A reformist Iranian MP and ally of moderate President Mohammad Khatami said Tuesday the people's decision to follow the road of reforms in Iran was "irreversible," state radio reported.
"Our people have chosen the road of reforms, which is, from now on, an irreversible path, and no one can stop it," said Ahmad Bourqani-Farahani, an MP from Tehran and a former employee of the state news agency IRNA.
Bourqani, considered to be a staunch Khatami supporter, referred to the "sad fate" of the former Soviet Union, underlining during a long speech to parliament that a lack of respect for the people's aspirations and political freedom had led to the regime's collapse.
"It has been nine years since the anti-popular and dictatorial regime collapsed because it violated the rights and the people's freedom and ignored the dignity of the people," the legislator said, without making a clear allusion to the current situation in Iran.
"The era of dictatorships has passed and ... today, thanks to the media nothing remains unseen from the eye of the public opinion in the world," Bourqani said, acknowledging that, in Iran, thinkers and intellectuals are suppressed.
He equally denounced the conservative-led judiciary for having jailed "without any valid excuse" prominent journalists and thinkers, such as popular journalist Akbar Ganji.
"But know that the people are the better judge and that the country is the better tribunal," said Bourqani, indicating that "despite all the repression and pressures, the road of reforms is irreversible in Iran."
The conservative-led courts have closed down more than 25 newspapers and journals since April in a sweeping crackdown that shut down every major pro-reform daily supporting President Mohammad Khatami, while several newspaper chiefs and journalists are in jail awaiting trial -- TEHRAN (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
