Khatami, head of the International Center for Dialogue of Civilizations, will by no means take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Referring to news published on Khatami's participation in the Majlis elections, Lari denounced efforts by certain individuals to take advantage of Khatami's popularity among people from different walks of life.
Khatami has been asked by several parties, groups and foundations to announce his candidacy for taking part in the upcoming Majlis elections but he has clearly announced that he will not become a candidate for the elections, Lari who was interior minister of Khatami's cabinet added.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
That was a shame
Iranian Testament writes: I vividly remember 6 years ago when I was a student. Mr. Khatami announced that he will come to our university. All classes were cancelled and we went to shout approval for our beloved president. The ceremony was so full of life that I hold a picture of Khatami and started waving it in the air. (Later on my friends told me I was on TV!)
The hall was divided into 2 parts: Reformist students on the right and Basijis on the left. They were quarrelling all the time, throwing paper and water bottles to each other. Of course the Basijis were only a minority.
When some students shouted "death to hardliners", Khatami became angry and said "eliminate death from your vocabulary." After that he started talking about tolerance, civil society and other concepts which were quite new concepts for us.
When I compare Ahmadinejad lecture at the University of Tehran with that of Khatami I see a lot of differences. The most important of them is the absent of critics of Ahmadinejad in the hall when he was delivering his lecture. Only Basijis students from other universities were allowed to enter to the ceremony.
Ahmadinejad and his government insist they support free speech and welcome opposition, but in reality they act quite contrary. Outside the hall there was a gathering of protesters but they were scattered by the police force. Ahmadinejad continued his lecture confidently: "when I was at the Columbia University the US government just allowed a selected group to the hall! That was a shame."
The hall was divided into 2 parts: Reformist students on the right and Basijis on the left. They were quarrelling all the time, throwing paper and water bottles to each other. Of course the Basijis were only a minority.
When some students shouted "death to hardliners", Khatami became angry and said "eliminate death from your vocabulary." After that he started talking about tolerance, civil society and other concepts which were quite new concepts for us.
When I compare Ahmadinejad lecture at the University of Tehran with that of Khatami I see a lot of differences. The most important of them is the absent of critics of Ahmadinejad in the hall when he was delivering his lecture. Only Basijis students from other universities were allowed to enter to the ceremony.
Ahmadinejad and his government insist they support free speech and welcome opposition, but in reality they act quite contrary. Outside the hall there was a gathering of protesters but they were scattered by the police force. Ahmadinejad continued his lecture confidently: "when I was at the Columbia University the US government just allowed a selected group to the hall! That was a shame."
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Iran govt lambasts ex-president Khatami
AFP reports -- Iran's government spokesman has launched a blistering attack on former president Mohammad Khatami, saying he was yielding to the United States with his cherished "Dialogue of Civilisations" plan, media reported Thursday.
Since handing over power to conservative successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the reformist Khatami has devoted his energies to the center he has founded to promote dialogue among the world's cultures and religions.
"With this plan we bowed in front of the system of domination and we said 'We are backward, we should learn democracy from you,'" the Etemad newspaper quoted government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham as saying.
"When Iran put forward this plan, we showed passivity and obeisance," Elham told students in a speech Tuesday at Shahed University outside Tehran.
He added that the result of such ideas was that Iran was lumped into the US "Axis of Evil."
The attack comes during the build-up to parliamentary elections March 14, with forces linked to Khatami and other reformists like former speaker Mehdi Karroubi hoping to launch a comeback after years in the cold.
Such direct personal criticism, even on an opponent, is highly unusual in the world of Iranian politics, where exchanges are normally marked by the utmost politeness and plenty of veiled messages.
Elham's wife, Fatemeh Rajabi, is the author of a book entitled Ahmadinejad - Miracle of the Third Millenium. She is known for her antipathy toward Khatami and virulently attacked his trip to the United States last year.
The spokesman also took a dig at Ahamdinejad's vanquished rival in the 2005 presidential elections, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has repeatedly warned Iran must be vigilant against the threats posed by the United States.
"These people want to keep themselves alive with this kind of literature. Today, Iran is stronger than before and the threats are much less effective," he said.
Since handing over power to conservative successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the reformist Khatami has devoted his energies to the center he has founded to promote dialogue among the world's cultures and religions.
