During the Participation Front Party’s fifth annual National
Congressional meeting, Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of the
Participation Front [and brother to the President] had the
following to say about the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to
Shirin Ebadi:
On behalf of the members of the Central
Council, Political Office, and all members of the Fifth Congress,
I would like to express pleasure regarding the awarding of the
Nobel Peace Prize to activist lawyer, Ms. Shirin Ebadi. We
consider this award a symbol of the Iranian nation’s many merits
and a spotlight on the continuous efforts of the Iranian people
towards democracy and the rule of law. We are happy that an
Iranian Muslim woman and individual dedicated to defending human
rights, especially, women and children’s rights, has won this
award. In a world moving towards democracy and elimination of
violence, she has been able to bring a gift to the Iranian
nation’s tireless struggles, and to her own dedication.
Resalat
columnist and conservative pundit, Amir Mohebbian, warns of the
ramifications for the government spokesperson and Minister of
Culture for publicly congratulating Shirin Ebadi on her award:
Shirin Ebadi’s statement about the
necessity of freeing all political prisoners, is clearly oriented
in the same direction as America’s actions against Iran. The
government spokesperson and the Minister of Culture must soon
answer to future attacks that Ms. Ebadi will undoubtedly make
with increasing bluntness against the pillars of the regime. With
what political logic have they committed this [congratulating
Ebadi] act?
From the conservative newspaper,
Jomhurieh Eslami, following news that Shahla Eshraghi,
granddaughter of Ayatollah Khomeini, was one of the thousands of
Iranians who went to the airport to greet Shirin Ebadi after she
was announced winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. At the airport,
Ms. Eshraghi, who is also married to Mohammad Reza Khatami (see
first caption), presented Ms. Ebadi with a bouquet of flowers:
Unfortunately, because of her marriage to
Mohammad Reza Khatami, Imam Khomeini’s granddaughter has tainted
herself by being involved in this incident, which runs counter to
the late Imam’s clear and scientific path. If that beloved were
still alive, and if he had known about this conspiracy
beforehand, he would have sternly objected to it. And should he
have had knowledge after the fact, with open anger he would have
shown his disapproval and would never have tolerated such an
reprehensible and despicable act. As such, a natural and logical
expectation from the granddaughter of the Imam would have been
that, by being witness to that noxious and incongruous
atmosphere, she would have discovered the depth of betrayal that
was about to take place. She would have realized this strong
smell of conspiracy and betrayal. This was, is, and will never be
becoming to the house of the Grand Late Imam.
And from the conservative, Keyhan
newspaper:
Zahra Eshraghi’s placing flowers around
Shirin Ebadi’s neck was completely a political act. The
extremists masquerading under the garb of reform wanted to show
that the Imam’s granddaughter has turned her back on his
thoughts. This reminds us of the execution of martyr Sheikh
Ayatollah Fazlollah Nouri (conservative cleric during the
Constitutional Revolution of 1910), whose child was the first to
throw insults at the Sheikh while he was on the scaffold.
