January 16, 2002	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 1, 1422

TEHRAN, Jan 15: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei finally came down on the side of the pro-reform parliament in its battle with the conservative courts on Tuesday, pardoning a jailed MP to defuse a worsening crisis.

“He had no other solution because the reformists had shown they were ready to fight to the bitter end” over the imprisonment of Hossein Loghmanian for “insulting the judiciary”, analyst Daryush Abdali said.

Loghmanian was freed almost immediately, and the main reformist party said he would be back in parliament on Wednesday.

Khamenei took his decision, ostensibly at the request of chief justice Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, hours after parliament speaker Mehdi Karubi effectively went on strike until he stepped in.

“I feel I can no longer go on and I will remain in my office until this problem is resolved,” Karubi told the house.

His defiant stance was followed by calls for a mass resignation of deputies.

It was an unprecedented challenge after weeks of mounting hostility since the courts began prosecuting MPs for statements in parliament.—AFP