Reformists may have the last laugh in Iran

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), APRIL. 28. With the closure of the remaining two pro-reform daily newspapers, the first stage of the Khordad-2 processes (the efforts at reform) started by the Iranian President, Mr. Mohammed Khatami is over.

A reading of how the second phase will pan out can be made as events unfold before the second round of Parliamentary elections to be held next Friday, if they are held at all. But at the rate at which the conservatives are pushing their counter-revolution it should not be a great surprise if a third confrontational phase is precipitated.

Yesterday, the Teheran press court ordered the two remaining pro- reform newspapers Moshareqat and Sobhe Emroz to suspend publication. These two were the only pro-reform newspapers to be exempted when the same court ordered 13 other newspapers and magazines to suspend publication earlier this week. Moshareqat had apparently escaped the ban because its director is Mr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the President's brother and recipient of the largest number of votes in the Teheran constituency in the first round of voting in the Parliamentary election.

Sobhe Emroz was also apparently left untouched because its director is Mr. Saeed Hajarian, a leading reform ideologue who was shot and grievously wounded in an attack believed to have been carried out by conservatives.

As expected Moshareqat and Sobhe Emroz had stepped in to fill the gap left by the closure of the other reform publications by increasing their print order several fold. Mr. Reza Khatami had been warned by the press court that the content, headlines and layout of the paper was in violation of press laws and that it would be shut down if they remained uncorrected.

Obviously, Mr. Reza Khatami was in no mood to oblige. An invented reason for the closure of Sobhe Emroz was that it continued to name Mr. Hajarian as its director when he was still in a critical condition and thus there was no one to answer charges brought against the daily. In between the closure of the other reform publications and yesterday's ban on Moshareqat and Sobhe Emroz the press court in Isfahan ordered the closure of a paper close to the leading dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.

In the three-year long first phase of the Khordad-2 processes the Iranian press has done much to raise civic and political consciousness, to encourage the ordinary public to ask questions previously taboo and to clinically re-examine the Islamic revolution.

Almost every single issue pertaining to the Islamic revolution had been raised, aired and debated in public. Moreover, the networking of people who think alike on various issues and thereby the establishment of an informal system for disseminating news and opinion has already taken place. There is also a felt need and demand among the public for more and comprehensive information.

It is small wonder then that leading reform journalists are not unduly anxious that they will not be able to keep up the circulation of news and opinion. As they point out, ``night journals'' pamphlets and ear-to ear dissemination of information have become developed art forms in Iran.

An immediate short-term benefit that the conservatives would be looking for, from the absence of the formal liberal press, is a better showing in the second round of polling. At the moment, votes are to be recast for 66 seats in the 290-member House. Results for 185 seats have been confirmed and annulled in respect of 10 constituencies.

While pro-reform groups are assured of a majority in Parliament the conservatives clearly hope to trim that margin in the second round of polling. A clear indication of their readiness to indulge in shenanigans is that the conservative-dominated election vetting body has discovered, after three re-counts, that there were serious ``discrepancies'' in the first round of polling in the 30-seat Teheran constituency.

These 30 seats were the most widely and intensively observed and the claim of ``discrepancies'' appears patently absurd. If they manage to overturn the Teheran vote, the conservatives will hope to win over a 100 seats with the liberal press not around to counter their one-sided propaganda. However, the Iranian voter is well aware as to where each candidate stands on specific issues.

If the Iranian voters stick to their choice, it will show that the Khordad-2 processes have entered the second phase wherein a politically concious public will be pitted against ideological die-hards.

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Section  : International
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