By Bahman Aghai
Diba
The pub
or its Iranian equivalent “Ghavehkhaneh” is the gathering place of persons who
speak about various things and they go home without anyone taking them
seriously. This is what the
Iranian Majlis had tuned into. The
hardliners, who had always the power in their hands, did not let any of the
serious issues considered by the Sixth Majlis or the reformist Majlis to take
much distance from the mere words.
Out of
the approvals of the last Majlis, no great bill or proposal was finalized. Some of the important bills and
proposals that never reached anywhere, but wasted a lot of time and energy
were:
- Bill
on the adhesion of Iran to the United Nations Convention on Elimination of
discrimination against women
- Twin
bills for amendment of the authority of the President for implementation of
the Constitutional Law
- Bill
for adhesion of Iran to the International Convention on banning of
torture
- Proposal
for definition of the political crimes
- Proposal
for amendment of the elections law
- Proposal
to inspect the expenses of the Iranian Radio-TV Organization
- Proposal
for control of the finances of the institutions under the supervision of the
Supreme Leader
During
the last twenty-five years the extremists have run the Iranian regime. They will continue to do so as long as
the fundamental components of the regime stay the same. At the present conditions, negation of
the religious extremism (as the major culprit in violation of civil rights) is
the negation of the present regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The regime is not ready to improve and
it has proved time and again that it is not geared up to change. However, the
extremists of Iran have one big talent.
They are able to neutralize any person or organization that dare to walk
out of the red line set by certain figures. The Sixth Majlis was so neutralized
that a third class, illiterate, and impolite judge of the public courts could
call all of the deputies as traitors and put them to trial for speaking in the
Majlis. On the other side, an
office in the disciplinary forces, which originally was established to do issues
like giving certificates of wedding ceremonies, had turned into an organization
that summoned people for interrogation and gave public statements about the most
important problems of the country, that are expected to be issued from the
office of the president. At the same time, the president is forced to turn into
a dissatisfied superficial figure heading a bunch of ministers who are not
allowed to do their job as they want.
There is
nothing new in these words for the people of Iran. Many of Iranians stayed away
from elections, because the Guardians Council had already made the choosing for
them. A great number of those who
voted in the recent elections, voted only because they were afraid to lose their
rights or privileges. Those who
work or take benefits from the governmental organizations or the so-called
revolutionary institutions are afraid to lose her jobs or benefits (such as low
cost housing in good places, admission in universities without passing the
difficult tests, getting monthly allowances, and getting permits for everything
from opening a store to driving a cab) if they do not vote. Those who want to travel out of Iran are
always worried that they may face problems if they do not vote and do not have
the stump of elections in their ID cards.
Those who voted and those who did not knew that changing the persons
sitting in the pub had no meaning. The so-called representatives speak, bluff,
and tell fake stories about “ hunting” and go home. Those who had the power are still
holding it and they are not able to solve the problems of this country that they
have created many of them.
The
Sixth Majlis was part of the game played by the extremisms under the disguise of
reforms. Some persons, whose real
affiliation to reforms is seriously under doubt, and a collection of persons who
were always at the service of the extremist regime wanted to waste the time of
this nation. The Sixth Majlis was sometimes forgetting that it was not intended
to be anything more than being a pub.
They impeached several ministers of the reformist cabinet as if these
miserable figures were responsible for anything. Take the case of the foreign
minister. He was almost impeached
several times by the deputies of Majlis for the policies that he was not
decision-maker on them. One
of serious cases was the failure of Iran in the Caspian Sea and its pipeline
diplomacy. The foreign minister was
not responsible for bad relations of Iran with the key countries in and out of
the region. But he was going to be
impeached.
The real
problem in the politics and government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is that
the Majlis, like many other institutions in Iran does not have the traditional
or standard meaning. Consequently,
this leads to improper expectations from those institutions. I would like to
explain some these institutions in the present day Iran.
Iranian
Parliament: What we see in Islamic republic of Iran is not the parliament in the
sense of the dictionary of politics. This is an Islamic Consultative Assembly
(Majlisse Shoraye Islami). “Islamic” here means that the whole institution is
subject to observing Islamic tenets and hierarchy. (Islamic in the present day
Iran means whatever a few persons say. They are not under obligation to keep
their words the same and they can interpret Islam as they wish). Consultative means that it is in the
level of consultation and nothing more. According to existing interpretation
from the Islamic rules, Allah defines “laws” and mankind is not permitted to
make laws, they only can find ways to implement them. Legislation is an act of
God and approving anything in contrary to those acts, is considered to be
“Bedat” which means “initiative” and it is an important sin. As such there is no
equivalent of the Western Parliament in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The
members of Majlis do not have political immunity, or even ordinary rights, for
what they say in Majlis and more important than that they are under no
obligation to do or say what their constituencies want, rather they are
committed to act according to the interests of Islam (with official
interpretation).
