Tehran, Aug 29, IRNA -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei
on Wednesday lauded the initiatives and innovation of late Prime Minister Mohammad Javad
Bahonar who was martyred along with late President Mohammad Ali Rajaie in a terrorist bomb
blast in 1981. In a meeting with members of the board of a congress on 'Shahid
Bahonar',
the Supreme Leader said that the late Bahonar was a strong intellectual and serious
administrator and very hard worker. The Leader said that the late Bahonar had a
revolutionary record during the former regime and served as one of the pillars of the
Islamic Revolution. Ayatollah Khamenei called for compiling the writings of the late prime
minister to convey his thoughts to the young generation. The Leader said that the congress
is expected to compile a book about the biography and ideas of the late Bahonar. SS/AH End
::irna 18:48
Tehran, Aug 27, IRNA -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei
called on the new cabinet members to spare no efforts to eradicate the poverty and
administer the justice in the present social situation which he said was quite suitable
for work and progress. In a meting Monday with the members of President Khatami new
cabinet, the leader drew up the broad line of the policies which should govern he
performance of the government in the four years to come. The leader praised the parliament
for its approval of the Khatami proposed cabinet which he asked to employ every possible
means to remove the shortcomings, to settle the bottlenecks and to take strides toward
progress and prosperity. He hoped that a fully-fleged and true form of the religious
democracy be translated into action as a result of the efforts of the government officials
and cabinet members. He said the new government has to grasp the opportunities to embark
on its valuable goals and programs in various areas while dding that the acute overseeing
of the officials performance would contribute to the efficiency of pre-planned
programs.
The leader further called on the new cabinet to focus on a range of important issues such
as unemployment problem. Elsewhere, the leader touched on the incomplete developmental
projects already initiated by the government and said the lengthy implementation of some
of these projects would result in damage and loss. He said the officials have to consider
the completion of the unfinished projects. The leader further said the officials should
avoid living a luxurious life since he said one could not administer the justice while
living in the lap of luxury. He called on the heads of the three branches of the
government to consider his 8-point statement on the need to fight financial corruption and
discrimination under all its forms. Heads of the three branches of government attended
earlier a meeting with Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to
look into the problem of unemployment and the leader's 8-point directive to combat
financial corruption. The session attainees stressed the need to give priority to solving
unemployment and work out strategies to that end. Statistics on unemployment rate and its
impact on the personal and social life of the youth and society were given at the
meeting.
It also stressed cooperation between the executive as well as the legislative and
judiciary powers in the field of unemployment. As for financial and economic
corruption,
the meeting stressed the need for serious efforts by the headquarter coordinating the
campaign against financial and economic corruption. The headquarters should prepare the
ground for coordination and cooperation among three branches of government to deal with
financial and economic corruption within framework of the law.
:irna 23:57
Tehran, Aug 25, IRNA -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei
on Saturday called on the university students to reinforce the student movement to stand
against insinuation of the followers of the U.S. and the West. In a message to the annual
meeting of the campus political entity,the "Office to Foster Unity", the supreme
Leader said that being young, being a learner and being member of an active Islamic
association are the three opportunities that the students should seize to fulfil their
religious commitment. The Leader said in the message read out by Head of the Leader's
Representative Office to the Universities, Hojjatoleslam Mohsen Qomi, that the students
should come together to form such associations which are blessings for the
community.
"Since the early years of the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Associations of
Students have been the successful part of the Islamic Republic. They have done great jobs
in the past and are capable of being vanguard in the path of progress and prosperity of
the country," the Leader said. "Some people malevolently have attempted to make
the Islamic associations of the universities skeptical of the Islamic Republic and turn
away from the lofty Islamic goals and fall into trap of insinuations of the followers of
the United States and the West while it runs counter to the very principle of the Islamic
associations," the Leader said. "The faith and pure motives are the outstanding
features of the Islamic associations of students. The features that should grow up and
become more effective. The hegemonic powers of the world want to eliminate any resistance
to their greed," the message said. "The Islamic Iran never gives in to the
revolting waves of the hegemonic powers, through reliance upon the power of
thought,
spiritual strength and practical capability that Islam has provided to Iran. You, the
young students should do your best to make the resistance to the hegemonic powers more
stronger," the Leader said. The Leader recommended that the students forge close
relationship with the campus associations and stand against those who lobby for weakening
the resistance to the hegemonic powers.
