Mousavi's Statement Saturday 6/20

Mousavi issued a formal statement yesterday regarding the dispute, in which he argued that:

a) the LOTR has undermined the Republic by allowing the elections to be manipulated,
b) that the rallies on his behalf represent a renaissance of the 1979 Revolution and is directed at how the Republic should be,
c) that by repressing the rallies and allowing the vote to be rigged, the LOTR will prove forever that Islam and Republican government are incompatible,
d) that the request for the annulment of the election is a right guaranteed by the Constitution (and Islam),
e) that it is not directed against the Basiji, Revolutionary Guards, or Army, saying that they are all brothers, and
f) invokes Article 27 of the Constitution to emphasize the fundamental legality of the rallies.

"Article 27
Unarmed assemblies and marches may be freely organized, provided that no violation of the foundations of Islam is involved."

The following translation is by someone at Rooz Online, an Iranian on line daily made up of independent and reformist journalists, and published by Iran Gooya media group, which is registered in France. You can access the translation, side by side with the Farsi, and with links to the source and some definitions here.

"Date: June 20, 2009

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

God commands you to return what you've been entrusted with to its owners, and to judge in justice when you judge among the people. [Koranic quote]

Honorable and intelligent people of Iran,

These days and nights a turning point is being forged in the history of our nation. People are asking each other and also me, when amongst them, what should be done and in which direction we should go. I consider myself responsible to share what I believe with you, to talk to you and learn from you. Let us hope that we will not forget our historical mission and will not shirk from the burden of duty put on our shoulders by the destiny of generations and ages.

Thirty years ago a revolution succeeded in our country in the name of Islam; a revolution for freedom, a revolution for the rekindling of the compassion of human beings, a revolution for truth and honesty. During this period, and especially during the life of our perspicacious Imam, vast investments of life, property, and honor were made to consolidate this blessed monument, and precious achievements were attained. An illumination, never experienced before, encompassed our society and people arrived at a new life that was sweet for them, in spite of most difficult hardships. I am confident that people who have seen those days will not consent to anything less.

Have we people become unworthy, resulting in our not experiencing that exhilarating atmosphere anymore? I had come to say that is not the case; it is not too late yet and our path is not far from that illuminated atmosphere. I had come to show that you can live spiritually within today's world. I had come to retell the warnings of our Imam about ossification. I had come to say that bypassing the law results in tyranny; to remind that attention to human beings' generosity does not weaken the foundation of the regime, but strengthens them. I had come to say that people expect truth and honesty from their servants [a government dedicated to serving the people] and a lot of our troubles have arisen from lies. I had come to say that backwardness, poverty, corruption, and injustice is not our destiny. I had come to invite to the Islamic Revolution as it was, and to the Islamic Republic as it should be.

I was not eloquent in this invitation, but the noble message of [original 1979] Revolution was so pleasant, even coming from my inadequate expressions, that it excited the younger generation, a generation that had not seen those times and felt a distance between themselves and this great inheritance, and reconstructed scenes only seen during in the times of the [Iranian Revolution] movement and the Holy Defense [the Iran-Iraq war]. The spontaneous movement of the people chose the color green as its symbol. I confess that I followed them in this matter. And the generation that was accused of being far from religious roots, arrived at Takbir among its slogans and leaned against "Victory Comes from God and an Opening is Around", "O Husayn" and the name of Khomeini to prove that this fine tree brings similar fruit whenever it bears fruit. Nobody had taught them these slogans except the Innate Teacher [God]. So unfair are those whose little interests makes them call this miracle of the Islamic Revolution fabricated by foreigners and a "velvet revolution".

But as you know, all of us were confronted with lies and fraud in the way of renewing the life of the nation and realizing the ideals that have roots in the heart and soul of our old and young, and our prediction of the consequences of lawlessness materialized in the most explicit shape possible and in the shortest time.

The great participation in this election was, in the first degree, indebted to the efforts for creating hope and trust among the people, to obtain a befitting response to the existing administrative crises and the widespread social dissatisfaction, whose accumulation can target the bedrock of the Revolution and the Regime. If this good faith and trust coming from the people is not answered by protecting their votes, or the people can not react in a civil and peaceful way to defend their rights, there will be dangerous pathways ahead, responsibility for which lies with those who can't stand peaceful behaviors.

