Enabling Act (Iran)
With the Act authorizing Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh for six months from August 3, 1952, the Iranian parliament granted Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh extraordinary powers (a so-called enabling law ). This approach contradicted the Iranian constitution , which did not provide for such a transfer of rights from parliament, Senate and Shah to the prime minister, because it broke the principle of separation of powers, which is the fundamental basis of the constitutional state . Mossadegh insisted on this power of attorney, however, as he saw the country in an emergency.
prehistory
In view of the economic and increasingly political crisis in Iran, which has gone down in history under the name of the Abadan Crisis , Prime Minister Mossadegh decided in July 1952 to seek full powers from Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . In particular, his demand to take over the war ministry and thus gain control over the occupation of the military leadership positions met with determined resistance from the Shah; the Shah refused, and Mossadegh resigned the next day.
On July 16, 1952, Ahmad Qavam was appointed the new Prime Minister by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Qavam was considered one of the most experienced Iranian politicians. He had already been given the post of Prime Minister four times, the first time in 1921. Prime Minister Qavam immediately announced his intention to resume negotiations with Great Britain, which had previously been broken off by Mossadegh, in order to settle the question of compensation payments for the nationalized oil plants in Abadan and end the British naval blockade. This reversal of the policy pursued by Mossadegh led to massive protests by supporters of various currents; by communists as well as by the clerics led by Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani . The Communist Tudeh Party activists called for mass demonstrations against Prime Minister Qavam.
On July 20, 1952, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which Great Britain had seized on over the nationalization of the AIOC's oil facilities , announced that it had no jurisdiction over the dispute between Iran and Great Britain. The supporters of Mossadegh viewed this judgment as a victory, as the court had supported the Iranian argument. The question of the compensation payments was not clarified, but only referred to the UN Security Council, which had been called by the Iranian government.
The communist Tudeh party and the clergy around Ayatollah Kashani called for a day of national resistance on July 21st to force the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam. There was a large demonstration in Tehran with more than 100,000 participants. Prime Minister Qavam called in the army that shot at the demonstrators. At the end of the day, 36 people died. Ahmed Qavam then announced his resignation on the same day.
Several MPs now spoke to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi that he should reinstate Mossadegh as prime minister, as only he has the trust of the majority of parliamentarians. The Shah complied with this demand, and on July 27, 1952, the Iranian parliament gave Mossadegh its confidence as Prime Minister by 61 votes to 3 against. Before his appointment, Mossadegh had insisted that he would only take office if he was given full powers as prime minister. In the 21st session of the 17th legislative period of the Iranian parliament following the vote of confidence, Prime Minister Mossadegh presented his new government program, for the implementation of which he then asked parliament for the relevant powers. After heated discussions, the law on the authorization of Dr Mohammad Mossadegh was passed at the 22nd session.
Legal text
Act authorizing Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh for six months
Prime Minister Dr Mohammad Mossadegh will be entrusted with the date of the adoption of this law for a period of six months to work out the bills necessary for the implementation of the nine points below of the government program adopted by Parliament on 7 Mordad 1331 (note: 29 July 1952) are:
- Revision of the electoral law for parliament and city councils.
- New drafting of the budget law, taking into account a reduction in expenditure and an increase in income through the introduction of direct taxes and, if necessary, indirect taxes.
- Revitalization of the economy through increased production (in state-owned companies) and the creation of jobs as well as a revision of the monetary and banking system.
- Building the country's oil industry on the basis of the Law to Nationalize the Oil Industry, including the nine paragraphs implementing the Nationalization Law and the resolution to establish the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
- Reorganization of state administration and revision of the recruitment laws for civil servants, judges and the army.
- Creation of village councils to carry out tax-funded social reforms.
- Revision of the legal basis of the legal system.
- Revision of the press law.
- Revision of the legal basis for cultural affairs, health care and communication media.
The bills must be submitted to parliament for discussion and resolution within the six-month period of validity of this power of attorney. As long as the legal situation of the bills has not been clarified by Parliament and the Senate, they will be implemented without change.
Ahmad Razavi, Deputy Speaker of Parliament
Adopted on 12 Amordad 1331 (note: August 3, 1952)
Approval of the Senate on 20 Mordad 1331 (note: 11 August 1952).
Execution of the law
After the Enabling Act was ratified by the Senate and signed by the Shah, Mossadegh immediately signed a law to release Khalil Tahmasbi, a member of Fedayeen-e Islam who shot former Prime Minister Hajj Ali Razmara on March 7, 1951 . Prime Minister Razmara, who opposed the nationalization of the British oil facilities, was personally attacked by Mossadegh:
“... I swear by one God, blood will flow, blood will flow. We will fight and we may be killed. If you're a military man, I'm more of a soldier than you. I will kill, I will kill you in this Parliament. "
Under the law signed by Mossadegh, Tahmasbi was given the honorary title of "Ostad (Master)" and a lifelong pension.
