Iranian lawmakers want to restrict Khatami from public
Former President Mohammad Khatami is under the spotlight once again, with some conservative parliamentarians asserting he is banned from public engagements, while others deny their claim.
Ten Iranian lawmakers wrote a letter requesting that Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi implement what they claim is a judicial ruling banning former President Mohammad Khatami from a series of activities. The activities include leaving the country, giving public speeches and having his image appear in print or television.
After the 2009 contested elections, the former Reformist president from 1997 to 2005 was forbidden from leaving the country for a period of four years. The issue arose when he expressed the desire to attend former South African President Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December 2013. Iran sent another official in his place.
After the 2009 elections, for which two former candidates remain under house arrest and many activists are in jail, Khatami was often accused of being “one of the leaders of the sedition” who had encouraged street protests in what became known as the Green Movement. Many hard-liners continue to hold him responsible for challenging the government during that tumultuous era.
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani had called the travel ban on Khatami “one of the bad habits of the Ahmadinejad administration.” Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied involvement, saying it was a judicial issue. The head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, is Larijani’s brother.
