Iranian president attacks hard-liners, saying nobody has monopoly on Islamic views

Ali Akbar Dareini

Monday, May 22, 2000 | 9:04 a.m.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's president attacked the hard-line opponents of his reform program today, saying nobody could claim a monopoly on interpretations of Islam.

In a speech to mark the third anniversary of his election in 1997, President Mohammad Khatami condemned the people behind the shooting of his close associate, Saeed Hajjarian, a Tehran city councilor.

"No one can claim his understanding of Islam to be the only right one, and to disavow his opponents or order their assassination," Khatami said, without referring to the hard-liners or Hajjarian.

Hajjarian, an architect of the reform policies, was shot in Tehran on March 12. He was recently released from the hospital, but cannot walk. Hard-liners are widely suspected of having ordered his shooting.

"Freedom is the right of the nation," Khatami said.

The president said freedom of expression and criticism are rights that were not denied even during Iran's 1980-88 war with Iraq. They should not be denied now in the name of defending Islam, he added.

The hard-liners - who control the judiciary, military and the broadcast media - have shut down 18 pro-democracy newspapers during the past month. They argue that Khatami's reforms endanger Islam and the values of the 1979 revolution.

Iran's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Latif Safari, the imprisoned former editor of the banned Neshat daily, his son told The Associated Press today.

Safari, one of several journalists imprisoned in the past two months, was sentenced in September to more than two years in jail on charges including insulting Islam and provoking riots with his articles.

Meanwhile, a new daily began publishing today.

The Mellat newspaper, which aspires to reflect both the reformist and hard-line views found in the Iranian government, said it had planned to appear on the newsstands six months ago but was delayed by factional infighting.

The hard-liners are locked in an intense power struggle with Khatami, who enjoys huge popular support as shown by reformers' winning a majority in the February legislative elections.

In his speech, Khatami said one of the biggest achievements of the past few years was the overhaul of the Intelligence Ministry after the 1998 murders of five dissidents by "rogue" secret agents who are believed to have been sympathetic to the hard-liners.

The Intelligence Ministry controls Iran's secret services.

The president said that the "cancerous tumor" that had taken hold of the ministry had been removed to a large extent, but that "complete removal of the tumor still needs work."

"The government is determined to identify the roots and uproot the tumor completely," he said.

Hajjarian is a former deputy intelligence minister who is believed to have helped uncover the link between the murders and the secret agents.