Iran's hardline conservatives are pulling themselves together after their defeat in the presidential elections last month, and are refusing to budge from anti-reform stands, according to a report by New York Times on Sunday.
The reformers had hoped that the re-election of Mohammad Khatami with 78 percent of the vote would translate into a smoother second term.
But since the June 8 presidential vote the conservatives have used institutions like the judiciary, the police and unelected religious organizations they control to place added pressure on the reformers, said the report, citing examples of arrests and convictions of reformists, including MPs, the cancellation of a parliamentary act, and scandals related to pro-reform figures.
According to the report, the judiciary has made accusations against 10 reformist members of Parliament, despite a law that grants them immunity. Immediately after the election, one member, Hossein Loghmanian, was sentenced to 13 months in prison for "libeling and slandering the judiciary."
In addition, the Guardian Council, a conservative group that must approve Parliament bills before they can go into effect, has rejected legislation crucial to the reformers. One bill would have defined political crime for the first time in 20 years, making arbitrary arrest more difficult and perhaps helping reformist politicians already jailed to get retrials.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, has accused reformers in President Mohammad Khatami's government of plundering millions of dollars from the oil industry.
Amir Mohebian, a strategist for the conservative camp and an editor of Ressalat, a daily newspaper, has accused reformers of setting up what he calls a secret Crisis Committee X, which he says is wiretapping the conservatives' phones.
Political analysts quoted by the daily agree that such allegations are aimed at discrediting the reform movement and, eventually, at frustrating Khatami's attempts at bringing greater political openness and economic development to Iran.
The reformers, meanwhile, are taking things one step at a time, said the New York Times, quoting Karim Arghandehpour, a member of the editorial board of the reformist daily Norouz, as saying "we expect resistance and obstacles on our path," he said, "but the yardstick to measure our achievements is to see how far democratic beliefs will penetrate."
Mohebian, in the other side of the fence, says, "If we insist on pursuing our past policies and ignore the popular support, our faction will become isolated like a sect… the conservatives needed to gain the confidence of young people, who have solidly supported the reformers."
In a related development, the editor of a pro-reform newspaper was released Saturday after spending 15 months in Iran's Evin Prison on charges of insulting Islam and provoking riots at Tehran University.
Latif Safari, managing editor of the banned Neshat newspaper and a Tehran University professor, was greeted at his home by dozens of family members and fellow journalists, said the Associated Press.
Safari had served half of his 30-month sentence, and it was unclear why he was released early, according to the agency – Albawaba.com
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