Opposition leader stands by his criticism of Iranian Assembly

Iranian opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi

Iranian opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi defended his recent letter to the Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and insisted that the Assembly has “deviated since 1991 under the force of the Guardian Council."

In an interview with opposition website, Tagheer, Karroubi stressed that the Assembly of Experts was formed to appoint, supervise and also remove the Supreme Leader, if necessary. Therefore, he is well within his rights to criticize the Assembly for its lack of supervision.

Two weeks ago, Karroubi wrote a letter to Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, to criticize the assembly for its failure to supervise the actions of the Supreme Leader and all the subsidiaries of the leadership.

The Supreme Leader’s seal of approval on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidential victory despite widespread charges of vote fraud and his approval of recent violence against peaceful protesters are some of the reasons Karroubi called for a re-evaluation of the Supreme Leader.

Karroubi also mentioned widespread interference of military and armed forces in politics and the judiciary’s complete loss of independence as instances of the failure of the Supreme Leader and the Assembly to shoulder their duties in keeping government bodies in check.

Karroubi’s letter was condemned by many hardliners who once more called for the prosecution of the opposition leader.

In his interview with Tagheer, Karroubi added that the late leader of the 1979 Revolution of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, was intent on having a supervisory body for the supreme leader.

Karroubi maintained that today the Assembly of Experts is however a “weak and useless entity” that meets every once in while “but accomplishes nothing.”

He added: “The result of such policies is that a rational, legal letter based on the essence of the Revolution and the constitution written in concern for the Revolution and the future of the country is received with political attacks.”