April 8, 2001 REUTERS Filed at 2:55 p.m. ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday deplored the mass arrest of intellectuals and liberal activists, saying the detentions hampered his drive to create a modern Islamic state.
``I do not see such measures as benefiting thesystem and people...I cannot help feeling regret,'' state television quoted Khatami as saying in a meeting with university professors.
``Boosting the climate of intolerance in society will dishearten intellectuals...Our nation desires nothing more than freedom, progress and guaranteed rights.''
Khatami urged the head of the judiciary Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi to intervene to ensure the rights of those arrested were respected.
``We should remove provocative issues so we can create a climate to achieve both security and advancement, an atmosphere for free exchange of opinion,'' he said.
Agents of the hardline Revolutionary Court raided the homes of leading liberal Islamists in Tehran and the provinces on Saturday and arrested 42 prominent opposition figures associated with the banned Iran Freedom Movement.
It was the second mass round-up of dissidents in less than a month and will come as a new blow to Khatami's campaign for greater freedom and democracy in the Islamic republic.
The Freedom Movement, Iran's leading dissident movement, advocates pursuit of freedom and democracy through non-violent means.
HARDLINE JUDGE WARNS OF ARRESTS
In a statement carried by television, Ali Mobasheri, the head of Tehran's revolutionary court, accused the suspects of seeking to overthrow the Islamic state.
He said more arrests could follow amid a backlash to the reformist challenges to Islamic rule.
``There is the possibility to arrest some members of certain factions engaged in activities against the state's security and attempts to overthrow the system,'' Mobasheri said, referring to reformist activists and officials.
``Certain political figures are trying to politicize the arrests. We will not hesitate to track down those who seek to strike a blow at and overthrow the system,'' the judge said.
The Islamic Iran Participation Front, the country's leading pro-reform group, earlier criticized the arrests, saying they were intended to discourage people from voting in the crucial presidential polls in June.
``Iranians should keep in mind the main reason behind the detentions is to discourage massive participation in the polls,'' it said in a statement, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
``People should maintain their political presence, insist on reforms and say 'no' to methods contrary to the spirit of freedom, justice and the rule of law,'' it added.
Khatami's reformist camp has been reeling from the wave of arrests and mass closure of newspapers in the past year in a crackdown apparently sanctioned by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei.
PRESIDENT UNABLE TO PROTECT ALLIES
The president has been unable to prevent his allies from going to prison, limiting himself to occasional complaints or criticism against heavy-handed tactics of the judiciary.
Frustrated by repeated setbacks, Khatami has voiced doubts about seeking re-election in the forthcoming polls, adding uncertainty about the future of his reform program.
Khatami, who remains popular, has said that he would run only if he can deliver on reform promises.
The Freedom Movement has been under fire for its alleged links to top dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and because of its wide appeal among pro-democracy students.
The movement is formally outlawed, but had been tolerated until recently.
Many of those rounded up in Saturday's raids are former senior government officials, who served in an interim government after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
That government was toppled by the Shi'ite Muslim clergy because of its secular views and for being too ``pro-Western.''
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