NCRI – A member of the regime’s Guardian Council has said that former mullahs’ president, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, talked about issues during his Friday prayer sermon in Tehran on July 17 which ignored the state’s legitimacy, the state-run Fars news agency reported on Saturday.
Mohammad Yazdi said: During the second part of the sermon, [Rafsanjani] talked about the seed of doubt being planted [in Iran by the regime]. One must ask him, "Who planted this seed in society for the first time? Before the election, who [Rafsanjani] wrote, ‘distance yourselves away from the flames of disturbance?’” The election had not even begun back then. Was this not planting the seed of doubt?
Yazdi also added: Rafsanjani is the Chairman of the State Expediency Council, but these remarks did not have the expediency of the state in mind. In the course of the sermon no mention was made of the common notion among the Islamic and Shiite clergy that says the right to rule in the state of the Islamic Republic of Iran emanates from God. … The legitimacy of the state is distinct from its popularity. The legitimacy in Islamic government comes from God and popularity comes from people. The mere backing of the people would not render the state legitimate.
Yazdi added: As an individual, I ask Mr. Rafsanjani, “Who are you to say that protesters during the elections [unrest] must be released?”
He went on to say: On Thursday, at a meeting with some of our friends, we decided to talk to Mr. Rafsanjani. We shared with him the views of the Assembly of Experts and the [Qom] seminary regarding his Friday prayers sermon inTehran. We advised that provocative issues must not be revived once again.
Yazdi, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, said: His Excellency the Supreme Leader eliminated the threats of disturbances, but Mr. Rafsanjani is once again seeking to revitalize this threat. I do not expect him to praise the Supreme Leader to the same extent that the latter praised him.
Referring to the defeated presidential contender, Mir Hossein Moussavi, he said: If Moussavi were to run in the next round of presidential elections, I will reject his candidacy. Moussavi has not abided by the law and does not speak rationally to the extent that even his friends have warned him.
