Why do these 'generals without army' make you shiver?

Iranian opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi has expressed readiness to go on trial following statements issued by senior regime figures in recent weeks promising legal action against the leaders of the Green Movement or the "seditionists" as they'd like to call Karroubi, Mousavi and Khatami.

In a statement published by Karroubi's official website Sahamnews.org, the veteran politician addressed the Iranian people explaining that despite the all the threats and accusations against him and fellow 2009 presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, he had no intention of backing down and was even prepared to face trial if required.

The statement came just days after Tehran’s Chief Prosecutor Jafar-Dolatabadi appeared before worshipers during Friday prayers and spoke about the judiciary’s plans to indict the leaders of the “sedition.” “The accusations against the leaders of the sedition are worse than they think and they will understand this when we present our indictment against them.”

“Sedition” is a term used by the Iranian establishment to refer to the pro-democracy Green Movement which began following the monumental fraud during the 2009 presidential election that saw Ahmadinejad take office for another four years.

Responding to accusations about the role of foreign powers in the Green Movement leaders, Karroubi asked, “How is it that the reactions and positions of certain media and foreign figures with regards to some of your actions is a certificate of honour for you to boast about, yet you consider the reactions and positions of foreign media and figures towards others, as sign of their reliance on [the West]?

“Didn’t Imam [Khomeini] give interviews in Najaf and Paris before the revolution; [and wasn’t] his first interview with the French Le Monde in Najaf? How is it that you were thrilled when radio stations belonging to Iranian communists in East Germany praised the actions of great revolutionaries [in Iran]? Did this mean that the leaders of the revolution were linked with the communists? ... Every government operates based on its own interests and the foreign press and media act based on their own tendencies and political groupings? And you also act based on your own interest. Is [your] interest in the Muslims of Chechnya and China the same as your interest in the Muslims of Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan?! If the [Iranian] state media had acted fairly, the foreign media would have had less room to manoeuvre and the people would have paid less attention to them.”

The former parliament speaker went on to add, “Needless to say, that in our freedom-seeking opposition movement, we do not have our eyes set on praises from foreign [powers] and whatever we say and do is due to the sense of responsibility that we have, and if they speak about or praise us, it is rooted in their own views.”

Karroubi also slammed those who resorted to exploiting the memory of Imam Khomeini and his actions as a tool for attacking the Green Movement and all dissident voices. The vocal cleric argued that the period prior to the late Imam Khomeini’s death was in no way similar to Iran’s situation in the post-Khomeini era. “If the founder of the revolution was alive today,” he said, “what would he have done with the judiciary which is currently at the mercy of security and intelligence forces; [a judiciary with] a group of judges who have become machines [whose sole job] is to sign unjust rulings?”

In an clear effort to draw comparisons between Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran’s current leader Ali Khamenei, Karroubi continued, “We still remember how during the holy defence, [1] Imam [Khomeini] reacted towards the wave of superstitions that were spreading in the front lines and prevented certain books from reaching the [war] fronts. If [he] was alive, what would his reaction be towards the spread of superstitions in state media or towards claims of witnessing ‘a halo of light’ [by Ahmadinejad], placing empty prayer rugs [2] and claims of such nature?”

“If the Imam was alive, would he have allowed for these attacks against the homes of senior religious clerics to take place and for them to be desecrated? And what would his response have been towards the repeated insults of the state-run Kayhan newspaper towards the Grand clerics who—owing to religious and Islamic responsibility—meet with the families of political prisoners who lack any other refuge.”

“If the great Khomeini was alive, he wouldn’t have allowed the executive branch to humiliate the parliament which he considered to be ‘at the forefront of all matters’,” Karroubi continued. “If the founder of the revolution had been alive, he wouldn’t have allowed the Revolutionary Guards, the armed Basijis and walkie-talkie holding [militia] to stand besides the ballot boxes and to interfere and influence the elections ... if he was alive, would he have allowed the country’s politics as well as the national media and press to be controlled by a couple of eulogists who empty their frustrations by insulting and slandering revolutionary political figures and place such limitations for the true companions of the revolution?”

In his letter to the Iranian people, the outspoken reformist also mentioned that the raids on religious ceremonies organised by Green Movement supporters would never have been tolerated during Imam Khomeini's leadership. He criticised the squandering of public funds which had become a common practice among the Islamic Republic’s officials, as well as their unaccountability and lack of transparency in spending the country’s vast resources.

“If he was alive, what would he have done against the wrongful treatment of academics, unjust prison sentences, the bans on education and suspensions for students and professors, and in one word [amputating] science and knowledge under a guillotine,” Karroubi asked, while criticising the imprisonment, abuse, mistreatment, beating up and violation of women of all ages "in the streets and giving them heavy sentences."

“If the Imam was alive, would a dark stain by the name of ‘Kahrizak’ have been associated with the [Islamic] system?” Karroubi asked, referring to the death of protesters in Kahrizak prison due to torture and abuse following the fraudulent 2009 presidential election.

Karroubi, a close friend and comrade of Imam Khomeini also compared the late leader’s tolerance of Ayatollah Azari, a vocal critic of his actions, to the current intolerance shown by the establishment towards any type of dissent in the country. “Despite all that had happened .... During the constitutional reform of 1989, Imam [Khomeini] chose twenty people from among the members of the Guardian Council, the heads of the different branches and another group which included Ayatollah Azari!”

The Green Movement leader continued: “Months have passed since the climax of the opposition movement of the Iranian people. Even though every day brought a bitter and worrying news about arrests and confrontations, it had an auspicious and blessed outcome which was exposing the other face of power and the state under the Islamic system in Iran. The other side of this coin is a reflection of the corruption and tyranny which, under the influence of power, is visible in all state affairs.”

Responding to recent remarks by Hossein Shariatmadi, managing editor of the ultra-conservative Kayhan daily on national television, Karroubi asked, “Then why have these ‘generals without an army’ caused you such fear and shiver?!”

In a recent television programme called “Yesterday, today, tomorrow,” Shariatmadai said condescendingly that “No one is afraid of a general without an army,” in an obvious attempt to portray the Green Movement leaders as lacking any support base among the Iranian public. However, the ongoing insistence by Shariatmadari and his fellow hoodlums in the Iranian regime raises serious questions about whether or not they themselves actually believe in the verbal diarrhea they continuously propagate on the not-so-national television and press.

The statement released by Karroubi also explained that judging by the events of the last parliamentary election, the reformist leaders’ had lost “trust” in the Guardians Council and the Interior Ministry following the 2009 presidential election.

Karroubi ended his letter to the Iranian people with a defiant message of resistance, reassuring Green Movement supporters that he would not bow down to any pressure from the current rulers of Iran: “I’d like to announce from here, that I am not a of willow that shakes with such wafts of air and I fully welcome a trial and I have solid evidence for all my positions, because I have been engaged in such cases in the past 21 years in different ways and I have not enjoyed any peace and am prepared for a trial to be held in any form, however, I have a request ... that the proceedings be open to the public so that the people, who really own the country, can listen to both sides and then make their own judgement.”

GVF