Embattled reformist Iranian President Mohammed Khatami returns to his grass-roots support among the young Wednesday as he mulls standing for re-election in the face of fierce conservative opposition.
Khatami will address students and hold a question-and-answer session at the reformist stronghold of Tehran University on the annual Students Day, his office said.
He will be accompanied by close aide Said Hajarian, one of the thinkers behind Khatami's reforms and a conservative hate-figure, who is now confined to a wheelchair following an attempt on his life in March.
Wednesday's gathering, marking a student uprising in 1953 under the Shah's regime, comes as some of Khatami's closest associates are on trial before the conservative-controlled courts.
They are accused of anti-Islamic behavior and in some cases "warring against God" -- which carries the death penalty -- for their attendance at a seminar on Iran held in Berlin in April.
The conference followed an electoral triumph for Khatami's camp, which gave reformists control of parliament and sparked a strong reaction from conservatives, who through the courts closed down virtually every reformist daily newspaper.
The new parliament has also struggled to impose itself, seeing legislation rejected by the conservative oversight body, the Council of Guardians, as being against the constitution.
Khatami for his part claims the constitution is being flouted by his opponents and called last month for more power to carry out his task. His authority is dwarfed by that of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who expresses support for Khatami but criticises his government.
"The young are waiting for Khatami. Six months before the presidential elections, he must speak now or not at all," said political analyst Iraj Rashti.
Khatami's four-year term comes to an end in May and he has yet to say whether he will run again.
"Khatami has kept and even increased his popularity over the last three years, but his impotence in vital departments like the judiciary and freedom of the press, which he had promised to encourage, is clear," Rashti added.
Rashti said Khatami was torn between his roles as a politician and a member of the Islamic Republic's all-powerful clergy, and could well give up the struggle to reconcile them.
"As a politician he must exert his authority and fulfil the expectations of his supporters, but as a cleric he must support the clergy and prove his loyalty to the regime," he said.
Political sociology professor Shardad Rahmani-Fard commented: "Khatami wants to stir up intellectuals, clergy and academics, to modernise their thinking.
"This inevitably creates turbulence" in Iran's traditionalist establishment at odds with the aspirations of the educated young.
As pre-election tension mounts, the ongoing trials of leading Khatami supporters are taking on a crucial significance, and much depends on their outcome.
Writers, journalists and liberal clergy face a battery of charges carrying heavy sentences, focussed on their contributions in now-banned newspapers and at the Berlin conference, which the prosecution says was aimed at overthrowing the regime.
Investigative journalist Akbar Ganji has used his court appearance to repeat accusations against leading conservative figures linking them to the murders of dissident intellectuals in 1998.
Ganji claims to have been tortured in prison.
Cleric Hassan-Yussefi Eshkevari, who has dared to question basic tenets like the mandatory head-covering for Muslim women, has already been tried by the ultra-conservative Special Court for Clergy and risks a death sentence.
Another trial, of those allegedly responsible for the 1998 murders, begins later this month.
"Everything depends on these trials, which concern the heart of the regime. Khatami could end up in an untenable situation," said a pro-reform intellectual.
Meanwhile Khatami's supporters in parliament are to introduce legislation increasing the powers of the president, as he demanded in a speech last month. It remains to be seen whether they will be allowed to do so.
"Khatami is taking a gamble, but at least he has decided to assert himself, and not remain on the defensive," the reformist added – TEHRAN (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
