Iran's ex-president calls on Ahmadinejad government to stop lies

Mar 22, 2011, 22:45 GMT

Tehran - Iran's ex-president called Tuesday on the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stop lying and misleading the country with empty slogans.

'We unfortunately witness the pursuing of indecent methods by those in charge, such as making lies and giving empty slogans to the people,' Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said in a message for the Persian new year.

Rafsanjani is a fierce opponent of Ahmadinejad and has on several occasions harshly criticized the president's domestic and foreign policies.

Ahmadinejad in response accuses Rafsanjani and his family members of financial misuse during his eight-year presidential term from 1989-97.

'The Iranian people are educated and well-informed and neither deserve lies nor promises which are impossible to be implemented,' the Rafsanjani said in his message carried on his website hashemirafsanjani.ir.

According to the moderate clergyman, the political differences in the country were no longer only a dispute between government and opposition and could therefore no longer be hidden from the people, either.

Beyond Iran's reformist and moderate opposition, the conservative faction has also voiced criticism of Ahmadinejad's policies, especially the president's economic reforms, which have so far not achieved the promised results.

'Those in charge should listen to criticism, and either convince the critics through logic or correct their policies,' Rafsanjani said.

'What we should, however, definitely not do as Muslims is acting beyond ethics and eventually expose an Islamic society as disgrace,' he said, referring to the violent suppression of the opposition and its supporters in the last 20 months.

The Ahmadinejad's 2009 re-election was overshadowed by alleged fraud and sparked widespread protests, which were suppressed.

Since then, Ahmadinejad has pushed two former presidents - Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami - as well as former prime minister Mir-Hossein Moussabi and ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, de facto into the country's main opposition.

Due to his opposition to Ahmadinejad, Rafsanjani was removed both as head of the clergy body Experts Assembly and leader of the Friday prayers in Tehran.

He currently only holds the chairmanship of the Expediency Council, an arbitration body for settling legislative disputes, but that position has also been challenged several times by Ahmadinejad supporters.

Khatami has no official position anymore, and Moussavi and Karroubi have even been put under house arrest for more than a month.

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