Mir Hossein Mousavi regarding this Friday’s rally called by the government to condemn the disgracing of Imam Khomeini’s picture said that they are still waiting for the formal response to their official request for holding a separate rally.

Following the official request by the Assembly of the Combatant Clergymen (reformist) to hold a rally in protest to disgracing the picture of Imam Khomeini, the Assembly in a statement announced that the Interior Minister rejected the request with the excuse that the letter did not follow the “proper” format and reminded them of the rally on Friday that has been called by the government! The Assembly in a letter objected to this decision and asked for a review.

Seyyed Mohammad Khatami by pointing out the beginning of the month of Moharam (in which on the 10th day, Ashura, Imam Hossein (the third Imam of Shias) was martyred along with 72 of his loyal allies and some members of his family in an unjust battle with the oppressive ruler of the time) said that the story of Ashura has always been a role model for our nation and made us to resist and be more patient when facing the problems, and we also learned to always fight for good. Khatami added: “The Islamic society has one major goal and that is to reform the society contentiously; It could be either by reforming the government by establishing a suitable government or by reforming the way government rules and the methods it interacts with the society; Imam Hossein said that he did not fight to gain power but he did fight for reform in the Islamic society…Before the revolution the goal of the reform was to establish a new government but now that the Islamic Republic is established, reform must continue to strengthen it; we should not assume that only because of the term “Islamic Republic” everything is correct and autocrats and short-minded individuals can say and do whatever they want; reform is to improve the affairs with the same standards of the revolution and Imam Khomeini and naturally criticism is also needed and solving the problems with the standards that many sacrifices were made to achieve them is our duty and we have learned this from Imam Hossein.” In another part of his remarks Khatami added that those who are in prison today are among the most dedicated people who served the country and the revolution for many years.”

Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani, head of the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council, in response to the insults against him made by Ayatollah Yazdi said: “For many years my response to Ayatollah Yazdi has been greetings and wishing him health.” He also added: “If some think that by intimidation and bullying they can solve the problems they are making a mistake and even if they can solve the problems temporarily but after a short while those problems will return in greater extent than before.” Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani stressed that the revolution was won with the support of the people and its survival depends on people’s support and maintaining good relationship between people and the establishment.