Elections: All kinds of elections in the I.R .of
Iran are hold after detailed and strict screening of the candidates by several
institutions. The aim of the screening is to make sure that they the candidates
are in the line of ruling circles. One of the important screening sources is the
Council of Guardians, which will be introduced. There are others, which work in
different levels. The results of these screenings usually lead to choosing
certain types of persons. Most probable persons that come out of the screening
are clergies and their relatives and/or employees of the intelligence
organizations or so-called revolutionary institutions. This is a known fact and
persons who do not have the required strong relations (by blood or marriage or
through regular payment of a special tax called “the share of Imam”) do not
bother to become candidate. They know that there is no chance to pass the
barrier and they save the embarrassment. Those who do not observe the rule, face
the same result and they are eliminated without any regards to what people may
think or what are the reactions of other countries and organizations. Therefore,
it can be said that there is no elections in the IR of Iran. What we have there
is a kind of appointment. In the case of elections for Majlis, the supervisory
organs reserve the right to reject the results of elections in at least two more
stages.
Council
of Guardians: this is consisted mostly of persons appointed by the Supreme
Leader (or Valie Faghih. This expression is usually taken as the leader or some
kind of king. It’s not correct. “Vali” means guardian, or the person who has the
position of guardian toward person or persons who need guardianship. According
to the Iranian regime’s version of Islam, the Valie Faghih is the person who has
the guardianship over all Muslims who need the service. This has important
direct and implied results. The most important one is that the views or the
votes of those who are in need of guardianship are not pertinent in appointing
or electing of the “guardian”. Also, the guardian is not obliged to do things
that the persons in need of guardianship (minors) want to be done. The guardian
can tell lies or tell something and do something else because he is the sole
source of distinguishing what is good or bad for the minors.) For keeping an eye on the Majlis. This is
really interesting. If the state is really Islamic and its parliament is the
Islamic Consultative Assembly, then why should another council supervise it to
make sure that Islam is observed? Who says that more than 200 persons (almost
all of them Mullahs) which have been partly elected by people (the reality is
that even these persons are not people’s representatives. The Council of
Guardians has strictly screened all candidates) do not understand Islam but the
small group, which is gathered in the Council of Guardians, can do
that?
Freedom
(Azadi): This word is largely misused in Iran. Some of the Iranian religious
leaders claim that the freedoms, which are mentioned in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, are not enough to express the scope of freedoms
that Islamic regime gives to Human beings. If you review their teachings you
will soon notice that they only use the term ”human beings” for their own
followers, otherwise they do not consider others as human beings. Therefore,
they have certainly much more extended rights and privileges for their
followers.
Council
of Experts (Majlis e Khobreghan): This institution has been introduced to people
as a kind of constitutional assembly and it is referred to as such in the
Western press. This not corrects. Council of experts is not consisted of
people’s representatives. They are all Mullahs screened by the “Council of
Guardians” for this post.
Expediency
Council: The council was originally envisaged to solve the conflicts between the
Majlis and the Council of Guardians, but it is doing something else. The real
name of this institution is: The Assembly to Distinguish Expediency of the
Regime. This is very clear. The council is not in charge of finding the
expediency of Iran or Islam or any thing like that. It is only in charge of
finding what is best for continuation of the regime. This council is as
important as the Ayatollah and power broker, Rafsanjani, who is heading it. Because the council and its leader are
ready and willing to do what is finally required for the continuation of regime,
this may include better relations with the United States.
The
experience of Islamic revolution in Iran proved once again that mixture of
politics and Islam, in the world, which is divided into nation-states and the
governments, which are designed to follow the national interests, does not work.
For a long time in Iran (hundreds of years), religious people had claimed that
all problems in the society came from non-observance of Islamic rules and if
religious Islamic leaders become political masters in the society, everything
would be in order and justice would prevail all over the state. More than two
decades of Islamic government in Iran has showed clearly that the idea was not
working. There is no doubt that the
people of Iran are less religious and more under-developed now, compared to
twenty-five years ago. What is
happening in Iran at the present juncture is a clear struggle by the people of
Iran to get religion separated from politics. There is no other way. Anyone,
including all Muslims and any government, especially the U.S., that wish a
better life for the people of Islamic countries and similar states, and also
seek international peace and development, should help the cause of separating
religion from politics.
About
the author:
Bahman
Aghai Diba, PhD Int. Law, is a consultant in international law to the World
Resources Company in the Washington DC area.
