Tajzadeh trial may repeat history in Iran

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA JAN. 29. If the trial and conviction of a leading ideologue, Mr. Abdollah Nouri, contributed significantly to the landslide victory for Iranian reformers in last year's parliamentary poll, there is a strong possibility that the trial of the Deputy Interior Minister, Mr. Mostafa Tajzadeh, might have a similar effect on the Presidential polls to be held on June 8.

The abrupt commencement of Mr. Tajzadeh's trial is in line with the institutional changes that Iranian conservatives have undertaken so as to hem in the reform camp before the Presidential election. But there is a strong possibility that the conservatives in their desperation might be inflicting wounds on themselves.

An administrative court in Teheran summoned Mr. Tajzadeh to answer questions pertaining to the parliamentary poll. When the proceedings commenced, however, Mr. Tajzadeh was abruptly informed that the court was not merely interested in having some questions answered but had actually begun to try him on charges that he had committed irregularities during the parliamentary poll. After being grilled, he was informed that he had 10 days to present his formal reply.

Embittered by their drubbing in the Teheran constituencies, the conservatives had attributed their loss to irregularities committed by Mr. Tajzadeh who was in charge of supervising elections in the Iranian capital. No voter had made any protest about the vote nor were any complaints received by the dozens of foreign journalists and diplomats who observed the poll.

Mr. Tajzadeh is the latest among a string of strong- headed reformers that the conservatives have knocked out of key positions. Late last year, after months of strenuous effort the conservatives got the Information Minister, Mr. Ataollah Mohajerani, ousted from his post. They had to enlist the support of the Supreme Religious Leader, Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei, to ensure that Mr. Mohajerani was packed off. Now it is the turn of Mr. Tajzadeh who is also under another indictment on charges that he was responsible for a violent student protest in a western Iranian city last year. In both cases, the facts have been twisted to allow the perpetrators of violence or poll irregularities go free.

If there were any irregularities in the parliamentary poll, they were committed by the conservative controlled Council of Guardian (the body which has an overall supervisory role) which first delayed the announcement of results inordinately and then astoundingly over-turned some of the results to replace reformers who had won with conservatives who had lost.

The violence in the western Iranian city also occurred because conservative gangs attacked students and two leading liberals who had gone there to address a student union conference. After he emerged from the court-room, Mr. Tajzadeh said that his own complaints about vote-rigging by the Council of Guardians had been shelved indefinitely by the courts. He said he would inform the public about them when he gets his day in court.

The trial of Mr. Abdollah Nouri early last year was intended by the conservatives to be the method by which they would demolish the reformers' philosophically. But Mr. Nouri put up such a powerful defence in a trail show live on Iranian television that it turned virtually into the manifesto of the pro-reform revolution.

In encapsulating as he did all the main points in the reformers agenda and defending them on sound Islamic revolutionary principles, Mr. Nouri gave a powerful impetus to the reform movement ahead of the polls. It would be interesting to see whether Mr. Tajzadeh will be as successful. However, given the example of Mr. Nouri's trial, it is quite possible that the conservative-controlled electronic media will not take the same risk again when Mr. Tajzadeh produces his defence.

In their desperation, the conservatives have launched themselves on a new tack that the reform wave of the last four years has given rise to a new mood of lasciviousness.

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Section  : International
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