Tehran, Aug 20, IRNA -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday extended
his condolences on the death anniversary of the former conservative MP Ali Movahedi-Savoji
in a car accident. "I condole with the bereaved family of Hojj (title given to
mid-ranking clerics) Movahedi-Savoji on the sad death," he said in a
message.
"This grand cleric had dedicated his whole life to serving Islam and the people. His
struggles before the (1979) Islamic Revolution and his efforts during his tenure as MP for
several consecutive terms are among his bright records," the message said.
Movahedi-Savoji, serving as legislator for five times, died early Friday in an car
accident on the road from northern Mazandaran to the capital. Born in Saveh, south of
Tehran in 1943, Movahedi-Savoji had completed his senior jurisdictive and fundamentals
studies in the holy city of Qom. He served as a member of the presiding board in the
second conservative-dominated parliament, a presiding judge at Saveh Revolutionary Court
and also Friday prayers leader in Saveh. The conservative cleric was an influential
anti-shah figure before the 1979-Islamic Revolution. He was imprisoned five times due to
his anti-shah struggles.
:irna 00:18
Tehran, Aug 7, IRAN -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali
Khamenei late Monday nigth confirmed the Expediency Council's decision on the method of
choosing the Guardian Council's lawyers. Accroding to the Expediency Council's
decision,
if the judiciary chief's candidates for the post do not secure an absolute majority during
the parliamnt's first vote cast, there will be a second round of voting in which the two
lawyers who gain the relative majority will be elected. In their emergency session
Monday,
members of the state Expediency Council (EC) discussed the controversial case of selection
of two lawyers for two vacant seats in the oversight Guardian Council (GC). in the
meeting, Head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Speaker od the Majlis
Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karroubi and Secretary of the Guardian Council Ahmad Jannati presented
each their viewpoints on the issue. The state Expediency Council, the highest arbitration
body in Iran, held the "urgently debate" Monday to deal with the ongoing spat
between the judiciary and the parliament over the election of lawyers to the oversight
Guardian Council. It came after the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Sunday assigned
Chairman of the Expediency Council to put forward proposal to end the row between the
legislature and the judiciary. The reformist-majority parliament (Majlis) has twice
rejected candidates fielded for vacant seats on the Guardian Council, prompting Ayatollah
Khamenei to call for postponement of President Mohammad Khatami's swearing-in
ceremony,
initially slated for Sunday. "Given the fact that the Islamic Consultative Council
parliament has not reached a quorum over the election of the lawyers to the Guardians
Council and due to the constitutional ambiguity (thereof), it is required the swearing-in
ceremonies are postponed until the legal ground is reinstated," Ayatollah Khamenei
said in a short letter. The parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karroubi on Sunday called for the
formation of a special delegation to arbitrate in the row. He proposed the
delegation,
consisting of representatives of the judiciary, legislature as well as the
leader, to sit
down to settle the differences in order to enable the parliament "to hold the
swearing-in of the president as soon as possible." The 225 deputies present in
parliament unanimously rejected all the candidates on Shahroudi's new list during a
special afternoon session. The 12-member Guardian Council, comprising of six jurists
appointed by the supreme leader and six lawyers, oversees laws which are passed by the
parliament to confirm their conformity with the Islamic teachings and the national
constitution. The lawyers, proposed by the judiciary, are elected by the
parliament.
Lawmakers made it known over the past several weeks that they disapproved of the
candidates nominated by the judiciary as "too political." Among the six
candidates, the 238 lawmakers retained only Ibrahim Azizi, while among those they rejected
were the high-profile Hossein Mir-Mohammad Sadeqi, a justice spokesman, and Abbas
Karimi,
an international law expert who studied in France.
