Source: Radio Zamaneh,
Mousavi facebook
Five Iranian intellectuals in exile have
issued a statement announcing "the preliminary demands" of the Green Movement.
Abdolkarim Soroosh, Mohsen Kadivar, Ataollah Mohajerani, Abdolali Bazargan and
Akbar Ganji called for the resignation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and renewed
elections.
(from left to right) Ganji, Bazargan, Mohajerani, Kadivar, Soroush
They have also called for the dissolution of the
Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, the independence of universities and the
removal of military and paramilitary forces from the university milieu.
Recognizing the legal right of political parties and student movements,
immediate prosecution of torturers, murderers and perpetrators of "the past
crimes" and the release of all political and ideological prisoners are some more
of the said demands.
They have also added that the judiciary needs to be independent and the head of
this government branch needs to be elected by popular vote rather than
appointment of the Supreme Leader as it is done now.
Political and financial independence of all seminaries, refraining from turning
the clergy into public service and the complete withdrawal of the armed forces
from politics, economics and culture are also listed in the statement.
They also demand that all senior public officials be elected and accountable
with a limited time at office.
The latest announcement of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the chief disputing candidate of
the June presidential elections that started the latest crisis in Iran which has
resulted in over six months of protests and violent government crackdown on
protesters, also contained a series of solutions to take the country out of the
current crisis such as accountability of the government, freedom of assembly and
the press, release of political prisoners and transparency of the election
process.
The five Iranian intellectuals maintain that Mr. Mousavi has stated the "minimum
conditions" and while they support his conditions, they propose to expand it
with their own demands.
The statement adds: "The Green Movement of Iran stands for Iran's territorial
integrity and rejects any military invasion of the country. It is also against
any foreign interference in determining the nation's fate and is concerned about
economic sanctions that can prove injurious to the people of Iran."
They maintain that "religious despotism has lost its legitimacy through violence
and massacre of people on Ashura Day."
The statement concludes with the warning that the suppression of the demands of
the Greem Movement would only "deepen the crisis" and all its responsibility
will lie with "Velayat-e Faghih leadership."
Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, is referred to
as Vali-e Faghih.
green protesters in Tehran on December 27 (photo by
www.kosoof.com)
Following is the full set of demands put forward by the five intellectuals:
- Resignation of Ahmadinejad and holding a
re-election under the supervision of independent organization, cancelation
of the pre-approving screening by the guardian council, and formation of an
independent commission consistent of the representatives of the protesters
to the election results for legislating new criteria to enable fair and free
elections.
- Release of all political prisoners and the
investigation of the cases of torture and assault of the protestors over the
past few months in open trials with the presence of juries and the right to
select and have lawyers as well as compensating the victims and their
families.
- Freedom of all media including press, audio
and video media and cyber media; allowing the newspapers that were closed
down by the government to re-open; permitting independent and
non-governmental satellite television channels and the removal of extensive
filtering of internet; clearing state-run televisions and radios from liars.
- Recognizing the right of non-governmental
organizations to operate; recognizing the right of people, unions, and
women's right activist and other groups to hold peaceful demonstrations as
allowed by article 27 of the constitution.
- Independence of universities and leaving
university affairs to the academics; removal of military and paramilitary
forces from the universities and shutting down the illegal high commission
for Cultural Revolution (government's agency responsible for identifying and
removing government's opposition in universities).
- Immediate trials of the torturers, the
operatives and the masterminds of the past crimes especially over the past
few months.
- Giving independence to the judiciary by
holding election for its head and clearing the judiciary of unfair puppet
judges and stopping show trials.
- The removal of armed and security forces
from the culture, politics and economics scenes.
- Giving political and financial independence
to the seminary schools from the government; stopping the practice of buying
the Friday prayer Imams for political goals.
- All top ranked positions become elected ones
with limited terms.
See the
Persian version.
... Payvand News - 01/04/10 ... --
