Posted on 18-2-2004

Khatami: Iran Doesn't Want Revolution

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The leader of Iran's ruling clerics must be made more accountable to reform demands and should shed some powers to break a ``vicious circle'' of control, the most prominent dissident lawmaker and brother of the country's president said Wednesday.

But Mohammad Reza Khatami - who was deputy parliament speaker and among more than 2,400 candidates blackballed from Friday's elections - warned against public demonstrations to demand change, saying Iranians have no appetite for another revolution.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he offered glimpses of a high-stakes gambit: trying to pressure Iran's supreme leader and the Islamic power base that controls everything from foreign policy to the media.

``They have no accountability to any part of the government and to the people ... We have a vicious circle here,'' Khatami said during the interview in the headquarters of his party, the Islamic Participation Front.

The strategy of directly challenging supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could win applause from many Iranians frustrated by stalled efforts for more political and social openness.

But it carries clear risks. The Islamic leadership has come down hard in the past on those perceived as threats to the system.

On Tuesday, Khatami and other pro-reform lawmakers made public a letter sent to Khamenei accusing him of allowing freedoms to be ``trampled in the name of Islam.''

The letter served as a parting salvo by banned reform candidates calling the elections a ``parliamentary coup'' and urging for a voter boycott. It also was a taboo-breaking missive against the country's top religious and political authority - whose supporters say holds divine right to rule.

Khatami said Khamenei should dismantle some of his power structure to allow elected officials room to make key decisions.

``They know what the people want and, because of this, I think they should respond to this will of the people ... even if they don't like it,'' said Khatami, whose brother, President Mohammad Khatami, has greatly lost his appeal after backing down in attempts to postpone the elections.

He added that reformers want to reach a point ``for people to believe they could change the leader.''

It would be a huge challenge.

Khamenei and his inner circle have vast and powerful resources, including militia forces and the judiciary. In recent years, conservatives have detained or intimidated hundreds of reformers and muzzled dozens of publications.

Late Wednesday, two reformist newspapers, Yas-e-No and Sharq, were ordered to suspend publication, and top editors and staff were detained by judiciary agents for publishing portions of the reformers' letter to Khamenei, said Issa Sahakhiz, member of the Iranian branch of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The rulers' almost unlimited power has become a crucial issue in the battle over the elections.

The Guardian Council, a 12-member panel appointed by Khamenei, issued the mass disqualifications through its powers to vet political candidates. The blacklist means that the 290-seat parliament will likely return to the control of hard-liners.

But a sharp drop in voter turnout - particularly in the cities - would be interpreted as convincing public backing for liberals.

Khatami hoped for less than 25 percent turnout in the capital, Tehran, and anticipated 40 percent to 50 percent nationwide. In 2000, parliament elections drew more than 67 percent of voters around Iran and nearly 47 percent in Tehran.

``I think we will suffer from some pressures overall - more and more than before - but it's an opportunity for us to ... come back to the community and come back to the people,'' he said.

But he said it was ``too risky for the time being'' to try to organize mass demonstrations.

``People are not ready for another revolution because they are not happy with the result of the (1979 Islamic) revolution and they don't know what would happen after (another) revolution,'' he said.

Seeking changes within the system still appears the goal of reformers despite the current ballot boycott.

Khatami said his party already has some candidates in mind for next year's presidential elections - when his brother finishes his second and last term. But he declined to offer any names.

``Some things should be hidden in Iran because the conservatives would focus on that,'' he said.

Khatami, however, discounted any chance of him trying to succeed his older kin because of having to clear the Guardian Council review.

``I don't think of myself at all,'' he said.

He urged reformers not to follow in the model of his brother, who was elected in 1997 but failed to make any real headway to weaken the Islamic establishment.

``President Khatami clearly was leader of the reforms,'' his brother said. ``But he didn't work very strongly and he ignored his leadership in the reforms.''

Khatami believes his brother will leave office and seek an international role promoting cultural and social issues.