"With this plan we bowed in front of the system of domination and we said 'We are backward, we should learn democracy from you,'" the Etemad newspaper quoted government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham as saying.
"When Iran put forward this plan, we showed passivity and obeisance," Elham told students in a speech Tuesday at Shahed University outside Tehran.
He added that the result of such ideas was that Iran was lumped into the US "Axis of Evil."
The attack comes during the build-up to parliamentary elections March 14, with forces linked to Khatami and other reformists like former speaker Mehdi Karroubi hoping to launch a comeback after years in the cold.
Such direct personal criticism, even on an opponent, is highly unusual in the world of Iranian politics, where exchanges are normally marked by the utmost politeness and plenty of veiled messages.
Elham's wife, Fatemeh Rajabi, is the author of a book entitled Ahmadinejad - Miracle of the Third Millenium. She is known for her antipathy toward Khatami and virulently attacked his trip to the United States last year.
The spokesman also took a dig at Ahamdinejad's vanquished rival in the 2005 presidential elections, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has repeatedly warned Iran must be vigilant against the threats posed by the United States.
"These people want to keep themselves alive with this kind of literature. Today, Iran is stronger than before and the threats are much less effective," he said.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
People should be free to criticize Islamic Government
norooznews.ir reports: Mohammad Khatami, the former Iranian chief executive said on Wednesday that the meaning and spiritual value of prayer will be lost if clerics only emphasize on rites and formalities.Speaking to a large gathering of people in Ayatollah Khomeini’s shrine on the anniversary of martyrdom of Imam Ali (PBUH), Khatami emphasized on importance of in depth understanding of religion and said: "Man can have a conscious relationship with God and not only he can but also he is invited to establish such relationship with God. I mean not only our relationship with the source of power and honor (God) should be conscious but also it must be attentive and Praying is a conscious, comprehensible, attentive and lovely relationship of Man with the source of existence and source of glory, honor and power. Praying is the concept and axis of Man’s faith and it is because of these things that praying save faithful Man from stress and anxiety. And then because of this close relationship with God, a Faithful Man becomes fearless and griefless. Thus he is salvaged and this is the test of faith."
"Do we (clerics) emphasize on the meaning of prayer as much as we care about the rituals and formalities of prayer? Do our Howza (Shiite religious schools) publish as many books about understanding of prayer as books explaining rituals of prayer?" asked Mohammad Khatami.
"Rites and customs are important but the prayer will go astray if we miss the meaning and concept of pray. If we had given as much emphasis to the concept and in depth meaning of prayer as we had given to the customs and rituals of prayer, today the importance of prayer would’ve been more understood.", he added.
Khatami warned about the false interpretations religion, and said: "Religion is a two-edged sword. If well understood, religion gives Man awareness, hope, happiness, and spiritual and material security. But if falsely understood, religion imposes the worst kinds of slavery on Man and it causes hatred of religion in the society. Secular systems were born from regimes and societies that were very religious on the surface."
The former president of Iran said: "When religion is well understood, it will bring compassion, cooperation, and trust to the society and when it is falsely understood, it will bring hypocrisy, separation, calumniation, dishonesty, lies, and destruction to the society and worst of all is the fact that all those bad things will be done in the name of religion."
"In a society in which religion is wrongly interpreted, belief in superstitions, deception, and lies increase and the worst things will happen in the name of religion but true interpretation of religion causes growth of mind, evolution, spiritual elevation and gives liberty."
Khatami encouraged following the path of Imam Ali (PBUH) for he was a true servant to God and his government was the symbol of true interpretation of religion.
"When hears some Muslims forcefully taking away a jewel from a Jewish girl, Imam Ali (PBUH) strongly decries the action and says If somebody, hearing this news now faints and dies of grief, I fully approve of it!. He condemns the action because even-non Muslims should be fully protected under the Islamic government. Imam Ali never shut the mouths of his opponents. Even when his opponents publicly rejected and insulted him, he never arrested them; he never ordered to stop distribution of money from public treasury to his opponents. Only and only when his opponents engaged in active military fight against the Islamic government did he react with force to stop them. He never imprisoned or tortured anyone because of verbal opposition to his government. Even he encouraged people to openly remind and criticize him and everyone from top to bottom in the government should they see astray and wrong doings. This is the true interpretation of religion and religious government must adhere to these principals." said the Head of International Center for Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations.
Translated by S.T.
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