:irna 00:34
Tehran, Aug 5, IRNA -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei
on Sunday assigned Chairman of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to put
forward proposal to end the row between the legislature and the Judiciary on electing two
lawyers for the Guardians Council. The Leader said in a letter to Rafsanjani that given
the failure of the Majlis and the Judiciary to reach a consensus on electing two members
to the Guardians Council which may cause possible delay in inauguration ceremony of the
president, the Expediency Council is expected to offer proposal to end the row. The
Supreme Leader said in his letter, "Thanks God, the Constitution has envisaged a way
out of such problems. According to Article 110 of the Constitution, the Expediency Council
is expected to hold a meeting at the earliest to take decision on the matter and offer a
report to this effect to the (leader's) office." The Supreme Leader extended his best
wishes to the heads of the judiciary, the legislature and the other officials of the
Islamic Republic.
:irna 18:22
Tehran, Aug 4, IRNA -- Following the parliamentary move to reject two of the Judiciary
nominees for the posts of the Guardian Council (GC) jurists, Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Seyed Ali Khamenei today ordered parliament to postpone President Khatami's swear-in
ceremony due to constitutional ambiguities. In a letter to Majlis Speaker Mehdi Karroubi,
the Supreme Leader said as two of the Judiciary nominees have failed to win parliament's
approval to become GC jurists, some legal obscurity is seen in holding the swearing-in
ceremony for the president. He said the swearing-in ceremony should be postponed until the
required conditions are met. Majlis in its open session today approved just one of the
jurors nominated by the Judiciary for membership in the Guardian Council. MPs only voted
for Ebrahim Azizi, out of six candidates introduced by the Judiciary, for GC membership.
Azizi obtained 150 out of 238 votes cast in the parliament. After two counts of voting,
Abbasali Kadkhodaie won 54, Abolfazl Alamoutian 50, Mohsen Esmaeeli 45 and Fazlullah
Mousavi 14 out of a total of 225 votes cast at Majlis today. Based on Article 119 of
Majlis by-law, candidates for membership in the jurors board of the GC should win absolute
majority of votes at Majlis to win the position. Abbas Karimi with 104 votes, Hossein
Mirmohammad Sadeqi with 67 votes, Mohsen Esmaeeli with 31 votes, Hossein Elham with 26
votes, and Abbasali Kadkhodaie with 16 votes failed to win majority. Under the
Constitution, six jurors of the 12-member Guardian Council are nominated by the Judiciary
chief and they have to be approved by the Majlis.
::irna 22:03
Tehran, Aug 1, IRNA -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali
Khamenei is to confirm the mandate of Seyed Mohammad Khatami Thursday allowing the latter
to form his new cabinet. The leader will approve Khatami's mandate in a ceremony to be
attended by high-ranking Iranian officials including heads of the Judiciary , Majlis
(parliament), members of the Guardian Council and Expert Assembly as well as top military
officials. The ceremony will be carried live on the state television channel one.
President Mohammad Khatami won by a greater landslide victory after winning 77 percent of
the vote in this year's 8th June presidential elections. He garnered 21,659,053 votes out
of the total 28,160,394 cast. The election turnout was 67 percent, down from 83 percent
from the 1997 elections in which Khatami acquired 69 percent of the total votes. Interior
Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari is also to present a report on the June 8 presidential
elections while the Guardian Council's credentials is also to be read out to the audience.
Supreme Leader and President Khatami would deliver speeches too. Three days after
Ayatollah Khamenei's approval, Khatami will show up in the reformist-majority parliament
(Majlis) for the swearing-in ceremony. Within two weeks after being sworn in, Khatami
should introduce his next cabinet to Majlis for vote of confidence. Speculations are rife
over the make-up of President Khatami's new cabinet. Reformist MPs have ruled out the idea
of forming a cabinet which contains a spectrum of mainstream political parties of the
country, saying "meritocracy" should be the criteria for choosing new ministers.
Khatami himself has vowed that economy would be the top priority in his new
administration. Several of his allies have advised Khatami to avoid choosing ministers
with probable extremist views, while the president has invited all political groups of the
country to practice moderation and shun violence. Sources close to Khatami have said that
the president was looking to pick up his deputies and ministers among more pragmatic
forces, irrespective of their political inclinations. But, some of his allies have said
that the parliament which is mainly dominated by pro-reform MPs, would cast their votes of
confidence only to those who have proved their commitments to Khatami's objectives.
:irna 22:23