Mohammad Khatami warned Iranian authorities that continued policies of “omission and incarceration” result in general disillusionment in the possibility of reform in society.
In a meeting with veterans of Iran-Iraq War, the former Iranian president said: “Political omissions and incarcerations do not strengthen the regime or attract disillusioned forces. Their outcome is loss of faith in the possibility of reform in society and thier continuation results in breaking away of groups and young people who in turn will turn to those who advocate omission of Islam or the Islamic government and this is a disaster that the regime must face and try to resolve more than ever.”
Mohammad Khatami’s personal website reports that in the meeting, the former president was criticized about his silence and passivity of the reformists in the current affairs of the country and his unexpected participation in the parliamentary elections which was boycotted by many reformist groups.
Khatami responded to the criticism saying that he is aware that many members of the public are concerned with such thoughts and he feels however that actions must be taken to stop the loss of faith in Islam and the system.
Participation of Mohammad Khatami in the parliamentary elections was very controversial amongst the opposition forces in Iran who had called for widespread boycott of the elections. Khatami responded to the criticisms saying he was trying to hold on to a slight chance for negotiations with the establishment which has been heavily cracking down on reformist and opposition forces in the past three years after the controversial presidential elections of 2009.
Khatami stressed that he still supports the system and urged the establishment to end the house arrests and incarceration of political prisoners in order to regain people’s trust and strengthen their belief in the regime.
While many members of the opposition are in prison serving heavy prison terms, MirHosein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi, opposition leaders and challenging candidates of the 2009 presidential elections have been under house arrest for over a year and half,
