Iran’s EX-President Admits ‘Widespread Discontent’

Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami on the sidelines of an event before the 2009 presidential elections (archives - Parliament News)
Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami on the sidelines of an event before the 2009 presidential elections (archives - Parliament News)
TT

Iran’s EX-President Admits ‘Widespread Discontent’

Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami on the sidelines of an event before the 2009 presidential elections (archives - Parliament News)
Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami on the sidelines of an event before the 2009 presidential elections (archives - Parliament News)

Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday admitted that reforms have reached a deadlock in his country and urged returning to the constitution of the “Islamic Republic.”

Khatami’s stance goes against his ally Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who has called for reforming the constitution and proposed an alternative to the current government.

As the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution approaches, Khatami said that the Iranian society is beset by many troubles, but he called for a return to the constitution.

“Changing and amending the constitution is in order, but by returning to the spirit of the same constitution, many reforms can be made,” said Khatami according to Iranian media.

Unlike Khatami, Mousavi called for drafting a new constitution and submitting it to a popular referendum for a “free and fair” vote. Mousavi said that the aim of doing so is changing the power dynamics and the current formula of the country’s system of government.

“What is evident today is widespread discontent,” said Khatami, according to AFP.

Khatami said he hoped that the use of “non-violent civil methods” could “force the governing system to change its approach and accept reforms.”

The former president also implicitly referred to the widening gap between the establishment and the rest of the people, especially the protesters, the majority of whom are young people.

President from 1997 to 2005 before being forced into silence, Khatami said he regretted that Iran’s population was “disappointed with Reformism as well as with the ruling system.”

Khatami rejected demands to overthrow the regime and said: “In terms of the balance of power and the capabilities and strength of the state, it is not possible to overthrow (the regime).”

He warned that raising slogans for overthrowing the establishment will only lead to more restrictions and damages.

Khatami's statements came after Mousavi sharply criticized the ruling establishment and called for a new constitution and a popular referendum.



Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That's why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

- 'Carried out raids' -

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organized by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We've carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We're not arresting general students, only those who vandalized government properties and set them on fire."