The Hikers Facing Trial

"Landep News"

The Hikers Facing Trial

As the UN General Assembly approaches, the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad feels like parading the goodness of his heart again, after he allowed Sarah Shourd, who was having a severe health condition, to leave Iran and be treated in America. The woman was part of a group of three hikers caught two years ago at the border with Iraq (some even say kidnapped from Iraq) and accused of spying for the Americans.
Earlier in the week, Ahmadinejad announced that the release of the other two young Americans was “imminent.” They were expected to be release on bail. Only that the judicial system announced that the release was not decided yet.
In a statement on national television, the leaders of the judicial system announced that the plea entered by the hikers’ lawyers was still being examined.
The contradiction between the president and the judicial court shows that there is a power struggle going on in Iran between the president and the hardline clerics who control the judicial courts.
By this conflicting statements, the clerics sent out the message that only they can set the timeline for the release of the two hikers, not Ahmadinejad. In a statement, the judiciary said that they would be the ones to provide the information on the case and that any other information that comes from different individuals has no bearing on the matter. The reference to Ahmadinejad is clear.
Ahmadinejad’s struggle with the courts was shown in the passing of the sentences for the two: Shane Bauer, and Joshua Fattal. They were sentenced to eight years in prison, in spite of the plea made by the president that they receive a light sentence and statements of governmental figures that they would be released soon.
The courts decided in favor of upholding the sentence, fearing that any lighter sentence would have sent out the message that they caved under political pressure. Their decision shows that the courts are not inclined to support his goals and to take orders from him. It shows little about the guilt of those accused of espionage.

Ahmadinejad and Clerics

Ahmadinejad wanted to fortify the executive power, at the expense of the legislative and judicial, in hopes that this power base will continue to exist even after his term in office is over, in 2013. He hoped to maintain control over the next government, so that he may have a saying in the political developments of the country.
Experts consider that Ahmadinejad is at cold war with the religious supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that the latter doesn’t want the former to attain any victory, especially on the international arena.
From this point of view, the delay in releasing the two hikers is meant to make sure that Ahmadinejad does not use the leverage created by this act of good faith in any deals with the Americans, as he must embark on a journey to New York City, where he is to attend, possibly to address, the General Assembly.
Iran has been out of the focus for a while, since the Arab spring began. That probably bought the authorities in Tehran time to carry on their daring nuclear programs, though it is hard to believe that the Israelis did not keep them under any kind of observation.
A thwarted attempt to produce the same kind of Arab spring in Tehran showed the world that the power of the Ayatollah is receiving lesser and lesser approval from the population, and that the Arab spring was not of Iranian design, as the ayatollah wanted to make believe at the beginning of the unrest in Egypt.
Though they tried to show support for the Egyptian revolution, their attempt to link their power to the success of the revolution failed, probably because the Egyptian are Sunni, whereas the Iranians are Shia Muslims.
The failure of the Iranians worked in favor of Turkey, whose PM was received on Monday as a hero in Cairo.
Even though it generally kept a low profile, Iranian president has ordered two ships to go through the Suez Channel to irritate Israel, and spoke with the Syrian president to allow Iran to turn the Lakata port into an Iranian military base at the Mediterranean.
He also used the international day of solidarity with Palestinians to reiterate that Israel should be whipped out of the map, and that the creation of a Palestinian state does not mean the end of the fight against Israel.

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