Appointments a blow to Ahmadi-Nejad- By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran

Published: August 6 2008 01:31
Iran’s parliament dealt a blow to Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the president, on Tuesday by electing relatively moderate candidates to head the economy and interior ministries after forcing the government to drop its more radical nominees.
The two ministries are critical to Mr Ahmadi-Nejad in his last year in office as the president seeks to deliver on his promised populist economic policies and hold on to the presidency in elections next year.Analysts see the election of compromise candidates as another blow to the fundamentalist government, which is under mounting criticism for its economic management and an inflation rate of 26.4 per cent.“Mr Ahmadi-Nejad has had no choice but to retreat and give advantages to moderate conservatives, hoping that this could help him gain their support in next [year’s] election,” said one analyst.Shamseddin Hosseini, the new economy minister, won an overwhelming majority of 217 votes from the 290-seat parliament.
SEE HERE : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ad187dde-6341-11dd-9fd0-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=be75219e-940a-11da-82ea-0000779e2340.html
Iranian ‘cult’ of imam sparks controversy
By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran - Published: August 17 2008

When President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad launched Iran’s first domestically built telecommunications satellite into space on Sunday, he did so in the name of the last true Shia imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi. The launch coincided with the end of festivities in Iran to mark the birthday of the imam, one of the holiest figures in Shia Islam, who is believed to have gone into hiding in the year 941 and will return to bring peace and justice to the world.

Every year, thousands of Shia Muslims flock to shrines to mark his birthday. In Iran, they head for the Jamkaran mosque, 110km south of Tehran, where the mystical Shia leader is believed to receive pilgrims’ written messages. But this year’s festivities have proved unusually controversial because of claims that the imam is being exploited for commercial and political purposes. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, on Sunday called those who had “opened a business” and claimed to have been connected to the imam “liars”. Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the current “fake” obsession with the imam had “misled millions of people”. Regime insiders say Mr Khamenei is unhappy with the religious fanaticism of the government, although he backs its economic, political and international policies.

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