5/27/2011
Article - Untitled Article
Publication: Guardian 1821-2000; Date: Oct 12, 1979; Section: None; Page: 7
Iran clergy move to
Ti hten their grip
From Liz Thurgood
in Tehran
The Iranian clergy has
moved further to insti lutiona-
use its rule by rendering the
country's Lower House of
Parliament citcetively powers
less and naming Ayatollah
Khomeini is the ultimate auth-
ority in the land.
The move. which comes amid
waning cnthusiasm for the
c'ergy and new reports of vio'-
ence from the tro tibled western
province of Kurdestan , is COfle
ta med, in ar(iclc 17 79 and 8
of Irails controversial draft
consUtutiun that Is new being
virtually rewritten by a CDUIIS
cii of E lcper(t
The council 1 heavily-weighted
In favour of the clergy,
zipproved the three articles in
two days of secret sessions
earlier this week, indicatin
perhaps that the elderly ayato
Jalis might have expected some
opposlUon .
The new articles were seen
as a further entrenchment of
Velayat-e-Faghaih — Ayatollah
Khomeini's }ittle expounded
“Government of Theologians 1 '
which, as contained in
article 5 of the draft cotisUtu-
tion, gives Iran's clergy politi-
cal powers unprecedented in.
the histor r of Moslem Sbi'as
According to articles 77 and
78, a 12-man Council of Giiar-
dians to Protect the Constitu-
tion will have veto power over
all legislatiofl. enacted by Iran's
Lower House.
© Guardian News and Media Limited
Article 84 names Ayatollah
Khomeini as the highest aut h .
ority in Iran , having the power
of v eIayfl-e a'mr, or IotaJ execu-
tive authority, including, ii.
appears, the i'ight to declare
war and make key Government
appointments. The overthrown
Sbah possessed far fewer
powers.
The draft constitution states,
furthennore, that diould a
single religious Leader not
enjoy “the support of an over-
tvhelming majority of the
population,” another coune 1
made up of “the nation's
experts” would c ther select
the most prominent clergyman
or choose between ‘ three to
fIve qual&lied men as
members of a li leadership
coun dil. '
Such a system of mt cHock-
ing councils might initially
appear to be a gcnuine attempt
at preveutlng the emergence of
a new dictator, but many of
the more articulate Iran ansin
creasingly view the t 1 uaubUtu•
tion as a vehicle aimed at
nothing more than ensuring
the det' a perpetual place In
the sun of Iranian polities 4
S Kurdish rebels have taken
control c f two posts close to
the Iraqi border 1 and attacked
another two No rasualties
were reported 1 but according
to reports reaching Tehran the
K.urds had taken 45 gendarmes
hua lage .
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