If the high volume of cheating and vote manipulation, that has put a fire to the foundations of people's trust, is itself introduced as the proof and evidence of the lack of fraud, the republicanism of the regime will be slaughtered and the idea of incompatibility of Islam and republicanism would be practically proven. Such a fate will make two groups happy; one group being those who arrayed their troops against the Imam [Khomeini] from the beginning of the Revolution and assumed that the Islamic government is the same as Tyranny of the Rightful and, in their false surmise, want to bring people to Heaven by force, and the other group being those who, by claiming to defend the rights of the people, basically consider religion and Islam to be blockers for realization of republicanism. The wondrous craft of the Imam was rendering the witchcraft of these dualisms null and void. I had come to neutralize the efforts of the witches who have found a new life.

Now by endorsing what happened in the elections, the government officials have taken responsibility for it, and have set limits on the results of any further investigation and auditing, in such a way that such an investigation should not annul the election or change its results, even while the number of votes cast in 170 voting centers has exceeded the number of people eligible to vote there. In this situation, we are being told to follow up on our objection with the Guardian Council, but this council have proven their lack of neutrality in their acts, before, during, and after the election. But a prerequisite for any fair arbitration is observing impartiality.

I still strongly believe that the request for annulment of this election and a renewed election is a given right and it should be investigated impartially by a board trusted nationally, instead of rejecting the possibility of any positive results from the investigation beforehand; or propose the possibility of bloodshed in order to keep people from rallying and demonstrating; or the National Security Council, instead of answering the righteous question about the role of plainclothes in attacking people and public property, and inflaming public movements, resolves to [pyschological projection] and blaming others for the tragedies that have happened.

As I look at the scene, I see that it has been set to achieve more than just forcing an unwanted government on the nation, it is set to achieve a new type of political life in the country. As a companion who has seen the beauty of your green wave of participation, I will never allow anybody’s life to be endangered because of my actions. At the same time, I stand by my firm belief of this election being null and void, and insist on reclaiming people’s rights, and in spite of the little power I possess, I believe that your motivation and creativity can still result in following up your legitimate rights in new and civil guises. Be confident that I will stand by your side at all times. What this brother of yours advises for finding these new solutions, especially to the beloved youth, is: Don’t let the liars and fraudsters steal the flag of defending the Islamic regime from you; Don’t let "the delinquents and the strangers" [quote from Ayatollah Khomeini, quotation marks ours] confiscate from you the precious heritage of the Islamic Revolution, which is built from the blood of your honest fathers. With trust in God and hope for the future and relying on your capabilities, continue your social movements based on freedoms explicitly stated in the constitution and stay away from violence, as you have been doing. In this road, we are not up against the Basij members; Basiji's are our brothers. In this road, we are not up against the Revolutionary Guard members; they are protectors of our Revolution and regime. We are not up against the military; they are the protectors of our [country's] borders. We are not up against our sacred regime and its legal structures; this structure guards our Independence, Freedom, and Islamic Republic. We are up against the deviations and deceptions and we want to reform them; a reformation that returns us to the pure principles of the Islamic Revolution.

We recommend those involved [the office-holders] to, in accordance with Article 27 of the constitution, not only facilitate non-violent gatherings in order to achieve peace in the streets, but also encourage such gatherings and release radio and television from the shackle of ill-speaking and biased behavior. They should let the voices, before becoming cries, to get corrected and balanced in this flowing media in the shape of good argumentation and disputation. They should let the press criticize, report the news as it is, and in short provide a free space for people to express their agreements and disagreements. Let us let those who like to say Takbir's say them, and let us not treat them as opposing us. It is perfectly clear that in this case, there won't be a need for the presence of military and regulatory forces in the streets, and we won't come face to face with scenes that upon watching them or hearing about them brings pain to the heart of everyone interested in the Revolution and the country.

Your brother and companion, Mir-Hossein Mousavi"