Religious, not military, dictatorship exists in Iran

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's comment last week calling Iran a "military dictatorship" probably wasn't meant literally. She's one of many who are concerned with Iran's development of its first nuclear device, like the 12,000 or so the U.S. currently has.

International politics aside, the structure of Iran is not a military dictatorship. Several interim and infamous governments throughout history, especially in Africa and Latin America, have been military-run. Iran's political structure is a republic, although set up quite differently from ours.

After millennia of monarchy since ancient Persia, the Islamic revolution in 1979 generated a constitution-based Islamic republic with an elected president (four-year term, currently Mahmud Ahmadinejad) leading an executive branch, a popularly elected 270-member parliament ("majlis") representing Iran's 30 provinces, and a judiciary branch.

While the three-branch system may look familiar, its operation isn't. All laws must be in accordance with sharia - the clerics' interpretation of the Qur'an, Islam's primary text.

How that caveat affects the government and legal system is profound. For example, it is the religious imam and "supreme leader" (Ali Khamenei since 1989), not the president, who is officially chief of state. His powerful position has no equivalent in the U.S.

More limiting to the freedom of Iran's people are the legal powers of the Council of Guardians - a constitutional body of 18 clergymen and clergy-approved lawyers who must review all legislation passed by the majlis to determine if it comports with Islamic law. Too often to the detriment of the people, it doesn't. Strides made toward expansion of basic liberties are repeatedly quashed, and more extremist bills, such as one assigning capital punishment to blogging promoting loosely defined "corruption," are allowed.

While the Islamic Republic of Iran is no military dictatorship, it effectively operates as a religious one. A reminder of the danger of marrying church to state.

Another way the Council of Guardians limits citizen participation in government is during elections. While all citizens over 18 may vote, their options are narrowed. The Council can veto candidates of which they don't approve. Iranians have commented to foreign journalists that the most reform-minded candidates are always removed from the ballot.

Still, hope persists. In the last quarter century some social restrictions have been eased. The greatest hope lies in the people themselves, who continue to push for reform at personal risk. Iranian editors and reporters are jailed and newspaper offices closed for even mild criticisms of their government. Nevertheless, they start over, are shut down again, and start over yet again.

Students continue to protest and risk charges of "moral corruption." As technology increases connections with foreign relatives and friends, they learn more about the outside world than official channels allowed.

Like people everywhere, Iranians want the same things: health, family, job, a home, education, and a stable environment to live, love, and work.

It's difficult to accept the oppressions upon those simple liberties by the compulsions of those who crave power.

Sholeh Patrick lived in Iran for eight years. She is an attorney and columnist for the Hagadone News Network. E-mail sholehjo@hotmail.com.