Arab News
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
Reports that Iran is in danger following the death of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the regime’s prominent figures, are not true. Tehran lost its hawk years ago, stripping him of his powers, and putting him in isolation and under observation.
Moreover, the former president’s men were excluded from government. Even his daughter Faiza was imprisoned. His son Mahdi was given reassurances that he would not be held accountable if he voluntarily returned from abroad. No sooner had he arrived in Tehran than he was arrested and jailed.
The Iranian regime has been getting rid of its own members since the beginning of the 1979 revolution. Power-seekers plotted against Iran’s first President Abolhassan Banisadr, who was a close aide of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Banisadr fled the country and found political asylum in France, but he still fears for his life. Former Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, spokesperson of the revolution, was executed.
Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi are the latest among several leaders of Iran’s revolution to be put under house arrest. Both men objected to election forgery and misuse of power. All those men were regime members, not opponents.
The Iranian opposition was suspicious about Rafsanjani’s death, because he had been practicing his activities until his last day despite his old age. Regardless of whether he died of natural causes or not, it is certain that the current leadership practically killed him years ago when it isolated him. What had Rafsanjani done to be punished? No anti-regime action or stance had been reported against him.
His differences with the leadership were about details of Iranian policy, which is by no means a cause for dispute as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is the one who decides policy. They were afraid of Rafsanjani because his legitimacy came after Khamenei’s — he was wealthy and one of the regime’s oldest leaders. All this made Rafsanjani a target for his opponents in government circles. He had not been personally accused. Instead, members of his family were accused. This was due to his popularity on the Iranian street, the many international relationships he built after taking office, and his support of the regime’s “moderate” old leaders. In addition, he contributed to bringing former President Mohammad Khatami to power.
