Word: rafsanjani
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Iranian politicians from across the ideological spectrum to speak their minds, were either shut down or scaled back. Former President Mohammed Khatami was scheduled to speak alongside Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini's grandson at Khomeini's shrine two weeks ago, but the occasion was canceled. Former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has delivered a Qods Day speech for decades, was replaced by a more hard-line Ayatullah who gave remarks in addition to an introduction by Ahmadinejad. And regime representatives including Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei had warned the Green Movement opposition against using Qods Day as an opportunity...
...prices low. Every year, his government had to draw millions of dollars from Iran's special "rainy day" oil revenue reserve fund in order to pay out the subsidies. By 2003, the leaders today associated with the ongoing Green Movement opposition - Khatami, Mehdi Karroubi and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - all supported rationing gasoline in order to reduce domestic consumption and government expenditure...
...regime. And it's far from clear that Karroubi's more confrontational approach will yield results against a government willing to deploy overwhelming force to maintain its grip on power. Over the weekend, in fact, opposition activists were dismayed to hear reports that former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had called for unity and for all Iranians to follow Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei's orders to end the turmoil. Coming a little over a month after the influential cleric and Ahmadinejad rival had openly questioned June's disputed election results, the comments suggested that the opposition movement could...
...controversy began in July when Karroubi wrote a letter to Rafsanjani detailing allegations from witnesses and victims. "Some of the detainees claim incarcerated girls were raped so harshly until their uteruses were torn apart, while young boys were sexually abused so savagely that they are suffering from serious depression as well as physical and mental traumas," Karroubi wrote. "Those who have been subject to these embarrassing tortures have been threatened with death if they disclose details." Since then, Karroubi has collected evidence of the abuse, and on Aug. 19 he called for a meeting of the three branches of government...
Within the building, Ahmadinejad began his controversial second term, one that many political insiders do not expect him to finish. In a blatant slight, visible to all from the televised proceedings, few reformist lawmakers and no opposition leaders - including former Presidents Mohammad Khatami and Ayatullah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - attended the open session of parliament. Several remaining reformists walked out when Ahmadinejad began his address, according to news reports. (Read a story about the prospects for a weakened Ahmadinejad...