Iran's pro-reform parliamentary majority protested...

Iran's pro-reform parliamentary majority protested against the death sentence imposed on dissident academic Hashem Aghajari, then passed the first draft of controversial legislation intended to curb the powers of their hardline opponents in the judiciary. If the judiciary's renewed crackdown was intended to silence the reform movement - as many activists believe - then the intimidation clearly backfired. Parliament is expected to pass both bills - seen as the first step towards dismantling the Islamic system of rule - within about three weeks and submit them to the hardline Council of Guardians, which holds the power of veto. Meanwhile, reformists were marshalling their forces to save Aghajari from the gallows. Mehdi Karrubi, speaker of parliament and a cleric, declared he was acting as spokesman for certain top ayatollahs by pronouncing his "hatred and disgust at this shameful verdict". He called for calm and, apparently referring to the appeals process, sought to assure parliament that the matter would soon be resolved.
Some 181 MPs - nearly two-thirds of Iran's parliament - signed a statement of protest, while Hoseyn Loqmanian and Mohammad Reza Ali-Hoseyni, two representatives for the town where Aghajari is incarcerated, Hamedan, resigned. Reformists argued that the moral and legal authority of clerics in the judiciary was undermined by the fact that none of Iran's dozen or so grand ayatollahs supported the verdict. However, only one, Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri who is under house arrest, publicly condemned it.