An open letter written to Hassan Rouhani by Mahdi Karrubi has been under house arrest since 2009 after his challenging of the 2009 presidential elections. Mahdi stated that Rouhani who was just playing the role of an actor who is not responsible for house arrest decision.
Karrubi’s letter was designed to transform his image from an old radical activist into a new a figure of, at least, reformatory and moderation trends, if not an actual image of democratization.
Karrubi attempted to present the reign of the late Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini, or “Imam” as his supporters like to call it, “a golden age” in which no one could suffer arbitrary arrest.
Knowing that Khomeini presided over tens of thousands of illegal executions; i.e., an average that is relatively close to the size of their community. The number of clerics including students of theology that had been put in prison was higher than that of any other social stratum.
Khomeini set up a special Clerical Court to deal with mullahs and the students of theology who dared to defy his arbitrary rule; i.e., dozens of mullahs were sentenced to death.
When Khomeini found it difficult to put his hands on mullahs because they were all outside Iran, he ordered defrocking, sent them hit squads or assassinated them abroad. In some cases, Khomeini sent mullah’s family to exile or kept them as hostages to force him to return to Iran.
Karrubi may see Khomeini’s reign as “a golden age”. However, he forgets the late ayatollah’s almost childish meanness and cruelty.
Karrubi’s letter claimed that putting mullahs under house arrest did not exist in Khomeini’s “a golden age,” However, this claim is bare of truth.
Karrubi’s presentation of Khomeini’s decade as a “golden age” is disingenuous. In all those years, Karrubi and many other similar figures either remained silent or justified the crimes committed by the “Imam.” Compared to what would have happened to him under Khomeini, the treatment that Karrubi received could be regarded as cordon bleu.
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