Photos by Mona Hoobehfekr, ISNA

Press TV Mehdi Karroubi, the reformist leader of the National Trust -- Etemad-e Melli-- Party, and a prominent presidential candidate, has adopted 'Change' as his campaign slogan.

But, this is not grafted from Obama's successful bid for US president, for, the Muslim cleric said, "This slogan is taken from the exact text of the Quran, and the verse which states 'Verily God will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.' Of course, this change should be within the frameworks of the Constitution, the Islamic Republic of Iran and changes within the executive branch," he continued.

In his questions-and-answers session with students at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology on Monday, the veteran politician also declared that human rights are essential and inseparable from man's existence. He quoted from the late revolutionary leader and Islamic scholar, Morteza Motahhari, who said, "Certain rights are enjoyed by individuals in which neither a rightful religious state, nor an illegitimate ideological state has the right to breach, for, in this case, (even a legitimate state) will lose its legitimacy. Justice, freedom, human values, fairness and respect for others are among these rights."







He promised that, if elected in the June presidential elections, his government would support students and the expansion of universities. Describing students as the 'country's shining stars', he pledged to follow up the cases of a number of detained political students.





He criticized the incumbent administration of President Ahmadinejad for its repeated replacements of ministers, departmental heads and provincial governors, which he said were wasteful and 'disastrous' for the country and which raised heckles from even the current 'principlist' Majlis, because it meant that all the experience gained by managers were lost.





Turning to questions raised about the position of women, the former Speaker of Majlis (Iran's parliament) said that the president does not have absolute power in Iran over every issue including women's rights. The government must present bills to the Majlis, and the Guardian Council must approve laws passed by the Majlis. Nevertheless, he undertook to follow up on any law or issue with regards to women, as long as they were not in compliance with tenets of Islam.



He said that the best way to promote women's rights would be their participation in politics, and he promised that, the steps he would take as president would include the appointment of women in his cabinet as ministers.

... Payvand News - 04/28/09 ... --

Bookmark/Share this post with:
Delicious | Digg | Facebook | Furl | Google | Magnolia | Newsvine | Reddit | Yahoo