• Leading reformist accuses him of endangering nation
Iran's president has traded personal attacks and accusations with his main election rival last night in a bitterly contested televised debate seen as key to deciding the country's forthcoming presidential election. In an extraordinarily barbed 90-minute live encounter, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, launched a furious barrage against his critics, in an all-out effort to rescue a race that appeared to be turning against him.
He repeatedly tried to tie Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister and the leading reformist contender, to two past presidents, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, whose governments Ahmadinejad claimed were corrupt.
Mousavi even had to defend the academic record of his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, after the president claimed she held two illegal degrees. Rahnavard, a distinguished academic, has been campaigning alongside her husband, in a break with Iran's male-dominated political convention.
Struggling to keep his temper, Mousavi described his wife as one of Iran's leading intellectuals and Qur'anic researchers, and accused Ahmadinejad of demeaning the presidency. "It is below the dignity of the head of the government to mention names of people without giving them the chance to defend themselves," he told the president. "Mr Rafsanjani and Mr Khatami have been presidents of this country. You are tarnishing them in front of 50 million people, while they cannot defend themselves."
The debate was the second in a series of six being aired by Iran's state broadcaster IRIB before the 12 June election, in which Ahmadinejad is seeking a second term. But in contrast to a lacklustre affair on Tuesday involving the two other candidates, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezai, last night's event crackled with antagonism.
Ahmadinejad, who turned up with two thick files, had warned in advance that he intended to name those he accused of corruption. He singled out Rafsanjani's sons and several other officials he claimed supported Mousavi.
Mousavi in turn accused Ahmadinejad of "self-centredness" and of policies based on "delusion and superstition". He said he had decided to stand against him after 20 years away from politics because he was worried that the country faced "great danger" as a result of the Ahmadinejad's foreign and economic policies.
At one point, the two clashed over the detention two years ago of 15 British military personnel after being accused of entering Iran's territorial waters before being released, amid great fanfare, by Ahmadinejad. Mousavi said the sight of the sailors dressed in suits being bid farewell by the president had hurt Iran's image. But Ahmadinejad insisted it had debunked western depictions of Iranians as hostage-takers, and claimed that Tony Blair, the then prime minister, had sent him a written apology.
Mousavi criticised Ahmadinejad's repeated questioning of the Holocaust. But the president, who earlier in the day had described the Holocaust as a "great deception", replied: "Why not raise the issue of the Holocaust. Why should we fear Europeans coming here and talking about human rights in our country."
The debate took place amid indications that Ahmadinejad is trailing Mousavi in the opinion polls. One survey last week showed Mousavi ahead by 38% to 34% in the country's 10 largest cities. However, Iranian polls are notoriously unreliable.
* Iran
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | M...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/03/iran-president-election-tv-debate
--
This email was sent to you from Snaptu mobile application. www.snaptu.com
No comments:
Post a Comment