Iran Document: Karroubi-Mousavi Meeting on Eve of Qods Day (31 August)

The English translation, provided by the Facebook page supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi, of  the Saham News report on Wednesday's meeting between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi to discuss Qods (Palestine) Day, which takes place tomorrow:

.In this meeting, which lasted two hours various issues of ociety and the country were discussed....

In this meeting, Mehdi Karroubi, while commiserating about the economic hardship and living condition of the people, stated that elimination of the experienced and expert personnel on one hand and the government’s lack of attention to the plans and long term goals on the other have resulted in the inability to use the country’s rich resources in general and the proper use of energy in particular. Mehdi Karroubi added that currently Qatar is very active in the shared gas field and is enjoying its benefits, while the Iranian government has not paid the least attention to this important topic to explore and use this field. He also added if the fourth Development Plan was correctly implemented, today we would be extracting more than 6 million barrels of oil daily while our extraction is now less than 3.5 million barrels a day.....Mehdi Karroubi reiterated what is not important for the government in all these developments are the Iranian people and their national interests.

Mir Hossein Mousavi pointed out the dynamics of the Green Movement among various sectors of the society and reiterated that the Green Movement of Iranian people was formed based on demands seeking justice. In this movement different views and trends can be seen; in this movement promoting public awareness and removing ignorance plays an important role. Restoring basic and fundamental rights through peaceful movements is the common goal of all people who are present in this movement.

While condemning the uncompromising policy of violence, illegal arrests, political sentences and ignoring the basic rights of the prisoners, Mir Hossein Mousavi emphasized that experience of the last year shows the failure of the policy of resorting to violence and blind arrests and creating a security and police atmosphere. Mir Hossein Mousavi added that the elongation of the path of reform has imposed a heavy price on our society; however, through discusson different issues and topics by individuals and legal entities has resulted in the maturity and livelihood of this movement, and despite a very heavy security atmosphere, it has been able to include various layers of the society and become more influential every day.

Regarding the Qods Day and fighting against the culture of lies and the deplorable economic situation and livelihoods of the people, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi jointly emphasised the following:

The great Iranian nation and Imam Khomeini have always supported Muslims and oppressed nations particularly the Palestinian nation. Qods Day is the symbol of support of the free people for an oppressed nation who have been driven out from their homeland. During this period have suffered many hardships and pains. The oppressed nation of Palestine, despite numerous United Nations resolutions, has not been able to regain its legitimate rights because the occupying regime [of Israel] has not conceded to act....

It is obvious that a situation emerging from violence is not recognized and will not be recognized in today’s world, as the General Assembly of the United Nations, based on the fundamental principles of international law, repeatedly has announced that gaining territories by using force is not legitimate. Therefore, by emphasizing on the right to “choose destiny”, we support the justice-seeking struggles of the Palestinians and all sincere efforts to reinstate and regain this nation’s rights. We believe that, by preparing the suitable grounds and with the participation of all the people of Palestine including Muslims, Jews and Christians (with the right of equal vote) and in a healthy and fair process, the fate of this ancient and historic land can be determined and the followers of divine religions can live peacefully together.

In Islamic culture and teachings, telling lies is “one of the greatest sins and is recognized as the key of all evil deeds”. Imam Ali (Shi’a's first Imam) paid specific attention to the pest of the lie and its destructive consequences and stated, “No appalling deed is as ugly as telling lies.”

One of the problems of the country is the institutionalisation of telling lies and the reliance of officials on lies in various affairs, including the economy, management, statistics, and political and religious issues. They have been so much caught up in telling lies that finding a true word from this administration is like finding a precious pearl.

The remarks made by the Minister of Intelligence [Heydar Moslehi] about [Green Leaders] receiving billions of dollars from foreigners [to create chaos following the 2009 presidential elections], without presenting any proof and evidence, which of course he himself knows very well that is not true, is another insult to the spontaneous and reformist movement of the great and noble people of Iran. While condemning these illegal, immoral and against religion behaviors of these fellows, who for the hollow comfort of this short life in material world and staying in power legitimise any evil deed, we demand that they publish their documents even the fake ones so that those who lie would be embarrassed,

The economic situation and livelihood of the people, despite Iran being a rich land both in terms of materials and in terms of spirituality, are very disturbing. Unparalleled God-given resources in the depth of the layers of the earth and educated human resources are very valuable assets, which have not yet been utilized in the direction of national interests and prosperity for the country for various reasons including [the government’s] hatred toward science, mismanagement, lack of recognition for rights and freedoms of people, and lack of understanding and knowledge of international affairs.

Despite astronomical oil revenue, which is unprecedented in Iranian history, various classes of the people are today in very difficult conditions. Plans and national development projects are abandoned one after the other and in this chaos it is not clear how and where hundreds of billions of dollars of oil revenue have been spent. The economic situation and livelihood of the people, the real owners of this country is worsening every day, and unemployment along with the government’s corruptions and financial exploitations have sharply increased.

While the noble people of Iran are struggling to meet basic and essential needs, tens of billions are spent from the public money for a show conference [Iranians who live abroad recently gathered in Tehran]. The files of financial corruptions of the managers and officials are suddenly aborted before going through the judicial process so that those who make claims about confronting corruption continue to plunder the national resources without any concern. By militarising the economy and obtaining exclusive rights instead of privatising [the government-run businesses and industries], the presence and role of the people in the field of economy has been minimised and the country’s private sector, that has a small portion of Iran's economy, is about to collapse. Economic growth and development of the country based on social justice requires prerequisites such as change in the government’s role from ownership and management to policy making and monitoring, as well as transferring affairs to the private sector in the light of healthy and transparent competition and increasing the competitiveness of the national economy.