Mohammad Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 t ...

was elected as the President of Iran in 1997 after having based his campaign on a reform program promising implementation of a democratic and more tolerant society, the rule of law and improvement of social rights. After taking office, Khatami faced fierce opposition from his powerful opponents within the unelected institutions of the state which he had no legal power over, and this led to repeated clashes between his government and these institutions (including the Guardian Council, the state radio and television, the police, the armed forces, the judiciary, the prisons, etc.). After 8 years of presidency, he is widely considered to have lost the power struggle with his opponents. Many of his supporters have grown disillusioned with him and the reform programs that he was associated with.

The reforms

The promotion of civil society and the rule of law are the key elements in Khatami's reform progra

http://www.iranchamber.com/government/articles/civil_society_politics_iran_khatami.php] *Initiating City and Village Councils of Iran, Iran's city council elections *Voicing the idea of

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere. by rogue elements in the Intelligence Ministry. *The beating of two of his closest allies and key cabinet ministers (

Ataollah Mohajerani Sayyid Ata'ollah Mohajerani ( fa, سید عطاءالله مهاجرانی, also Romanized as Atā'ollāh Mohājerāni; born 24 July 1954) is an Iranian journalist, author, and reformist politician. Mohajerani served as Minister of Culture and Is ...

and

Abdollah Noori Abdollah Noori ( fa, عبدالله نوری ) is an Iranian cleric and reformist politician. Despite his "long history of service to the Islamic Republic," he became the most senior Islamic politician to be sentenced to prison since the Iranian ...

) by Islamist pressure groups after a Friday prayer in Tehran. *An unsuccessful attempt to

impeach Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

Khatami's culture minister (

) by the conservative-dominated 5th

Majlis ( ar, المجلس, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning "sitting room", used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural conne ...

. *The impeachment of Khatami's interior minister (

) by the 5th Majlis which led to Noori's removal from office. *Noori's trial and imprisonment on the grounds of insulting Islamic values. * Iran student riots, July 1999. This was the second largest anti-regime street demonstrations after the

2009 Iranian Election Protests After incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests broke out in major cities across Iran in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The protests co ...

in the history of the Islamic Republic. At the time, students were considered to be the most important supporters of Khatami's government. *The attempted

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

Saeed Hajjarian Saeed Hajjarian ( fa, سعید حجاریان, born 1954) is an Iranian reformist political strategist, journalist, pro-democracy activist and former intelligence officer. He was a member of Tehran's city council, and advisor to president Mohamma ...

, one of Khatami's closest allies and considered by many to be the mastermind strategist of the reform movement. *The judiciary's verdict resulting in the closure of over 20 reformist newspapers in one day. This was considered by many to be the starting point of the reform movement's demise and was described by some political activists as the silent

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, ...

against Khatami's government *The failure of the "Twin Bills" (لوایح دوگانه in Persian). The bills were presented by Khatami to the 6th

but after a long struggle they were eventually disapproved by the

Guardian Council The Guardian Council, (also called Council of Guardians or Constitutional Council, fa, شورای نگهبان, Shourā-ye Negahbān) is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence i ...

. These two pieces of proposed legislation would have introduced small but key changes to the national election laws of Iran and also presented a clear definition of the president's power to prevent constitutional violations by state institutions. Khatami himself described the "twin bills" as the key to the progress of reforms in Iran *The imprisonment of many prominent figures of the reform movement and some of Khatami's key allies during his presidency by the judiciary on the grounds of insulting Islamic values. Some of these individuals are: Dr.

Mohsen Kadivar Mohsen Kadivar ( fa, محسن کدیور; born June 8, 1959) is a mujtahid, Islamic theologian, philosopher, writer, leading intellectual reformist, and research professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. A political Iranian dissident, Kadi ...

Gholamhossein Karbaschi Gholamhossein Karbaschi ( fa, غلامحسین کرباسچی, Gholām-Hosein Karbāschī, ; born 23 August 1954) is an Iranian politician and former Shia cleric who was the Mayor of Tehran from 1990 until 1998. He is considered politically refo ...

, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri,

Mohsen Sazegara Mohsen Sazegara ( fa, محسن سازگارا; born 5 January 1955) calls himself as Iranian journalist and pro-democracy political activist. He was the founder of IRGC (Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps) after the revolution in 1979. He held several ...

Abbas Abdi Abbas Abdi (; fa, عباس عبدی; born 1 October 1956) is one of Iran's most influential reformists, journalist, self-taught sociologist and social activist. Biography Abdi was born in 1956. He studied polymer engineering at Tehran Polytec ...

, investigative journalists

Akbar Ganji Akbar Ganji ( fa, اکبر گنجی , born 31 January 1960 in Tehran) is an Iranian journalist, writer and a former member of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He has been described as "Iran's preeminent political dissident", and a "wildly popu ...

and

Emadedin Baghi Emadeddin Baghi (born 25 April 1962) is an Iranian Journalist, human rights activist, prisoners' rights advocate, investigative journalist, theologian and writer. He is the founder and head of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights and ...

, etc. *The trial and

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

of Dr.

Hashem Aghajari Seyyed Hashem Aghajari ( fa, سیدهاشم آقاجری, born 1957) is an Iranian historian, university professor and a critic of the Islamic Republic's government who was sentenced to death in 2002 for apostasy for a speech he gave on Islam u ...

, a university professor and political activist accused of insulting Islamic values during one of his speeches. The death sentence was reversed after widespread protests by students and reformist parties. Dr. Aghajari was released after a brief stay in prison. In September 2002 Khatami presented the so-called twin bills to Parliament. The twin bills addresses two issues: the first would curb the powers of the Council of Guardians, while the second would enhance presidential powers. The bills were rejected by Guardian council and Khatami withdrew them from the parliament eventually.

Reform within the framework of Iranian constitution

Criticism

Khatami's desire to not make reforms out of the framework of Islamic Republic constitution, caused many people to question the outcome of his programs in areas such as implementation of a democratic society or women's rights. He has received criticism inside and outside the Islamic Republic. During a speech at Tehran University, a group of his former supporters who had grown disillusioned with him chanted, " No more lies! ". Many of them had gotten physically beaten by police and other security forces before the meeting and were frustrated with Khatami's lack of action. According to Khatami," e reforms should come from within the regime. I consider the Islamic Republic to be a great achievement of the most popular revolution in my lifetime." Many of his supporter misunderstood this idea.Iranian President Khatami Clashes with Reformist Students at Tehran University
''MEMRI TV'' With regard to those that were disillusioned with the epic of 23 May 1997, Khatami denounced a group that caused violence in the Iran student riots, July 1999 because of "their envy" and that they "created obstacles to implementation of the will of the people" referring to his opponents within the political establishment of the country. Additionally, he asserted, In the same vein, he has ridiculed the idea of "exporting" Western-style democracy in the Middle East, It seems that Khatami had commitment to reforming the systems. He tries to change the political currents of the country. At the same time he wants to add new controversial dimensions to the public discussions. Of course his administrations could not provide the wide range of social and political reforms promised. . The movement of 2nd khordad showed the last thread of ideology of Islamic republic in politics. This movement also insisted on the policymaking that Rafsanjani’s state has established. Khatami called Iranians for respecting the concept of

Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists The Guardianship or Governance/''Wilāyat'' of/by an Islamic Jurist/''Faqīh'' ( fa, , Velâyat-e Faqih; ar, وِلاَيَةُ ٱلْفَقِيهِ, Wilāyat al-Faqīh), is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law which holds that until the r ...

even if they do not believe in it. He reasoned that the concept is a part of Iranian constitution.KHATAMI SAYS HE IS FOR VELAYAT FAQIH, URGES STUDENTS KEEP QUIET
''Iran Press Service'' A Paris-based analyst said, According to the Iranian scholar,

Azar Nafisi Azar Nafisi ( fa, آذر نفیسی; born 1948)Following eighth grade, Nafisi's parents sent her to England for schooling from 1961 to 1963. Nafisi 2010, chapter 8, pp. 69-70; chapter 13, p. 115 is an Iranian-American writer and professor of Englis ...

