Unanswered in Davos

Mr. Khatami was once more invited to Davos for the World Economic Forum. This time he spoke at the Open Forum.

He has certainly succeeded in establishing himself as one of the darlings of the West and a kind of moderate Muslim cleric that can be talked to.

However, the most painful of all is to hear him make statements such as (I changed a little the words of the translator to make it more accurate):

"But if the intervention of religion in political life would mean to limit life, or if religion would not appreciate the human values, or would like to take away from men freedom which is one of the greatest benedictions of God, that kind of religion and interference would be a loss and the society would never accept it."

or "In the Islamic revolution people demanded freedom, independence and progress based on religion. And this is why an Islamic Republic was established. An Islamic Republic means a democratic government, where women are free, there is freedom of thought, the elections would establish the power, etc. and because people are Muslim the religious values should be present, but these religious values should not contradict these basis."

or "I don't think that in Iran anyone is prosecuted because of his religious beliefs, and if he is, this is wrong."

and that no one can (or wishes to) ask him: Mr. Khatami, you were President of Iran for 8 years, how come these lofty statements were nowhere to be implemented then?

Just an ordinary president

When I first started reading Ray Takeyh's Op-Ed, I thought he had learned from Haleh Esfandiari's lessons but no, he remains consistent in advocating Détente with Iran.

However, I was really glad that finally someone was openly saying (to the West) what we all knew: the Islamic Republic of Iran's policy is consistent, whether we have a Rafsanjani, a Khatami or an Ahmadinejad as president.

So I will slightly change Takeyh's conclusion and suggest that rather than raising the spectre of a dangerous and uncontrolled man perhaps one should look at the quite systematic policy of the country's rulers.

PS: for those interested, the text of the poem chanted by Shajarian in my previous post can be found at the end of this article

The Great Pretender

I am sorry...

This was the first comment that was left on this photographer's blog, responding to the question posed on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the 2nd of Khordad, what was your image of the next ten years at the time you were voting for Khatami?

The next comment is "Oh my! these people have no memory..."

Men in robes

Whether of the West or of the East, their time is up...

Iran Khatami Religion

We once thought we had a president

I would be remiss if I did not post on Mr. Khatami's visit, and yet, what is there to say that has not been said? The Washington Post offers a pretty good overview of the various reactions.

And then there is also the unimpressive FT interview...

Iran Khatami

Human or nuclear rights

Amnesty released a report on Iran at mid-day yesterday. In the opening paragraph its press release stated: "The current standoff regarding the country's nuclear programme must not distract either the government or the international community from addressing the country's long-standing human rights problems." What about the media? I watched all day yesterday, for a Reuters, perhaps an AFP ... and again today, no sign of it... Until -- finally -- it appeared on Radio Farda (I know, again, sorry, but hey…) and later on Payvand.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Ahmadinejad said (and unfortunately I am paraphrasing because I can no longer find the link) "If we solve the nuclear issue then they will come after our human rights situation.”

It’s been a while since Amnesty has written a full report on Iran. And as must be the case for all those concerned about the situation of human rights in a given country, I guess, I wish there would be more coverage about it. But the human rights discourse is no longer fashionable. We all know why too, and I will come back to this soon.

I just need to add one more point on the report: although it starts with a clear indication that the situation has worsened since the election of the new President, many of the abuses reported in there were commited during Mr. Khatami’s tenure...