« If
elected (as the next Iranian President), I would put to popular referendum
major issues like the thorny nuclear programs, resumption of diplomatic
relations with the United Nations, support to the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad
and intervention in other nations, or organizations, affairs, even the Iranian
Constitution”, promised Dr. Qassem Sholeh Sa’di, 59, on 23 June this year during
an unprecedented one hour interview with Ofoq, one of the few popular programs
of the Persian service of Voice of America.
“The very
fact that non interference in other nations domestic affairs is written in our
Constitution is a prove that the present foreign policies of the government, like
its support for Bashar Assad, is illegal”, said Dr. Sholeh Sa’di, a former
Majles (Iranian Parliament) deputy and professor of law and international
relations at Tehran and Shiraz universities.
Announcing
his candidacy to the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for 14 July 2013
from Paris, where he was for an important medical checkup, Dr. Sholeh Sa’di,
presented himself as a “free, independent man belonging to any political party
of organizations” and added that if he decided to enter the presidential race,
it is because he is “extremely worried over the terrible consequences of the
international sanctions for the people and the existence of the beloved
nation”.
Among the
more that 30 people who have registered as candidates, Mr. Sholeh Sa’di is so
far the only one who has announced a program of governance and suggested
solutions for present Iranian ills.
Because of an
“open letter” he had written ten years ago to Mr. Ali Khameneh’i, addressing to
him not as Ayatollah, but Hojjatoleslam, Mr. Sholeh Sa’adi was accused of
“insult against the Leader” and sentenced to two and half year of prison.
In the
letter, he had questioned Mr. Khameneh’i’s interior and foreign policies, his
stubborn opposition to the renewal of relations with Washington, his support
for the Lebanese Hozbollah or the Palestinian and other terrorist groups and
above all, statating that even his title of Ayatollah was “illegal“.
On his
return to Tehran, he was arrested at the airport and taken directly to Evin
prison, where he was badly beaten and tortured for 40 days.
Presenting himself
as the “candidate of change”, he said while he thinks that Iranian nuclear
program is “essentially” for civilian use, but he criticised the confrontation
of the government with the international community, saying that “If elected,
one of my first priorities would be to organize a popular referendum concerning
the continuation or suspension of the nuclear program”.
Asked about
resuming relations with the United States, he said he has “no taboos” for
sitting with anyone over a table and discuss resumption of ties, based on
mutual respect and benefit, particularly Iranian national interests”.
“If ever
invited by President Obama, instead of avoiding the meeting, as other president
had done, -- a direct hint at Mohammad Khatami who, during his first participation
at the General Assembly of the United Nations, he went to toilets in order to
escape a possible shake hand with the then Amercian President Bill Clinton – I would
gladly meet him and since both of us are lawyers, I’m sure we can resolve all pending
difficulties”, he said,
Criticizing
the arrest of Mr. Mir Hosseyn Moussavi, a former Prime minister, his wife Mrs.
Zahra Rahnavard and hojjatoleslam Mehdi Karroubi, a former Speaker of the
Majles under the reformist president Mohammd Khatami and their conditions under
house arrest, conditions and situation which he referred to as “illegal”, he
said the reform of the present Judiciary system would be one of his priorities.
Asked what
he would do if rejected by the Leader-controlled Council of the guardians, a
body which has the power of approve or reject the competences of any candidate
to any election in the Islamic Republic, Mr. Sholeh Sa’di, who is also forbidden
to teach and to work as lawyer for ten years, said some of the powers of the
Council, like that of wetting candidates are illegal and “if the people choose
me, the guardians have no other choice but to accept the wishes of the people.
I’m a man of the people and will stay by the people”.
Surprisingly,
the interview, watched by a large public inside and outside Iran because of the
popularity of the program conducted by Mr. Siamak Dehqanpour, cached the
attention of several Iranian commentators and political figures that announced
their support, stating that considering his experiences as an international
lawyer, as a professor of international relations and affairs etc,.., can make
him a “good president for Iran”.
While
Hosseyn Shariatmadari, an intelligence officer specializing in interrogating political
prisoners appointed by Mr. Khameneh’i as Chief Editor of the radical daily
“Keyhan”, a man who’s editorials are considered as reflecting the Leaders
views, attacked the new comer, Mr. Alireza Kian, a political activist based in
the United States said: “Knowing that it is Mr. Khameneh’i who decides on every
major issues, all the things Mr. Sholeh Sa’di said he would do if elected,
particularly putting questions like nuclear program or relations with the
United States to popular referendum, are good reasons to be rejected by the
Council of guardians”.
“Nevertheless,
he can, with his slogans like Change and Democracy, give new blood to the
present sad atmosphere of presidential debates. Also, his critics of the very
person of Khameneh’o as well as his foreign and domestic policies could benefit
him”, Mr. Kian told the news website “taqato”.
Dr. Sholeh
Sa’di announced his candidacy while the eyes of all political commentators,
observers, diplomats inside and outside Iran is focused on the bitter fight
between the “rebel” President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad in the one hand and the
embattled and weakened Ali Khameneh’i on the other. ENDS
Safa Haeri
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