Iranian reformer rejected for ballot 4 times

MASHHAD, Iran -- Four times he's submitted his name as a candidate for Iran's parliament. Four times the watchdogs of the Islamic establishment have said no.

Each snub changed Mohammed Sadegh Javadihesari -- from surprised to stubborn to angry.

After the latest rejection -- being included among more than 2,500 reformers disqualified from Friday's ballot -- the teacher and activist traveled 540 miles to the capital, Tehran, to join a sit-in protest with lawmakers and become a spokesman for the drive to boycott the elections.

"The conservatives are trying to conduct an ideological cleansing," said the 44-year-old Javadihesari, flicking jade green worry beads.

Just a speck

The story of one recalcitrant reformer is just a speck in the momentous -- and possibly critical -- showdown between Iran's non-elected theocracy, which claims divine leadership, and liberals who say the popular will demands more openness and opportunities.

But to listen to Javadihesari is to understand better how it got it this point.

He jabs his finger as he talks about "the Iranian pyramid," ruling clerics at the peak with unlimited powers and answerable to no one. It's turned an unflinching supporter of the 1979 Islamic Revolution into an equally vehement critic of the system it produced.

"We insist on democracy instead of despotism," he said. "This is what the revolution was about. We have been betrayed."

There are millions like Javadihesari. They were eager foot soldiers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini against the Western-backed shah. Now, the reformers are branded as dissidents by the Islamic regime for challenging their conduct.

Street-fighting reformer

Javadihesari was on the streets battling the doomed monarchy, then joined a volunteer militia at the front lines of the 1980-88 war with Iraq. He returned to teach high school in Mashhad, one of the strongholds of hard-line Islam in Iran and a place of pilgrimage for Shiite Muslims who visit the gilded shrine of Imam Reza, a 9th century Shiite saint.

But Imam Reza also carries another meaning for reformers. It's the colloquial name of a powerful Mashhad-based foundation run by clerics -- Astan e Qods e Razavi, or AQR. It controls more than 50 companies from construction to oil and is a symbol of the vast economic grip of the religious rulers.

Over the years, Javadihesari said, he became convinced that things were not right in Iran. The old activism began stirring inside him.

"I was always involved on the edge of politics by organizing student groups and teachers," Javadihesari said. "People kept asking me to run for parliament. I never expected what would happen."

The Guardian Council turned him down for the 1992 elections. The 12-member panel -- hand-picked by Khomeini's successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- has the power to block any candidate from running for high office.

Javadihesari said he demanded a reason for the rejection. "I was told I wasn't being loyal to the revolution," he said. "I was, frankly, shocked."

Stolen revolution

There was more to come. He had left teaching to become an editor at the newspaper Khorasan, named for the large northeastern province where Mashhad is the capital. He claimed conservative forces pushed him out of the job. He left to begin a rival paper, Toos, the ancient name of an area near Mashhad.

He tried another parliament bid in 1996. Again, he was stopped. Two years later, authorities closed Toos and Javadihesari spent 35 days in detention.

"These narrow-minded people have stolen our revolution," he said. "For us, the revolution was like our child. ... We were the ones who stopped the shah's tanks. We were the ones who faced his bullets. It was about freedom, not what is happening now."

Javadihesari often repeats the goal described by President Mohammad Khatami: an Islamic democracy. The concept is at the heart of the current duel -- acknowledging Iran's Islamic character, but allowing the will of the people to dictate policies and directions.

"These people running the country are still Muslims, but they have lost the spirit of Islam. It's about freedom and equality," said Javadihesari. "They are Muslims, but they are not faithful."

In 2000 -- when reformists backing Khatami took control of parliament -- Javadihesari was back on the Guardian Council blacklist.

He fully expected to be rejected for this year's ballot, but he refuses to back down. He believes the Guardian Council will cause a backlash against the regime.

"We don't have to make terror in the streets," said Javadihesari, who has returned to teaching at a high school. "We can just expose all the corruption and hypocrisy. We will defeat them through transparency. Different times require different medicine."

He expects no more than 20 percent turnout in Friday's elections -- an outcome that would be perceived as a resounding pledge of support for reformers and their boycott.

But in a statement issued Monday, President Khatami, while criticizing the disqualifications for barring many "competent" candidates, called on citizens to vote.

"People's lively presence in the polls will strengthen the relationship between the people and the government," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the statement as saying.

Javadihesari won't say whether he will try again for parliament in four years, but he believes the reformers will eventually prevail.

"This system thinks it can push us aside. It will fail," he said. "I don't know how long it will take, but it will fail."