Source: Jaras
Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010

Dear Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi

Please accept my greetings. I have read your interview with the Kalemeh news agency, an interview which rather resembled a statement. Considering that you have issued this interview in the days leading to the anniversary of the revolution, I am assuming that this was an action with an intended purpose and would have practical positive and negative consequences. As a result I thought I would send you this open letter.

In my view, you have enumerated the problems very well, but no the solution. The spirit of you statement and your words is that we have come for a reform not for vengeance, or power or destruction. This can be the common goal and the point of unity for the current political crisis, specially considering that continuous reform in society is one of the pillars of Islamic teachings known as ‘encouraging to virtue, and discouraging from vice.’ But what path can achieve this goal easier?

In your statements you have talked about the inclinations of the government towards despotism, unaccountability and irresponsibility of the government towards the parliament and the judiciary. You have also alluded and explicate the violence and ignorance of officials in management of the crisis and towards the right of people. Do you not think that the law breakers in these two branches are after the continuation of the crisis to be able to justify their misdeeds? Do you not think that peace and calm in the society is like a terrible poison to them? Do you not think that current situation has tied the hands of the leadership of the system, the supreme leader, and many of the good-will members of the parliament and judiciary in reacting to the transgressors? For instance, in a normal condition, there are good grounds for bringing the president for questioning for ignoring the laws, privatization and cultural liberalism, but now such legal actions are viewed as alliance with the leaders of dissidents and would only deepen the crisis. In this condition, it is hard to justify the benefits of such legal actions to members of the parliament and people (Although this should not be taken as denial of some of the honest and positive works of this government.)

As a result you must accept that you and Mr. Karoubi are a blocking the path to the reforms you yourselves are seeking along with many other devotees of the Islamic Republic. I can guess with a high probability that if the supreme leader could stops concerning himself about the two of you honorable Messrs he can move on to misdeeds of the respectable president and those who claim to be principalists. You could at least try this approach for couple of months and if it did not work you can return to your old path, a path that I view as harmful and inconclusive. You have said it yourself in the statement that the volume of news regarding the economic and social problems far surpasses those of political issues. These words of you are a further argument in favor of my view that the current crisis blocks any criticism and supervision on the economic and social policies of the government and its accountability.

In your statements there are good points that elaborate steps towards unity and escaping the crisis: Points like condemning the foreign media, distinguishing yourself from anti Islamic slogans and Iranians abroad, and most important point of all your insistence on the rule of the constitution. Although one of the articles of the constitution is the rule of jurisprudence according to which we must consider the supreme leaders opinion as final say regardless of our own convictions. In your statement this point has not been attended to.

On the other hand, a part of you statement shows that you do not feel this crisis should end. It seems that you rather these flames, though small, keep burning and you assume it is for defending people’s rights from violations. Alas, providing the context that enables some to evade the laws, and disables others from prosecuting them would violate people’s rights. To add to all this, foreign adversaries of the establishment use this crisis to undermine the strength of the Islamic establishment and harm our national interests.

In his recent speech, our great leader interpreted the actions of you honorable messrs Mousavi, and Karoubi as ‘ignorance.’ This is very similar to what when I called you actions ‘political error’ on the televised debate. I was criticized that your actions was not a mere error, and that they were much more. It seems though that reading ‘ignorance’ is much milder and more temperate.

In any case, these are signs that the supreme leaders is sending to you so that to allow a change in the ways, and improving the national unity. I hope that these opportunities are not wasted. I hope that its first influence would be that the rallies on the anniversary of revolution become the symbol of national unity and end to the current self created crisis. I do not think my hopes are too distant to be achieved, because I believe you are a follower of first Imam of Shiite, Imam Ali – our greetings upon him. Let us assume that in the recent events you are completely right, then like Imam Ali you must forgo your own rights for the expedience of Islam and Islamic unity, needless to say that the public rights would be investigated at the right time. I am sure from an honorable person like you with such great experiences in the Islamic revolution this is not too much to expect.

Ali Motahari

February 06, 2010