Legislators in Iran Dismiss Khatami Ally
October 4, 2004
 By NAZILA FATHI  

TEHRAN, Oct. 3 - In another blow to President Mohammad
Khatami's reformist government, Iran's hard-line Parliament
voted Sunday to dismiss the transportation minister,
accusing him of corruption and mismanagement. 

After a daylong impeachment debate, 188 members of
Parliament of 258 present voted to fire the minister, Ahmad
Khorram. A simple majority is enough to dismiss a minister.


Conservatives spearheaded the impeachment drive after a
series of fatal air crashes and several accusations of
corruption during Mr. Khorram's tenure. Many also objected
to a contract with a mostly Turkish-owned company to
operate Iran's new Imam Khomeini airport. 

Reformists, however, have called the impeachment a
political move by the new Parliament, which took shape in
May, intended to inflict a blow to Mr. Khatami's government
during its last year in office. 

Mr. Khatami, who is in Algeria, defended Mr. Khorram and
called him the "most successful minister of the cabinet." 

The Mehr news agency reported Sunday that six more cabinet
ministers had been summoned to answer questions from
Parliament this week. And the daily newspaper Etemad
reported that Parliament had plans for impeachment
proceedings against at least two more reformist ministers. 

Mr. Khorram is the second minister in Mr. Khatami's
government to be dismissed. Interior Minister Abdullah
Nouri was dismissed in 1998 by a Parliament also dominated
by hard-line politicians. 

Members of Parliament accused Mr. Khorram of mismanagement
leading to a 24 percent rise in road accidents and 43
percent increase in plane crashes. 

One Parliament member pointed to an accident last February
when runaway wagons loaded with an explosive cocktail of
fuel, fertilizer and industrial chemicals crashed in the
northeastern city of Neyshabur. Nearly 300 people were
killed and hundreds were injured. 

Mr. Khorram apologized after the disaster but brushed off
calls that he resign. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/international/middleeast/04iran.html?ex=1097890884&ei=1&en=9441b58c823fcdb6