April 2002 - 25’30

REPORTER: Matthew Carney

Friday prayers at Tehran University. This is what most people in the West expect to see in Iran - religious fanatics gathering to condemn America and pledge loyalty to their leaders. The sermon is given by former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

ALI AKBAR HASHEMI RAFSANJANI, FORMER PRESIDENT: The only promise being kept is war. There is still bombing in Afghanistan every day.

CROWD CHANTS: "Death to America! Death to America!"

Ten years ago, this pavilion would have been packed with Islamic radicals from the university. Today, it's a much smaller and older crowd - mostly bussed in from mosques around town. Young Iranians have found a much better way of spending their Fridays. They come to the mountains surrounding Tehran to picnic, dance and flirt - activities the mullahs have banned.

YOUNG WOMAN (Translation): We have nowhere else to go. This is our fun. We can't go anywhere else.

Two-thirds of Iran's population is under the age of 30. The chant here is for freedom of expression and reform.

YOUNG WOMAN (Translation): By freedom, we don't just mean being free to remove the scarf. One must be able to talk, have freedom of speech.

Nearly 70% of the country, and most of its youth, voted for reform in 1997 when they elected Mohammed Khatami as president. In 2001, he was re-elected with an increased majority. But, in Iran, real power rests not with the president, but the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei. The Ayatollah is Iran's religious leader, but he also controls the military, the police and the courts. The hardliners are still in charge and their enforcers are never far away.

YOUNG WOMAN (Translation): Even today, we were waiting for someone to bore us, asking why we're out like this. Like, "Why aren't you in a coat?" "Why is your hair showing?" "Why is your lipstick dark?" It's scary. If they take you, you don't know where you'll go.

It doesn't take long before the Basiji, or undercover moral police, do appear and stop our interview.

MAN: What company you get this conversation?

INTERPRETER: We are journalists from Australia and we're just doing a story about Iran and talking to young people about their lives and the lifestyle here.

WOMAN: If you want to say more, we can go to a private place. It's just that it's a problem for us here.

INTERPRETER: They said being here may cause problems for us.

Later, in the safety of a friend's house, we continued the conversation. These young students are frustrated with the president, who has not delivered on social or economic reforms.

YOUNG WOMAN: Right now, my father is trying to arrange my immigration. At first, I wanted to just go, but my parents said 'no', and that I should wait until they get me a migrant visa. The truth is I do want to go, because both security and opportunities are better there. But, on the other hand, I love Iran.

YOUNG MAN: In my view, there have been no reforms at all. And, about Mr Khatami, I and my friends who are here, the day we wanted to vote, we all called each other and arranged to wear the same nice clothes as a mark of respect for Mr Khatami. We all wore the same clothes and went together in four cars to vote. Now, we see nothing. He has no voice, doesn't say anything. We don't even know where he is.

Parliament is one place in Iran where reformers are visible and active. Two-thirds of the MPs here are under the age of 40. The reformers won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections two years ago. For a brief moment, it looked as though the parliament or Majlis, would become an engine for change.

HOSSSEIN LOGMANIAN, REFORMIST MP (Translation): Unfortunately, that is not the case today. We cannot satisfy all the people's demands in a lawful and approved manner, and open the way for the future of people.

Iran is effectively ruled from here, not from its parliament. This is the holy city of Ghom, the heartland of Islamic theology and home to 20,000 clerics. Immediately after the reformers won the parliamentary elections, the religious establishment launched a counterattack. It used its control over the judiciary to muzzle the parliament, by prosecuting many of its members.

HUSSEIN SHARIATMADARI, SUPREME LEADER'S REPRESENTATIVE (Translation): When there is a law, it is necessary to respect it. Therefore, if some people break the law, in proportion to the crime they have committed, there will be a penalty for them. It makes no difference if these people are journalists, politicians or high-ranking authorities. There's no difference.

When reformist MP Hossein Logmanian spoke out against the political arrests and the closure of liberal newspapers, he paid the price. For denouncing the hardline mullahs, Logmanian was sentenced to 10 months in jail. A total of 60 MPs were prosecuted for their reformist beliefs and parliament was crippled. This was the critical moment last October when power started to shift back to the parliament. When it became clear that Logmanian would be jailed at Iran's notorious Evin prison, parliamentary speaker Mahdi Kerroubi announced he had had enough.

MAHDI KERROUBI, PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER (Translation): My last word is that I don't consider this to be right. I consider it illegal and against the constitution.

