Iran and the Clerics: Who are the "Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom"?

UPDATED Iran: Solving the Mystery of The “Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom”

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A confession. After several hours, we were still not certain of the significance of yesterday's statement by the Association of Teachers and Researchers of Qom, who declared that the Government was "illegitimate". Our initial thought was that the group was just one of a number of clerical factions, in this case a "reformist" faction such as the Assocation of Combatant Clerics linked to former President Khatami. We were not sure who the members were or what relationship they had to prominent critics of the Government such as Ayatollah Montazeri, Ayatollah Sane'i, or Ayatollah Taheri.

The Association's statement was elevated, however, by today's headline treatment in The New York Times, which declared that the Association was "the most important group of religious leaders in Iran". The statement was a "significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government". There was a general statement from Stanford academic Abbas Milani and the assertion that the association was "formed under the leadership of the revolution’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Then "an Iranian political analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal" declared, “The significance is that even within the clergy, there are many who refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the election results as announced by the supreme leader."

The problem with The Times' declaration was that it was based on little more than the minimal information behind our initial assessment. In other words, while there are signs of a substantial debate amongst the clergy not only about the specifics of the election but about the structure and systems of the Islamic Republic (a debate we've been highlighting as important for several days), there was nothing behind the spectre of the "Association".

Internet "chatter" today has offered few details on the group. The discussion area "Anonymous Iran", which features the excellent Josh Shahryar and his "Green Brief", has reached a dead end. So an Enduring America colleague did a bit of digging and came up with the following:

I have not found anything to suggest that this is the most important clerical group in Qom. I would say with reasonable confidence that it is not. This wiki site talks about "Society of Scholars and Teachers of Qom's Hawza":

"[Ayatollah Mohammad Va'ez] Abaee-Khorasani moved to Qom again [in 1997] as the head of Mohammad Khatami's presidential campaign office. The Qom campaign led to about 70% of the people of city voting for the reformist Khatami, which was unbelievable because of the supposedly conservative leanings of the citizens of the city. The local campaign team later became the founding members of Society of Scholars and Teachers of Qom's Hawza (majma'-e mohaghgheghin va modarresin-e howze-ye elmiyye-ye ghom), the political organization of reformist clerics of the city."

A very tentative conclusion? The Association's statement should not be dismissed. While the names and influence of those behind it are unclear, it is an indication of the complex but important manoeuvres linking politics and religion in Iran. And because those issues are complex, they should not be exaggerated and simplified in misleading headlines such as the one offered by The New York Times today.

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The headline in The New York Times is blunt: "Top Reformers Admitted Plot, Iran Declares". Michael Slackman summarises, "Iranian leaders say they have obtained confessions from top reformist officials that they plotted to bring down the government with a “velvet” revolution."

Slackman's account, filed from Cairo, is accurate as far as it goes: detainees from former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi to journalist Maziar Bahari as well as the "common people" caught up in a foreign-inspired plot are declaring their guilt in print accounts or televised appearances. However, that account, based entirely on Government websites and a couple of interviews with former detainees, has a wider implication. The "reformist" movement is crippled, if not broken: "“If [the Iranian regime] talks about the velvet revolution 24 hours a day people don’t care. But if reformers and journalists say they are involved in it, it makes the point for them."

You don't look hard very far to find the other side of the story.

Far from conceding defeat in a series of confessions, opposition campaigners are continuing to press their challenge. Indeed, they are doing so by making the issues of detentions and confessions part of their cause. Presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi and former President Mohammad Khatami visited the families of detainees. Karroubi declared, "I'm ready for everything & will stand strong to the end." Speaking to Abtahi's relatives, he reassured, "He's physically well but held in a solitary cell."

The wider message? Protest not only remains; it is vital. "If we remain silent/stop protesting," Karroubi warned, "The situation become worse and much more difficult for the ones in prison."

And Mir Hossein Mousavi, on his Facebook page, hasn't given up. In the last 24 hours, his team has posted video of the non-violent, civil disobedience of students at Kashan University (also featured on "Revolutionary Road") and posted excellent guidelines to the use of "micro-media": "FIRE [your post]! You are the only competitor to all the exclusive media who may want to manipulate!" Mousavi has also highlighted the latest statements of Mohsen Kadivar and Ayatollah Yusef Sane'i.

The Sane'i criticism of the regime, posted in English on his website, is particularly important. "Confessions" cannot hide the extent of the debate amongst Iran's clerics. While this does not portend the toppling of the President, let alone the removal of the Supreme Leader or the end of the Islamic system, it does indicate that the public protest continues to interact with the concerns of influential religious figures about the current conduct of the Islamic Republic.