Khatami’s brother: Fundamentalism leading to increased secularism in Iran

[democratic]

www.iranwpd.com

Oct. 16 – The brother of Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami who is also chairman of the leading reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), warned Thursday that the fundamentalism implemented by hardline Islamist in Iran has led to increased secularism in the country.

“People are getting away from religion and the Islamic system due to the violent and fundamental interpretation of Islam by parts of administration,” Mohammad-Reza Khatami, the younger brother of the president, said at the annual IIPF congress. “This will not only increase the trend towards secularism, especially among the youth, but also lead to more influence from abroad for overthrowing the system,” added Khatami, who is also vice-speaker of the parliament.

The IIPF chairman termed the hardliners’ opposition to several democratic parliamentary bills, such as a ban on torture and rejection of a legal and clear definition of political crimes, as main parameters of people’s frustration.

“But reformists in the country still believe that continuation of the gradual reform course of the country is possible without referring to drastic measures,” Khatami said.

During protests demonstrations in June and July, the people called on holding a referendum on amending the country’s political status quo with removing the power of state-elected bodies, such as the judiciary and senate-like Guardian Council, and replacing it with democratically-elected bodies.

While most of the reformers agree with the idea of the referendum but hardliners consider this move as an effort to change the constitution and a prologue to topple the Islamic system and replace it with a secular one.

“The constitution is certainly not perfect and needs some updating but still the same constitution could be used as a basis for democracy in Iran if the laws would really be respected and not be individually be interpreted and misused in the name of Islam,” Khatami said.

The vice-speaker cautiously referred to the taboo issue of Velayat’e Faqih – the supreme religious leadership, in the hands of Ayatollah Ali Khatami since the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 – and rejected the interpretation of the conservatives that the leadership stands above law and constitution. “In a democratic framework, all state bodies, including the leadership, should only have the level of authority foreseen by law,” Khatami said.

The Velayat’e Faqih system was put almost 25 years ago as the main pillar of Islamic Iran’s constitution and the country’s clergy consider this pillar as untouchable and main basis for a genuine Islamic system.