Take note of the fact that it was under the Khatami administration when Atefah Sahaaleh was hanged (on 15 August 2004) and Zahra Kazemi was beaten to death (on 11 July 2003), the worst things that the Iranian government did in recent years. Hossein Derakhshan explains why: in essence, that is paradoxically _because_ Khatami is liberal, and Khamenei, to undermine Khatami, set up "a parallel, unofficial intelligence apparatus" among other things.*
As for Ahmadinejad, the latest Financial Times reports suggest that "those hoping for his early political demise will be disappointed."
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ddd2b124-f0fb-11db-838b-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=fc3334c0-2f7a-11da-8b51-00000e2511c8.html> Ahmadi-Nejad builds on pledge and posture
By Najmeh Bozorgmehr
Published: April 22 2007 19:14 | Last updated: April 22 2007 19:14
In the town of Khorrambid, 700km south of Tehran, thousands of angry people have been waiting for Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad for hours.
When he arrives they greet him as the "defender" of their rights and vent their frustration with "powerful people" in Tehran who have exploited the town's marble mines without giving its residents a fair share of jobs or income.
A large placard hanging behind them states a favourite Iranian slogan – "Nuclear energy is our inalienable right" – to which a note has been cheekily appended that says: "Mines are our main demand."
Iran's president – a consummate populist – quickly promises that the next cabinet meeting will discuss the demands.
"Our president! Thanks! Thanks!" the crowd chants.
When Mr Ahmadi-Nejad arrives in the town of Sepidan, further south, a dozen young men in their early 20s interrupt his speech: "A swimming pool is our inalienable right," they tell him.
The responsive president pledges that a pool will be built in the town.
"Ahmadi! We love you!" the young men shout.
Iran's maverick president spent much of last week listening to such demands and doling out promises as he toured the southern Fars province. In this tour alone, the promises amount to $3bn, including $2bn in soft loans and $1bn in spending from the country's oil stabilisation fund.
The Financial Times was the only representative of foreign media on the trip.
Such regional visits have been a defining mark of the presidency of a leader who has shunned the traditional political Iranian elite and taken his message directly to the people.
Fars, like most provinces, did not vote for the list of Mr Ahmadi-Nejad supporters in last December's municipal and expert assembly elections. Some saw that defeat as a serious blow to his position. Indeed it emboldened opponents across the political spectrum, some of whom penned obituaries for Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's populist agenda.
But while many of the elite in Tehran are counting the days until the end of his presidency, and some hope he will fall long before his term expires in 2009, the visits to the provinces ensure that he continues to connect with ordinary people. The response of those who came to Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's rallies suggests that those hoping for his early political demise will be disappointed.
To the international community he may be the belligerent radical, but in Fars, land of ancient kings and magnificent historical sites, he projects an image of caring and tireless father, an honest working man fighting unemployment, poverty and corruption.
Criss-crossing the province by helicopter – while journalists followed by bus – he visited no fewer than 24 cities and towns, giving public speeches and meeting disabled war veterans, tribal chiefs, student groups and clerics. He slept a mere four or five hours a night in government guest houses.
Though surrounded most of the time by tight security, nothing could stop determined supporters from reaching him. With his trademark simple and inexpensive jacket, he looked like an ordinary Iranian. His language was uncomplicated, devoid of political or economic jargon, and sometimes peppered with jokes.
"He's as miserable as we are," a tearful woman named Robabeh said in the town of Fasa. She desperately tried to fight her way to the president to "kiss his hands and feet".
Most people come to his speeches holding letters in their hands and some are desperate to hand them to him in person. Ali Saeedlou, vice-president for executive affairs, says more than 5m letters were collected in the president's previous provincial trips. About 70 per cent of them are about personal issues, mainly economic troubles. Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, he says, personally looks into about 4 per cent of the letters – some 200,000 pieces of mail.
The citizens of Fars, like many other places throughout Iran, complain about high unemployment and the rising costs of housing and daily goods. Luckily for Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, they blame not him but the injustice in the distribution of wealth and corruption in administration, problems he is seen as having inherited.
