tehran, September 17: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to address Iran’s annual Quds Day rally in solidarity with the Palestinians on Friday, followed by a hardline cleric’s sermon at Muslim prayers, Fars news agency said.
Noticeably absent will be influential former president and opposition figure Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has traditionally led the prayers on Quds Day, with the cleric insisting this has nothing to do with any power struggle.
Iran organises pro-Palestinian marches each year in Tehran and across the country with the Quds (Jerusalem) Day march being held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Ahmadinejad rivals Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and former president Mohammad Khatami, who all reject the president’s June re-election, also plan to attend.
Ahmadinejad will address the rally, with his speech being followed by hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami delivering Friday prayers, Fars said.
There will also be an address by Ramadan Abdullah, secretary of the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.
But Rafsanjani, speaking to state-run Arabic-language television Al-Alam, said: “I don’t think it is necessary that I always deliver the sermon on this day after 30 years.
“It does not make much difference as long as the speaker defends Palestinians’ rights and condemns Israel’s atrocities.”
There has been speculation on some opposition websites that Rafsanjani has been sidelined from leading the prayers after his landmark post-election sermon was followed by demonstrations against Ahmadinejad.
“Whatever we do they say there is a power struggle while we are unaware of such a thing and we are cordially helping to run the country,” Rafsanjani said.
In July, Rafsanjani called for the release of hundreds of people rounded up during a crackdown on opposition protests after Ahmadinejad’s re-election and said the vote had broken the trust of Iranians.
Iranian authorities have warned that the Quds Day march should not be turned into anti-Ahmadinejad protests. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei too warned against using the rally for anything other than demonstrating solidarity with Palestinians.
“Be watchful so some who want to spread division do not succeed. No division should be created,” he said last Friday as he led the prayers.
-Agencies