In a daring protest described Tuesday as a "cry of agony," more than 100 reformist lawmakers accused Iran's supreme leader of allowing freedoms to be "trampled" and rigging upcoming parliament elections in favor of hard-line backers. The attack - in a letter sent to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - raised political dissent to levels unimaginable just a few weeks ago and shattered taboos about public criticism of Iran's unchallenged political and spiritual authority.
| Should be a stomp-down coming soon... |
The letter struck right at a core complaint: that Khamenei's regime has corrupted the spirit of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled a Western-backed monarchy. His supporters believe he is incapable of error and answerable only to God.
| And how many other places have divine-right monarchs? Even the Shah wasn't a divine-right monarch, by Gad! |
"The popular (1979) revolution brought freedom and independence for the country in the name of Islam. But now you lead a system in which legitimate freedoms and the rights of the people are being trampled in the name of Islam," the legislators said in the letter, made public Tuesday - a day after being sent to Khamenei. The missive also underlined a new and aggressive form of defiance by liberals booted from the political process. Critics call Friday's parliamentary elections a charade after the disqualification of more than 2,400 pro-reform candidates. "It is a cry of agony for what's happening to our country," said Reza Yousefian, a letter supporter and parliament member who has joined appeals for a mass boycott of the balloting. "We may see a strong social backlash."
| I'd call it a head-thumping, myself. But you'll never get rid of the black hats without it. |
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