Cartoon from America's past resurfaces in battles over
Iran's future
Sun Jan 12,11:36 AM ET
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran - Protesters in bloodstained shrouds clog streets in Iran's
holy city. A popular newspaper is closed and key staff arrested.
The brother of Iran's supreme leader chokes back tears in parliament.
Call it the cartoon crisis.
A torrent of outrage from Muslim hard-liners increased Sunday over a most
unexpected provocation: a 66-year-old American political cartoon about a
Depression era power struggle.
The drawing, published last week in the now-closed Hayat-e-Nou
newspaper, showed a Supreme Court justice being humbled under a giant
thumb representing then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Iranian
conservatives saw something closer to home.
They felt the white-bearded judge in the cartoon resembled the late
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. It
was considered a stinging insult to his memory.
But the domino-style fallout cuts far deeper than just one old sketch. It
displays the wildly unpredictable nature of Iranian politics at a time when
conservatives feel threatened from all sides.
"This is just an excuse to make a show of force ... and create tension," said
a pro-reform lawmaker, Mohammad Naimipour. "This is not natural."
Hard-liners were equally emphatic.
"We announce our disgust and hatred toward this abominable move ... our
nation is united to expel all infiltrators and stooges," said a statement
issued following a protest march Sunday in Qom, about 130 kilometers (80
miles) south of Tehran and the center for Islamic study in Iran.
Some of the nearly 5,000 marchers wore blood-soaked shrouds and carried
black flags as a traditional sign of mourning. They also denounced political
reformers as traitors.
The newspaper was ordered closed indefinitely Saturday. Intelligence
Minister Ali Yunesi said three employees involved in publishing the cartoon
have been arrested.
In Tehran, the newspaper's chief editor — and brother of Khomeini's
successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — struggled to hold
back tears as he addressed fellow parliamentarians in a session broadcast
live on Tehran Radio.
"No one loves Imam Khomeini more than me," said Hadi Khamenei.
But he and his older brother are on opposite sides in the battles over Iran's
future.
Hadi Khamenei is a top pro-reform lawmaker seeking to dilute the broad
powers of the ruling clerics, led by his brother. The cartoon, plucked from a
U.S. government Internet site, accompanied an interview with a member of
the outlawed Freedom Movement of Iran.
The reason for the illustration is still unclear. It originally depicted a failed
attempt by Roosevelt in 1937 to allow the White House to add more judges
to federal courts where sitting judges were older than 70. It was seen as a
bid to give Roosevelt more sway over the Supreme Court.
Iran's Parliament could soon be the forum for the most bold attempt to
reshape the way Iran is ruled.
President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) has promised to press
ahead with two bills that would remove the ruling clerics' ability to ban
political candidates and weaken their control over the judiciary and security
forces. No date for a vote is scheduled.
The press has suffered many causalities in the political crossfire.
Conservatives have closed more than 80 publications in recent years as
they try to muzzle reformers.
The cartoon apparently handed hard-liners an excuse to move against the
popular Hayat-e-Nou, or "New Life," newspaper, which carried additional
clout because of the family connection to Iran's most influential cleric.
"We have decided not to remain silent," said a statement from clerics in
Qom. "Our objective is not merely seeking closure of a newspaper or
imprisonment of a person, but eliminating bases of the enemy at the
country's press."
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