Iran parliament ousts Interior Minister Ali Kordan
In a heated session, lawmakers vote to fire Kordan, who submitted a fake Oxford degree as part of his qualifications. The move is seen as a defeat for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Reporting from Tehran and Beirut — In a major defeat for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, parliament today tossed out his controversial minister of interior for allegedly falsifying his qualifications to gain the nation's top law enforcement position.
The vote of no confidence against Interior Minister Ali Kordan came after heated arguing among Iran's political elite. At one point, a physical fight broke out on the sidelines of parliament after Ahmadinejad's parliamentary adviser allegedly tried to bribe lawmakers into switching their votes.
The aide, Mohammad Abassi, was fired.
Ahmadinejad pleaded with lawmakers to keep Kordan in place, repeating his argument that the fake Oxford doctorial degree was submitted unwittingly.
But in a sign of growing weariness with Ahmadinejad and his entourage of hard-line ideologues, lawmakers voted resoundingly -- 188 to 45 with 14 abstentions -- to remove Kordan from his post.
"I am ashamed of saying this, but I have to say that you are a liar," lawmaker Bizhan Nobaveh told Kordan on the floor of parliament in a hearing broadcast on state-controlled radio. "Even here in your defense speech you have lied about your BA and MA, let alone a PhD. Mr. Kordan for the sake of your own respect, please resign."
The widely publicized case has rocked the Iranian political establishment. One parliamentarian noted today that the allegations against Kordan had been repeated by more than 200,000 websites and generated 450 pages of copy in the Western media.
Lawmakers said Kordan, who took his post only three months ago, had humiliated the Islamic Republic with his dishonesty. Ahmadinejad, who has tried to foster an image as a crusading reformer combating corruption, has nevertheless staunchly supported Kordan.
"Ministers should only be impeached based on their performance," he argued. But his support only seemed to stoke the ire of parliamentarians, who were already predisposed against Ahmadinejad, who is preparing for a presidential run in the June 2009 elections. And even voices normally supportive of Ahmadinejad were baffled by his support of Kordan.
"Given that President Ahmadinejad has replaced nine cabinet ministers in a matter of three years, one wonders why he insists on defending Kordan, whose academic degree has proven to be bogus, and why Kordan does not resign," said an editorial Monday in the conservative daily newspaper Javan.
The parliament itself is dominated by so-called pragmatic conservatives alarmed by Ahmadinejad's excesses and economic missteps. The speaker, Ali Larijani, is a well-connected politician and rival of Ahmadinejad.
