Reformists Boycott Ahmadinejad’s Inauguration

Juan Cole 08/05/2009

Even the official Iranian site Press TV had to admit that of 70 reformist members of parliament, only 13 attended Ahmadinejad’s inauguration.

AP has more on Wednesday’s protests.

Opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi called Wednesday for the regime to permit continued demonstrations by the reform faction. Freedom of assembly is guaranteed in the Iranian constitution. (But then it is in the US constitution, too, which didn’t stop Bush from setting up ‘protest zones’ on the model of contemporary Egypt).

Aljazeera English now has video of the swearing in speech.

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About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page