In an extraordinary act of defiance, the speaker walked out of parliament. The vast majority of MPs followed. This was an unprecedented protest and what followed was equally unprecedented. Logmanian returned to parliament to a hero's welcome. In the first significant win for the reformists, the judiciary had overturned their verdict. Logmanian was released on January 15 this year after serving only three weeks of his jail term. A month later, more reform leaders were released from prison.

HOSSEIN LOGMANIAN (Translation): Members of the parliament realised their strength and their potential. It has made people more decisive than before, because there is more hope for reforms and reformists. And it created an atmosphere that moved us one step forward.

The most remarkable example of parliament's new-found confidence is a move to investigate America's claims of Iran's support for terrorism. Iran is accused of smuggling arms to Palestinian militants aboard a vessel intercepted by the Israelis earlier this year. The reformists suspect that the revolutionary guards, controlled by the hardliners, are responsible. Logmanian and his parliamentary colleagues want to prosecute whoever was behind the arms smuggling. If they succeed, this will be a massive blow to the conservative forces.

HOSSEIN LOGMANIAN (Translation): We've had this scuffle before in our country and this may continue. In one layer of government, actions are taken that the parliament can have no control over. So what is done in that layer and news of what happens there doesn't get outside and stays within that layer. But, now that such incidents have been noted, the parliament is concerned that what happens in Iran is accounted for and can be reviewed by parliament. But that layer does exist and we have problems with it.

After September 11, Iran's reformers found themselves working with the Americans as part of an unofficial alliance to oust the Taliban from Afghanistan. Iran was a long-time supporter of the Northern Alliance and instructed it to fight with the Americans. Iran even offered to rescue American pilots shot down over its territory.

GEORGE W. BUSH, US PRESIDENT (2 February): North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction while starving its citizens. Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few oppress the Iranian people's hope for freedom. States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.

For the reformers, President Bush's speech was a slap in the face.

HOSSEIN LOGMANIAN (Translation): They gave a footing to conservatives from which they were able to attack the reformists. They felt that, now that the US had attacked us in words, we had created the background for the attack. Actually, it's the opposite.

Bush's speech ended any relationship the reformers had with America. On the street, demonstrations of anti-American feeling became more violent. The hardliners used the US President's speech as proof that reformers were misguided and irresponsible. To make matters worse, America also accused Iran of meddling in Afghanistan. In fact, President Khatami says his government is committed to helping make Afghanistan stable and secure. Iran has pledged $1.1 billion for reconstruction over the next five years. America has only given about half that amount. Iran has an investment in Afghanistan's security. It wants the 2.5 million Afghan refugees living in Iran to return home.

PHILIPPE LAVANCHY, CHIEF OF MISSION, UNHCR: The international community didn't come with important amount of money to help Iran assisting these people. Then, basically, the effort was made by Iran without a concrete effort made by the international community. And this is a very difficult situation for Iran. I think that, since the events of September 11, we were able to show a little bit more about the effort made by Iran and that the international community now is more open to assist Iran assisting these refugees.

Iran has provided shelter for many Afghan refugees since 1996. As Shia Muslims, the refugees were persecuted and expelled by the Sunni Taliban. But they have a strong cultural link with Iran. When the Taliban fell from power, the children in this school for Afghan refugees celebrated.

FATIMEH KHAVARI, TEACHER (Translation): After the events of 11 September, when the media announced that the Taliban had been defeated and destroyed, the children were very happy. They asked me to allow them to organise a celebration that they promised would not harm their studies. I allocated one hour of class for their celebration. Each class, according to the students' preference, decorated their classroom, brought cakes, sweets and fruit and had a party.

America's condemnation of Iran has failed to take account of its positive contribution to the region. Iran's reformists are now forced to contend with America's hardliners as well as their own. But the student movement, which provides much of the impetus for reform, is pushing for change nonetheless. Ali Afshari is a student leader who was jailed without trial for a year, for conspiracy to overthrow the regime. He spent 11 months in solitary confinement. He called this press conference to apologise for a forced confession he made in prison.

ALI AFSHARI, STUDENT LEADER (Translation): I shouldn't have given in to the pressures. I feel ashamed about this before the people. But I still maintain the same stance I had before. And I pride myself on it.

Afshari said a team of interrogators tortured him for 20 days before he finally confessed.

ALI AFSHARI (Translation): When this happens, the defendant's personality is shattered. He loses his sense of self-worth and dignity. He can neither think about the past nor the future. At that point, because of the pressure exerted on him, his resistance is reduced to bargaining with the interrogation team. So the interrogation team gains control over him.

