Iran Document: Mohammad Khatami on Religion, the Islamic Revolution, and the Republic (15 August)

Former President Mohammad Khatami's statement on Sunday in a meeting with former members of the Union of Islamic Associations of Students in Europe, translated by the Facebook page supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi:

The answer is clear: religion in the Islamic Revolution was the supporter of freedom and wanted the people to rule their own destiny. It was calling for the situation in which the relationship between the rulers and the people would change from [the rulers] being Gods and [the people] being slaves to the relationship in which people were masters and the government their servant and responsible [to the people].

The outcome of the Revolution was the Islamic Republic: “Republic” with the same meaning everywhere in the universe, in which the base and the focus should be the people and in which the religious standards and Islamic values, especially morality, justice, and human dignity, are respected....

In our revolution, we wanted a regime and government in which freedom of expression and criticism was not only the right but even the responsibility of the people, and we heard this great remark from the late revolutionary leader (Aytollah Khomeini) that the rulers should not think that no one has the right to criticise. Rather the right to criticise is a God-given right.

Today we clearly and loudly announce that we do not regret that we carried out the Revolution; we are not sorry that we voted for the Islamic Republic; we are proud of our support for the Revolution and the Islamic Republic; but we say that the Islamic Republic should not divert from its path even in the name of Islam.

We say that in the Islamic Republic the opportunity to participation and a presence in deciding their destiny should be provided for all. Its necessity is to have an open environment and free parties and organisations and to allow their activities. Criticism should not only be allowed but rather considered valuable.

We say immorality and misconduct is a major problem for a government and we say that oppression in any form and by anyone is rejected and condemned. It is amazing that people who talk and act compassionately like this are accused of all sort of transgressions and are called conspirators.

The real conspirators are the persons or movements which bluntly lie and leave the responsibility on the establishment, which attempt to squeeze out everyone and every movement that they do not like and abolish legal freedoms, which discredit the law and portray the face of religion and the establishment as indecent and obscene, which reduce people’s satisfaction, and which weaken society’s trust in the government and make it easier for the enemies who want to bring the fatal blow to the establishment and the country.