Ex-chancellor of Tehran Univ.: Presidential contenders have participated in murder and crime ...

Ex-chancellor of Tehran Univ.: Presidential contenders have participated in murder and crime ...

Sunday, 24 May 2009

Dr. Mohammad Maleki, the first chancellor of the University of Tehran following the 1979 revolution - In an open letter about the regime’s upcoming sham presidential elections, Dr. Mohammad Maleki, the first chancellor of the University of Tehran following the revolution, wrote: The current race has a more comical and entertaining undertone. At times, one hears slogans and statements meant to prop up the notion that everything and everyone in the game have changed, with new players just coming onto the scene.”

“They have come to the fore with a high sense of self as if they had no involvement in all those killings, whether in the war front or in prisons or in other parts of the country and the world,” Dr. Maleki went on to say in reference to the regime’s atrocious crimes in Iran and acts of terrorism abroad.

The four presidential contenders for the June elections, former mullahs’ prime minister, Mirhossein Moussavi, former Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Mohsen Rezai, former parliamentary speaker, Mehdi Karoubi, and the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have all held some of the highest posts in the regime, and thus had a role in making the most important state decisions on domestic suppression and acts of terrorism outside Iran’s borders.

“They pretend they had not even the slightest role or responsibility during the past 30 years for creating all this poverty, prostitution, theft, and bribery, which has gripped this society. One must ask Mr. Moussavi, ‘was it not you who during 1979 to 1982 was part of the central leadership of the Islamic Republic Party, which controlled all the levers of power in the country, and joined hands with the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution Party to do whatever you fancied?”

Moussavi has also come under increasing fire from university students across the country for his role in the massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, many of whom had already completed their sentences. He was the mullahs’ third-ranking official at the time.

Making explicit reference to this, Dr. Maleki added: “I heard that while at a university, in response to a question posed by one of the students about your opinion on the 1988 crimes and the massacre of thousands of people, including students, in prisons, you said: I did not intervene in the affairs of the judiciary. … Is it not true that all state security decisions were enacted under the supervision of the Supreme National Defense Council, whose 7-person membership at the time included the prime minister? How could you have not known about such high level crimes being committed? Apparently, Mr. Moussavi you believe that you are living in the city of the deaf, the blind and the dumb. You supported all those crimes, murders, and acts of torture. You agreed to them and had no quarrels with your conscience. Similarly, you will not stand in the way of such acts now or in the future.”

The former University of Tehran president addressed Moussavi again, who spent the 1990s in political hibernation, claiming that he only painted and made sculptures as an artist, and added: “Have you ever painted a picture of a white dove with bloodied wings fallen at the bottom of a cage, since you witnessed so many events during the 8 year war with Iraq, and the tortures and the murders of the 1980s, including the unparalleled massacre of thousands of prisoners in 1988? Have you painted a picture depicting the mass executions, which took place while you were still in office? Have you drawn a portrait depicting the lives of millions of people who were displaced during the war? Have you ever explained why after the liberation of Khorramshahr [in May 1982] and the pull back of Iraqi forces [from Iranian territory], you still decided to continue a war, which caused the death and maiming of hundreds of thousands of people and created billions of dollars in damages?”

Dr. Maleki concluded his letter by addressing regime officials and saying: “As an Iranian, and as someone who for 60 years has fought for freedom and equality, I declare that I will vote, but not to place someone on the seat of presidential power. I will vote in favor of placing each and every one of you and your cohorts, who have destroyed my homeland to such an extent, on the seats of a court in charge of investigating the crimes you have committed against humanity, so that you can be held accountable to the people of Iran and the world.”