But Afshari also called the press conference to give a warning. He said the religious hardliners were doing everything in their power to undermine the student movement.

ALI AFSHARI (Translation): They hide behind the slogan of student-movement independence, but their aim is to isolate the student movement and separate it from the reform movement so as to reduce its effectiveness in society.

Afshari's warnings proved accurate. A week after this press conference, the student headquarters in Tehran was ransacked by security forces and 40 students were arrested. Ali Afshari himself was reimprisoned the day after this press conference. Eight days later, the students came out fighting. The arrest of Afshari and other activists had not intimidated the reform movement, but emboldened it. They organised a rally flanked with signs that read, "Death to dictatorship", and "Students awake."

STUDENT AT PODIUM (Translation): The nature of student movement is linked to its criticism. In my view, this will be a lasting strategy in the movement.

This is Saeed Hajjaraian, once one of President Khatami's closest advisers. He engineered the reformist victory in parliament two years ago. It's a rare public appearance for the man who was also the first victim of the conservative backlash. Less than a month after the parliamentary election, Hajjaraian was shot in the head by two men on motorcycles and left for dead. For the students, Hajjaraian's presence was a huge morale boost, but also a sobering reminder of how much work lies ahead.

SAEED HAJJARAIAN AT PODIUM (Translation): The republic has already been dismantled to some extent and, in our country, the republic has not yet been established the way it should be. So it's possible that the situation may get worse than it is now.

The most remarkable part of the rally was a speech by the reformist cleric Dr Moshen Kadivar. Dr Kadivar urged the students to make greater sacrifices for their cause.

DR MOSHEN KADIVAR AT PODIUM (Translation): Freedom is not brought to people's homes on a golden tray. To attain freedom, we need to pay much more. Compared with other reform movements and other countries, we still haven't paid much.

Then, Dr Kadivar called on hardline clerics to get out of politics.

DR MOSHEN KADIVAR (Translation): Power is like water. If water stays in one place, it starts to stagnate. For power to survive, it must be like water that moves. Water should be a river, should move to remain pure.

This speech from Dr Kadivar shows how assertive the reform movement has become. What's more significant is that it's an attack from a cleric, an insider. Three years ago, his hardline colleagues imprisoned him for speaking out like this.

DR MOSHEN KADIVAR AT PODIUM (Translation): Religion should not be used as a tool. Religion is a ladder to reach up to God, not a tool in the hands of big heads. Let me ask you, have you made society more religious in these two decades or made people flee religion even more? You will be judged on that basis. Let us accept that politics must be independent of religion.

Dr Kadivar has emerged as the leader in a new religious school of thought incorporating democratic ideals into Islam. His provocative ideas resonate with the students.

STUDENT (Translation): What was said in this program was what we've been hearing sporadically in the last few years. But hearing it all in one place and in a consolidated way made me more familiar with the issues. It was excellent.

STUDENT NO. 2 (Translation): Democracy and Islamisation are two tall walls that never converge. It's an illusion. They admit they've reached a dead end. Mr Khatami and those who want to set up a religious democracy and mix these two contradicting phenomena will reach a dead end. They will repeat Europe's mistake and return to the Middle Ages.

Hadavi Tehrani is one of 1,000 ayatollahs in Iran. He says the political reform Dr Kadivar and the students are demanding is not acceptable. As a senior cleric, he has the authority to interpret Islamic law for the regime.

HADAVI TEHRANI, AYATOLLAH: Islamic theology introduced a system and this system, if you accept some parts and do not accept the other parts, you have not really accepted the Islamic system. You have not really accepted the Islamic concept. Even in the parts that you have accepted, it is not really Islamic when it is out of the system, when it is out of the whole that has been introduced by Islam and, therefore, this kind of interpretation we think that has been imported inside the Islamic culture by some of the thinkers that have been under the influence of the Western culture.

In spite of the ayatollahs, the parliament is continuing to press for reforms. They have just passed a bill to stop confession under duress and torture in prison.

HOSSEIN LOGMANIAN (Translation): With the changes that are occurring in Iran and with the young and energetic MPs in this term of parliament, in the last two years, parliament has moved forward and I think, in the future, parliament will flourish further. It will present itself much better. By next year, I believe parliament will fulfil its potential through the efforts of MPs, pressure from public opinion and the Iranian people who like a strong parliament.

In the ongoing struggle between reformers and hardliners, it's difficult to grasp who is winning at any given time. But the present battle will prove crucial. The mullahs still hold the power and they will have to decide whether to give the reformers and the people of Iran the freedom to pursue democracy or to risk greater unrest and threats by denying it.