REFERENDUM IS THE BEST, PEACEFUL WAY TO REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN
LONDON 8 Aug. (IPS) Hojjatoleslam Hoseyn Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran added his voice calling for a referendum on the future regime of Iran.
"Referendum is the best way allowing the Iranians to freely decide on the regime they desire. If they vote for an Islamic Republic, the present rulers would be legitimised. If they vote for a secular system instead, it would also allow the ruling clerics to step aside peacefully, handing the power to new leaders without bloodshed", Mr. Khomeini said.
However, he stressed that the present ruling theocracy has reached its end, repeated that the regime has "lost" its legitimacy and accused the ruling clerics of "atrocities" committed against the Iranian people, ruling by "force and violence, perpetuating injustice, corruption, discrimination, random arrest and jailing and torture of dissidents and illegal confiscations".
According to the 45 years-old Khomeini, his grandfather, in his first speech upon his arrival in Tehran, had denied older generations the right to decide for the regime the future generations wanted to have.
"This is valid today, as those who voted the Islamic Republic on the 12 Farvardin (First of April 1979) referendum are in the minority against those making the majority of the population now, who were not born or not in an age for voting then", he observed in an interview broadcast by the Persian service of the BBC on Thursday 7 August.
When reminded that the dissidents were ferociously oppressed and executed under the absolute rule of his grandfather, he acquiesced, observing that he had opposed the decision in several speeches.
The son of Mostafa, Grand Ayatollah’s elder son, Hojjatoleslam Hoseyn left Iran, where he was imposed "lock on his lips", for Iraq secretly about a month ago and is seeking to establish himself in the holy city of Najaf, where his grandfather lived in exile and led the Islamic revolution that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on 1979.
Repeating that an Islamic government is religiously "illegal" until Mehdi, the Shi’ites twelfth and last imam remains in the hiding, the young Khomeini said the present system’s "contrasting duality" (of elements of republicanism and religion) was "the main source" of it’s "total impotency" solving people’s basic and real needs and problems.
"Hence, referendum is the only way allowing Iran to get out of the impasse, replacing the present system with a secular one", he pointed out.
In earlier interviews, Mr. Khomeini had stated that if his grandfather would be alive, not only he would have joined the opponents, but also calling for a regime change.
To a question about how he would bring changes and if having a Koran and a machinegun at his bedside does not point to some methods, he replied that the book was that of Hafez (one of Iranian’s most revered poets) and that the arm was a hand revolver he keeps in case we are threatened, considering the lack of security in Iraq for the time being.
"As for taking the leadership of any movement, no one has asked me anything and I don’t expect any, but I would consider it a great honour if I can help Iranians recover freedom and democracy, be it a small step.
Asked to comment on earlier statements calling on the Americans to help bring freedom to Iran, he again emphasized that freedom is what mankind has as its "most important and cherished value".
"If we Iranians we can secure freedom by our own means, much better, but if all roads are closed to us, shall we abandon our aim, saying we don’t want freedom? If the Americans can help us in this road, why not? This is not inviting Americans to interfere in our internal affairs", he pointed out.
Asked about his view of President Mohammad Khatami and the reforms he promised but failed to achieve, Mr. Khomeini reiterated that Iranians are "deeply deceived by both the man they massively voted for and the reformists who brought nothing but more trouble than before".
"Seyyed Hoseyn had been kept out of the political theatre for the last two decades by the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s political children who have either silenced other members of the Khomeini family or coerced them in siding with the regime", one Iran watcher observed.
Iranian political analysts say that though the young Khomeini is not well known to the people and religiously, he is not a heavyweight, yet, taking in account his situation as the most senior member of the family, he could become an asset for the Iranian change regime movement in the future, provided he is assured of a solid political and communication organization, which he lacks for the time being.
This is probably one of the reasons why the authorities have ordered the local media not report any of his interviews. ENDS HOSEYN KHOMEINI 8803
http://www.iran-press-service.com/