Für alle, die meinen, die Sache im Iran sei schon vorbei...

"This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding
with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30
years of the Islamic republic,"

"With heavy security on the streets, there is a forced calm. But each day,
slowly, another link falls from the chain of government control."

_http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?_r=1&r=1&hp_

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?_r=1&r=1&hp)

July 5, 2009
Leading Clerics Defy Ayatollah on Disputed Iran Election
By _MICHAEL SLACKMAN_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_slackman/i\
ndex.html?inline=nyt-per) and NAZILA FATHI
CAIRO - The most important group of religious leaders in _Iran_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iran/i\
ndex.htm
l?inline=nyt-geo) called the disputed presidential election and the new
government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country´
s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country´s
clerical establishment.
A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of
Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government
and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah _Ali
Khamenei_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/ali_khamenei/index\
.html?inline=nyt-per) , whose word is supposed to be final. The
government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential
candidate, _Mir Hussein Moussavi_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mir_hussein_moussa\
vi/index.html?inline=nyt-per) , as criminals
and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult - if not
impossible.
"This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding
with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30
years of the Islamic republic," said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian
Studies Program at _Stanford University_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/stanford_un\
iversity/index.html?inline=nyt
-org) . "Remember, they are going against an election verified and
sanctified by Khamenei."
The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents
detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president´s supporters, and as a
close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President
_Mohammad Khatami_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/mohammad_khatami/i\
ndex.html?inline=nyt-per) "foreign agents," saying
they should be treated as criminals.
The documents, published on Mr. Moussavi´s Web site, accused supporters of
the president of printing more than 20 million extra ballots before the
vote and handing out cash bonuses to voters.
Since the election, the bulk of the clerical establishment in the holy city
of Qum, an important religious and political center of power, has remained
largely silent, leaving many to wonder when, or if, the nation´s most
senior religious leaders would jump into the controversy that has posed the
most significant challenge to the country´s leadership since the Islamic
Revolution.
With its statement Saturday, the association of clerics - formed under the
leadership of the revolution´s founder, Ayatollah _Ruhollah Khomeini_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/ruhollah_khomeini/\
i
ndex.html?inline=nyt-per) - came down squarely on the side of the reform
movement.
The association includes reformists, but Iranian political analysts
describe it as independent, and it did not support any candidate in the recent
election.
The group had earlier asked for the election to be nullified because so
many Iranians objected to the results, but it never directly challenged the
legitimacy of the government and, by extension, the supreme leader.
The earlier statement also came before the election was certified by the
country´s religious leaders, who have since said that opposition to the
results must cease.
The clerics´ decision to speak up again is not itself a turning point and
could fizzle under pressure from the state, which has continued to threaten
its critics. Some seminaries in Qum rely on the government for funds, and
Ayatollah Khamenei and the man he has declared the winner of the election,
incumbent President _Mahmoud Ahmadinejad_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/mahmoud_ahmadineja\
d/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
, have powerful backers there.
They also retain the support of the powerful security forces and the elite
_Revolutionary Guards_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/islamic_rev\
olutionary_guard_corps/index.html?inline=nyt-org)
. In addition, the country´s highest-ranking clerics have yet to speak
out individually against the election results.
But the association´s latest statement does help Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Khatami
and a former speaker of Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, who have been the most
vocal in calling the election illegitimate and who, in their attempts to
force change, have been hindered by the jailing of influential backers.
"The significance is that even within the clergy, there are many who refuse
to recognize the legitimacy of the election results as announced by the
supreme leader," said an Iranian political analyst who spoke on condition of
anonymity for fear of reprisal.
While the government could continue vilifying the three opposition leaders,
analysts say it was highly unlikely that the leadership would use the same
tactic against the clerical establishment in Qum.
The backing also came at a sensitive time for Mr. Moussavi, because the
accusations that he is a foreign agent ran in a newspaper, Kayhan, that has
often been used to build cases against critics of the government.
The editorial was written by Hossein Shariatmadari, who was picked by the
supreme leader to run the newspaper.
The clerics´ statement chastised the leadership for failing to adequately
study complaints of vote rigging and lashed out at the use of force in
crushing huge public protests.
It even directly criticized the _Guardian Council_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/guardian\
_council_iran/index.
html?inline=nyt-org) , the powerful group of clerics charged with
certifying elections.
"Is it possible to consider the results of the election as legitimate by
merely the validation of the Guardian Council?" the association said.
Perhaps more threatening to the supreme leader, the committee called on
other clerics to join the fight against the government´s refusal to
adequately
reconsider the charges of voter fraud. The committee invoked powerful
imagery, comparing the 20 protesters killed during demonstrations with the
martyrs who died in the early days of the revolution and the war with Iraq,
asking other clerics to save what it called "the dignity that was earned with
the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs."
The statement was posted on the association´s Web site late Saturday and
carried on many other sites, including the Persian _BBC_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/british_broadcasting_corp\
oration/index.htm
l?inline=nyt-org) , but it was impossible to reach senior clerics in the
group to independently confirm its veracity.
The statement was issued after a meeting Mr. Moussavi had with the
committee 10 days ago and a decision by the Guardian Council to certify the
election and declare that all matters concerning the vote were closed.
But the defiance has not ended.
With heavy security on the streets, there is a forced calm. But each day,
slowly, another link falls from the chain of government control. Last week,
in what appeared a coordinated thrust, Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Karroubi and Mr.
Khatami all called the new government illegitimate. On Saturday, Mr. Milani
of Stanford said, former President _Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani_
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/ali_akbar_hashemi_\
rafsa
njani/index.html?inline=nyt-per) met with families of those who had been
arrested, another sign that he was working behind the scenes to keep the
issue alive.
"I don´t ever remember in the 20 years of Khamenei´s rule where he was
clearly and categorically on one side and so many clergy were on the other
side," Mr. Milani said. "This might embolden other clergy to come
forward."
The committee of clergy was formed in the 1960s. Mr. Milani said that for
years, Ayatollah Khamenei also belonged to the group, and that it had
developed some political clout by backing successful candidates for national
office.
Many of the accusations of fraud posted on Mr. Moussavi´s Web site Saturday
had been published before, but the report did give some more specific
charges.
For instance, although the government had announced that two of the losing
presidential contenders had received relatively few votes in their
hometowns, the documents stated that some ballot boxes in those towns contained
no
votes for the two men.
Michael Slackman reported from Cairo, and Nazila Fathi from Toronto.
kwp


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