Reformers Have Imposed Much on the Regime

Rooz online, As the prosecutor of Tehran recently announced the “the imminence of the prosecution of the leaders of the sedition” (sedition is the term the Iranian regime uses for the leaders of the post-2009-election protest movement in Iran), an influential principlist Majlis deputy Mohammad-Reza Bahonar launched a verbal attack on those he views as the “leaders of the sedition,” and blamed the roots of the 2009 post-election protests to the events of 1998.

Speaking at the monthly meeting of the Jame Eslami Mohandesin (the Islamic Association of Engineers), Bahonar said, “Last year’s sedition began with the election. The roots of many of the problems of counter-revolutionaries last year must be found in the events of 1999. These individuals imposed much on the regime but eventually the sedition ended to the detriment of the opposition.”

Bahonar made these remarks as the administration prepares itself for commemorating the anniversary of last year’s pro-regime demonstrations and as ayatollah Nouri Hamedani called last year’s December 30 government rally to be “the hard slap of the Iranian nation to the face of the seditionists and their leaders,” and noted, “the Islamic revolution has till now been cleansing itself and has removed undeserving individuals from the revolutionary caravan.”

Bahonar and the Post-election Events

Bahonar’s remarks are noteworthy because while he has criticized Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi in the past, he has also tried to appear to be a moderate by criticizing both the administration and its critics, so much that his views have brought forth harsh responses from hardline principlist supporting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In addition, he is also among those officials who have opposed the elimination of Mousavi, Karoubi and other reformists and even once said that he had told one of the opposition leaders that if he were to be part of the opposition to the regime, he would wholeheartedly support him.

As the secretary of the Association of Engineers, Bahonar had earlier told reporters, “The internal opposition can be allowed to have party, newspaper and a website in the within the confines of the law.”

Perhaps it is such remarks that have displeased the principlists supporting Ahmadinejad. One such supporter Majlis representative Hamid Rasai accused Bahonar of supporting Mousavi and charged, “During last year’s elections, Bahonar had met with individuals such as Mohammad-Reza Tabesh (the head of the minority faction the Majlis) and had sent messages to Mohammad Khatami that he (i.e., Bahonar) could not criticize the administration but hoped that Khatami would.”

Mehdi Kootchakzadeh is another pro-Ahmadinejad MP who called Bahonar the remaining hope of the seditionists in the Majlis, adding, “Mr. Bahonar’s positions prior to and after the 2009 elections are unacceptable to me.” Still another legislator, Emad Afrough said this of Bahonar’s positions in the seventh (2004-2008) and eight (2008-present) Majlis, “during the seventh Majlis, Bahonar demonstrated an over-reaching support for the administration and if anyone talked of impeaching the president, he would deflect the issue and remove the issue from the agenda of the parliament, or he would encourage other MPs to retract their signature calls for an impeachment.”

Perhaps it is these verbal attacks on Bahonar that have made him now take a harder attitude towards post-election protests. Earlier, he was accused by members of his own faction to be playing a double game of supporting and criticizing the opposition. And now, his criticism of the opposition has become so harsh that he not only calls Mousavi and Karoubi the “leaders of the sedition,” but even includes Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami in the group.

It is noteworthy that Bahonar had even criticized those who had called for the prosecution of Rafsanjani saying, “We do not agree with this, while we do have serious issues with some positions of Mr. Rafsanjani.”

Bahonar, who had earlier revealed that had it not been for the orders of ayatollah Khamenei, 8 or 9 cabinet designees would not have been given the vote of approval by the Majlis, which was not a good beginning for the administration, had said that the Majlis could at any time discuss the dis-qualifications of the president in parliament, but then changed his mind and noted, “The questioning of the president that is pursued by MP Ali Motahari is a personal drive. It is not prudent to pursue this issue now and Motahari must stop this as soon as possible.”