In spite of two UN Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions for Iran's nuclear and missile programmes, few ordinary people in Fars link economic hardship with international tension. Instead they blame it on corruption.
Iran's nuclear programme is still widely popular. But people say their priorities are issues that affect their daily lives. They want the government to put as much emphasis on resolving local problems as it does fighting for nuclear energy.
There's a pattern to the president's speeches. Mr Ahmadi-Nejad allocates the first part to religion as the only way to prosperity, before he taunts big powers as "petty mosquitoes" who will be sent to "the dustbin of history" if they continue to "bully" other nations.
Last come the economic promises – the part the crowd appreciates most. Soft banking pledges alone made in Fars added up to 19,000bn rials ($2.05bn). More than 50 sports centres for "dear religious girls" and "brave and honourable boys" and a raft of development projects to upgrade roads and encourage industry were promised separately.
Where will the money come from?
Aides make no secret that Mr Ahmadi-Nejad will tap the oil stabilisation fund, which collects windfall oil income and is supposed to save it for when oil prices drop. About $1bn was promised from the fund – which is said to be more than $9bn – during the visit. It's a pattern that alarms the president's critics, who say he is squandering national wealth to buy popularity.
Mr Ahmadi-Nejad plans to complete visits to all 30 provinces before the mid-point of his term in August. But he faces the prospect, when the second round of visits comes, of being held accountable for promises made the first time round.
And that is the judgment that will determine the future of his presidency.
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5ed75b10-f0f9-11db-838b-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=fc3334c0-2f7a-11da-8b51-00000e2511c8.html> Picture diary: Five days with Ahmadi-Nejad By Najmeh Bozorgmehr Published: April 22 2007 21:48 | Last updated: April 22 2007 21:48
On a five day trip last week to the Fars province of southern Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad promised mass rallies that he would provide everything from swimming pools to better roads and soft bank loans - spending pledges that add up to $3bn. The FT's Najmeh Bozorgmehr was the only foreign media journalist on the tour. Here is her exclusive diary of her travels with the president. . . .
* <http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-irandemocracy/jahanbegloo_courage_3873.jsp> Ramin Jahanbegloo: the courage to change Hossein Derakhshan 4 - 9 - 2006
. . . .
Tehran's ministry of intelligence was embroiled in its biggest-ever scandal in the late 1990s after the exposure of the role of its agents in the murder of more than a dozen writers and intellectuals. The presidency of Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005) responded with an overhaul in the ministry's staff, missions and methods. The minister himself was forced to resign, and the growing influence of the "reformist" Khatami inside the ministry scared the conservative establishment.
The infamous paranoia of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, saw this process as a risk to Iran's stability and security, as well as to his own position. As a result, he established or at least ignored the creation of several alternative or "parallel" intelligence apparatuses in the judiciary and police that could marginalise and exclude the younger politicians and officials around Khatami.
These parallel organisations were quite small, run by inexperienced and untrained staff, and very poorly equipped and managed. It was some operatives of these structures - not the intelligence ministry itself, which after a generation had become professional, efficient, and skilful - who were responsible for the brutal assassinations.
The highlight of this conflict between "official" and "unofficial" security organisations was the death of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photographer who was murdered in detention in July 2003. The official account of the incident produced by the investigative committee appointed by Iran's pre-2005 election (and reformist-dominated) parliament, showed that Kazemi had been well and unharmed while in intelligence-ministry custody; it was only after a branch of the judiciary had taken over the interrogation that she was harmed. The report bluntly accused Saeed Mortazavi, a young judge with close ties to the supreme leader's office who was also responsible for the heavy-handed crackdown on the reformist newspapers.
After Khatami and the reformists were ousted, there was no longer need for a parallel, unofficial intelligence apparatus; it was dismantled and Mohseni Ejeie - a figure loyal to and trusted by Ayatollah Khamenei - appointed minister. It is even said that he reports directly to the supreme leader, bypassing President Ahmadinejad (whom Khamenei trusts even less than he did Khatami in intelligence and foreign policy).
-- Yoshie