Iranian lawmakers pass draft bill to ban police entry into universities

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian lawmakers approved a draft bill Sunday that would ban police from entering universities without permission, a central issue since security forces and Islamic vigilantes stormed a dormitory last year and beat up students.

The preliminary version, passed by the reformist-dominated parliament, or Majlis, would require police and other security forces to get approval from the head of the university and the education minister before entering a compound, even in an emergency.

In July 1999, one student was killed and 20 were injured when Islamic vigilantes and police raided a Tehran University dormitory after students demonstrated against the closure of a reformist newspaper. The raid stirred an outcry that led to the biggest demonstrations in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The draft still must be debated and could be changed before the bill goes to another vote. If passed then, it still would need approval from the hard-line Guardian Council, which decides whether legislation conforms with the constitution and Islam.

Meanwhile Sunday, Majlis speaker Mahdi Karrubi criticized hard-line attacks on reforms. "The parliament and lawmakers are committed to Islam and the constitution, and the parliamentary decisions are within the framework of the constitution," he said.

Karrubi was replying to the secretary of the hard-line Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who said last week that the Iranians would not tolerate lawmakers who passed laws that contravened Islamic principles.

The quarrel is part of a power struggle between reformists supporting President Mohammad Khatami's program of liberalization and hard-liners trying to cling to power who seek support from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Jannati said the powers of the Majlis were limited and it did not have the constitutional right to question or probe everything. Karrubi replied Sunday that it was the Guardian Council, not the Majlis, that needed to realize its own limitations.

"No one has said the powers of lawmakers were unlimited, but what about the Guardian Council? The Council's supervision is also subject to limitations," Karrubi said.

He was speaking in the open Majlis session broadcast live on the Tehran radio, amid cries of support from lawmakers.

The Guardian Council came under fire after it disqualified leading reformists from running in February's legislative elections and then annulled several reformist victories in favor of hard-line candidates.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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