, "Khatami is a symptom and not the cause of change in Iran,

Despite the fact that President Khatami was supportive of democratic reforms,

Defenders of Human Rights Center The Defenders of Human Rights Center is an Iranian human rights organization. Organization Based in Tehran, the organization was founded in 2001 and has been active in defending rights of women, political prisoners and minorities in Iran. Several ...

which is Iran's main human rights organization, did not succeed in official registration and its qualification was not approved after three years of sending request

Defense

In his "letter for the future" President Khatami himself defended his government and his achievements. He wrote:

There have been changes of such an extent in social, cultural and political relations that it is impossible to return to the period of before the reforms.

President Khatami called for freedom of expression and asked people to publicly and openly criticize high-ranking politicians. Despite crackdown of the press by conservatives, Khatami succeeded in his plans to some extents. American journalist

Ted Koppel Edward James Martin Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is a British-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for '' Nightline'', from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005. Before ''Nightline'', he spent 20 years as a broad ...

who visited Iran in 2006, emphasized on the difference between Iran and other totalitarian regimes. In an interview Koppel said:

I have been over the years to many totalitarian countries as Soviet Union, China, Romania and North Vietnam. There is a sort of a feeling when you are in a totalitarian country. …that you can sense the moment you get off the plane. It’s almost like a hand around the throat ….People are very afraid to talk. ….That’s not Iran. By enlarge Iranians feel very free to talk, very free to criticize their president and our president … it is just a livelier place than what I was expected it to be. I guess that was the biggest surprise for me.

According to the political analyst and a former political prisoner, Hassan Yousefi Eshkevari, President Khatami's success can be listed as follows: *His conviction in law and respect for law *He remained faithful to his calls for abstaining from violence. *Non-suppression of opponents and critics. *The improvement of Iran’s foreign relations and its image abroad. *Honesty and sincerity. In 2006, University of St Andrews Students’ Association fully backs the decision to grant President Khatami an honorary doctorate of law. After many discussions the association concluded that:

Khatami himself predominantly adopted a brave stance to promote liberal values in the face of great adversity. This personal courage, combined with his subsequent work in building interfaith dialogue and communication (notably through the Dialogue of Civilisations project), coupled with his notable achievements as a scholar, make him a very suitable candidate for such an award.''

During his two terms in office, Khatami was able to introduce some reforms to the Iranian political system, however all in all, he is widely considered to have lost the power struggle with his opponents. The root cause for his failures is widely considered to be the limited powers of the President in the Iranian political system. As President, Khatami had little or no authority over many key state institutions such as the judiciary, the state radio and television, the armed forces including the police, the military, etc. (See

Politics of Iran The politics of Iran takes place in the framework of an Islamic theocracy which was formed following the overthrow of Iran's millennia-long monarchy by the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution. Iran's system of government (''nezam'') has been de ...

). Some people criticise president Khatami for the mass closure of reformist newspapers by the press court during the first term of his presidency. These critics are unaware of the fact that not only Khatami had no control over the judiciary as President, but also that the judiciary was widely known to be controlled by hardline opponents of Khatami at the time. Of course He tries to make in tune the Islamic government with the aspirations of Iranian people. However it can be said that the movement of Khatami was a continuation of two earlier movements namely constitutional revolution and Islamic revolution in 1979 against Pahlavi regime. These revolutions are welcoming to modernity.

Aims of 2nd khordad movement

Among his primary aims in politics were cases such as more personal freedom, social justice, privacy, tolerance, public participation in the interior affairs of state, consolidation of the rule of law, open and free press, establishment of political parties, transparency in accountability and end to corruption. The movement is to undertake remodeling of Islamic republic, modernizing its structure and rationalize the bureaucracy. In other word, the whole groups follow to change the policy making in all dimension.

References and notes

{{Reflist

External links

Khatami at Aljazeera.comReligious democracy: Khatami versus Shah
(in Persian) Mohammad Khatami History of the Islamic Republic of Iran Politics of Iran Political history of Iran Reform in Iran Presidency of Mohammad Khatami