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Supreme Iranian Leader Warns Reformers Against Weakening The Judiciary
TEHRAN, Feb 13 (News Agencies) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday warned against any weakening of the regime's main institutions, in a clear allusion to mounting reformist criticism against the conservative-led judiciary.
He was speaking the day after reformist President Mohammad Khatami slammed the conservatives and called for more democracy.
"No person can allow himself to weaken the institutions which are the origin of national security like the police, the intelligence ministry and notably the judiciary," state radio quoted Khamenei as saying.
Speaking during a meeting with security officials from the country's 28 provinces, Khamenei stressed the need to face those "people who weaken the regime's institutions with their criticisms."
"The enemies of Islam and the revolution, in the United States and other places, openly advocate a peaceful overthrowing of the regime ... terrorist and anti-revolution groups are both politically and financially supported, and even some in Iran have shut their eyes while fanning the flames of insecurity," Khamenei said.
"These domestic political groups deny the existence of such plots and create divergence," Khamenei said, adding that security cannot merely be established with "good slogans."
He called on the country's officials to "fight against those who create insecurity, regardless of their social and political leanings."
"Drug consumption, interferences from external and internal enemies as well as the political rivalries between the different factions of the regime create insecurity" in the country, Khamenei said.
The supreme leader's remarks come as the country's reformist camp in recent days intensified its attacks and criticisms against the conservative-led judiciary.
Earlier on Tuesday, pro-reform Tehran MP Mohsen Mirdamadi lashed out against the judiciary for the "political and illegal" summoning of two reformist MPs to Tehran's revolutionary tribunal.
Also on Tuesday, the second day of a national conference on security held at the interior ministry, parliament speaker Mehdi Karubi denounced state officials as "the source of the current insecurity."
"If we want security to reign in our country, we, the leaders, must revise our methods," Karubi, who is a close ally of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, was quoted as saying by the state IRNA news agency.
Khatami on Monday also charged at the same conference that the conservatives were regularly provoking "crises".
"Only the presence of the people can assure security and stability" in the regime and country, Khatami said.
Khatami, who has yet to announce whether he will seek a second four-year term in office, denounced the "malicious hands" which "seek to deceive the people."
"If the people are deceived, no military, security or judicial force can control the situation," he warned during the conference attended by hundreds of civilian and military officials.
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