Iran International:

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has cast doubt on the Green Movement leader's call for a referendum on Iran's political future, saying any vote under Iran’s current constitution cannot bring about democratic change.

“The precondition for any referendum is the removal of power from the Islamic Republic,” Ebadi wrote, rejecting Mir Hossein Mousavi’s recent call for a national vote to reform the state’s political structure.

Earlier this month, Mousavi said in a statement that the current structure of the Islamic Republic “does not represent all Iranians.”

“The twelve-day war (with Israel) showed that the only guarantee for the nation’s survival is respect for every citizen’s right to self-determination,” the former prime minister added.

Mousavi, under house arrest since 2009, had urged the formation of a constitutional assembly through a public vote. His message was endorsed by over 800 civil and political figures who demanded the release of political prisoners and the drafting of a new constitution based on democracy and human rights.

But Ebadi, a prominent critic of the Islamic Republic, said such a process is legally unworkable within the current framework. She said Iran’s constitution explicitly bars changes to core principles such as clerical rule, Islamic law, and the system’s Islamic identity.

“Such a structure rules out the formation of a democratic and secular government,” she said.

She dismissed the latest wave of endorsements for Mousavi’s initiative as driven by sentiment rather than strategy.

“The recent statement signed by over 800 activists seems driven more by Mousavi’s political charisma than by any viable solution to Iran’s crisis."

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