IRANIANS TOLD KHAMENEH’I TO RESIGN AS GOD’S REPRESENTATIVE
TEHRAN, 16 June. (IPS) As students-popular revolt against the Islamic Republic continue unabated, with the protests and demonstrations spreading to all major cities throughout the nation, Hojjatoleslam Ali Yoonesi, the Information (Intelligence) Minister said that enemies of Iran have started an "extensive psychological war".
His remarks coincided with the publication of a letter, signed by more than 250 intellectuals, political activists, journalists, scholars, lawyers and teachers told Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i that he must be answerable to the people and not consider himself as the representative of God on earth.
Observers said this is the first time that Iranian dissidents dared to go that far, questioning the very fundament of the present Islamic system, based on the concept of velayat faqih, or the rule of God’s representation on earth.
What surprised more the observers of Iranian affairs was that an independent newspaper, "Yas No", published the letter, defying the ban on anything critical to the leader.
"The statement is a big encouragement for the students and all those who protest against the present religious dictatorship", one analyst sated.
"While the situation is tense at Tehran universities, in other major cities as well as in all the capital’s suburbs, demonstrations against the regime, chants of death to Khameneh’i and calls for referendum continue, as does clashes between protesters and the Islamic vigilantes", one source told Iran Press Service.
Students have also boycotted end year’s exams.
"The enemies of our country have declared a psychological war against Iran us", Mr. Yoonesi said, adding, "We have entered the scene under quite unequal conditions".
He was referring to the United States officials’ public support for the protest movement for democracy in the one hand, and the independent Iranian medias, based mostly in California, beaming programs towards Iran, giving the Iranians the latest news about the movement and encouraging demonstrators to continue with the movement.
President George W. Bush, on Sunday said he backs the protest movement, saying they "are asking to join the modern world".
Iran described the Bush statement as a "gross interference" in Iranian internal affairs.
"Various remarks made recently by a number of US officials are a clear interference in the Islamic Republic's domestic affairs", said Mr. Hamid Reza Asefi, the official spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry, which sent an official protest note was to Washington via the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, representing American interests since the two former allies cut off all relations in 1979.
"The enemy uses unfair tactics, policies, methods and tools to discredit Iran", the Minister went on, observing that a psychological war is "more disastrous" than a military one, because the tactics used in the latter are "tangible" but in the case of a psychological war the people succumb without noticing.
The signatories of the letter, that includes aides to the badly lamed President Mohammad Khatami, said: "People, through their elected representatives, have the right to fully supervise their rulers, criticise them, and even remove them from power if they are not satisfied". ENDS STUDENTS UNREST 16603
http://www.iran-press-service.com/