IRGC cultural adviser Hamidreza Moghaddamfar says only those reformists who did not take part in the “2009 sedition” can participate in the coming presidential elections.
The Iranian establishment uses the term “sedition” to describe the peaceful protests triggered by allegations that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the 2009 election through fraud.
Moghaddamfar referred to Mohammad Khatami, the former Iranian president and top reformist figure as the “leader” of an ultra-reformist group.
“Unfortunately, some of the reformists who were not involved in the sedition of 2009 have sustained heavy blows because of the extremism of a group of their peers whose leader is Mr. Khatami,” he said.
He expressed surprise that the ultra-reformists are still vying for power by attempting to run in the presidential elections.
In recent weeks, Mohammad Khatami and Abdollah Nouri, two senior reformist figures in Iranian politics, have been attending meetings to discuss how reformists, who have been heavily sidelined since 2009, can return to the political arena in next year’s elections.
The IRGC spokesman insisted that the reformists running in the presidential elections must officially announce that their peers “have committed treason against the regime” and condemn their actions.
Meanwhile, Kaleme, the website linked to MirHosein Mousavi, one of the challengers of the 2009 elections who is currently under house arrest, recently published an article accusing some reformists of “only seeking power.”
In the article titled “Negative Civil Resistance is not Passivity”, Kaleme writes: “These reformists draw their whole identity from the idea of being in power and cannot redefine themselves as activists in a social movement.”
The 11th presidential election in Iran is slated for June of 2013.