As the discussion held in parliament in the following months shows, Mossadegh did not adhere to the procedure provided for in the Enabling Act of submitting the provisionally valid laws he had signed to parliament for discussion and resolution. MPs repeatedly criticized the fact that Mossadegh did not appear in front of parliament for reasons of illness and that the country "governed from his bedroom". Since the duration of the powers of attorney was limited to six months, the parliamentary discussion shifted to the question of a possible extension of the Enabling Act.
When Mossadegh requested an extension of the power of attorney from parliament on January 6, 1953, Ayatollah Kashani and other MPs wrote an open letter in which he rejected the extension:
"The extension of this power of attorney is against the constitution and nobody should agree to it."
Even MP Haerizadeh, a founding member of the National Front , of which Mossadegh was a leading member, referred in the 60th session of parliament to the corresponding paragraphs 27 and 28 of the Iranian constitution, in which the legislative process and the powers of the state organs defined in the constitution "Madschles Schora Melli", " Madschles Senat " and "Shah" are regulated. The constitution says in paragraph 28 that in Iran the political powers "legislature", "executive" and "judiciary" are separated. This means that the government cannot pass laws.
In the same session, President Kaschani adopted an even more harsh tone:
“As long as I am chairman of parliament, I will not allow such a law to be brought up for discussion here. As chairman of parliament, I am against this law because it is against the constitution and against the well-being of the Iranian people. Parliament cannot discuss laws that clearly violate paragraphs 11, 13, 24, 25, 27 of the Constitution and paragraphs 27 and 28 of the Supplement to the Constitution. I am against the fact that the separation of powers is not respected, because in this case the country is moving towards a dictatorship. The right to pass laws has been given to the members of parliament. These MPs do not have the right to delegate this right to anyone else. I therefore order that this bill is not discussed here. Furthermore, it must be prevented that such laws are even placed on Parliament's agenda. MEPs have made this mistake before and I see no reason why we should make this mistake again. "
The MP and leader of the Labor Party, Mozaffar Baqai , criticized Mossadegh's behavior towards parliament. Baqai warned Prime Minister Mossadegh against working too closely with the communist Tudeh party and predicted a fate similar to that of the Eastern European democracies, especially that of Czechoslovakia . According to Baqai, the Tudeh party would first support a bourgeois government like that of Mossadegh, following the example of the communist parties in Eastern Europe, then make it politically dependent on itself and then later take over power itself. Baqai was convinced that Mossadegh's behavior towards parliament had finally revealed himself to be a despot who was only interested in maintaining his own power and who wanted to abolish the monarchy with the help of the communist Tudeh party.
Despite the support of other MPs, Kashani and Baqai lost this political battle against Mossadegh. A majority of MPs agreed to extend the power of attorney on the condition that all bills signed by Mossadegh would immediately be submitted to parliament for discussion and decision-making. Parliament decided to extend Mossadegh's powers by one year.
Legal text of the extension of the period of validity of the Enabling Act
Law extending the power of attorney given to Prime Minister Dr Mohammad Mossadegh for one year from the expiry date
The power of attorney granted in the law of 20 Mordad 1331 (note: August 11, 1952) is extended by one year from the date of expiry.
Note: The bills that have been signed within the six-month authorization by Prime Minister Dr Mohammad Mossadegh and are still to be signed must be submitted in full to Parliament by the stated time. This also applies to the bills signed within the year of the extension of the power of attorney. These must be submitted to Parliament within three months from the date of signature.
This law, which consists of a paragraph and a note, was passed on December 30, 1331 (note: January 20, 1953).
Ahmad Razavi, Deputy Speaker of Parliament
Further development
The law requested by Mossadegh was passed in parliament, but the clashes between supporters and opponents of Mossadegh continued. After Mossadegh took control of the royal palaces on August 2, 1953, the Shah was no longer allowed to receive visitors without the prior permission of the Prime Minister.
A referendum held on August 3, 1953 to dissolve parliament brought Mossadegh a majority. In Tehran, 155,544 voters voted for and 115 against the dissolution of parliament.
The changes in Iran caught the attention of the US government. The United States saw its economic and political interests jeopardized by the threat of the Soviet Union exerting influence through the Tudeh Party. On April 4, 1953, CIA director Allen W. Dulles approved a $ 1 million budget to be used to topple Mossadegh (“in any way that would bring about the fall of Mossadegh”). With this intelligence operation, the CIA, in collaboration with the Shah, succeeded in removing Prime Minister Mossadegh from office on August 19, 1953 , monarchist and clerical groups led by retired general Fazlollah Zahedi . At the urging of the CIA, after a long hesitation, the Shah agreed on August 13 to appoint General Fazlollah Zahedi, the former Minister of the Interior in the first cabinet of Mossadegh, as the new Prime Minister by decree. Mossadegh himself created the legal requirements for this with the dissolution of parliament. According to the constitution, the Shah was entitled to remove the prime minister after the dissolution of the parliament that had elected the prime minister and to replace it with an interim prime minister until a new parliament was elected. Parliamentarians had warned Mossadegh against the dissolution of parliament and made him aware that the dissolution of parliament would give the Shah the right to depose him and replace him with another prime minister. The Shah had exercised this right eighteen times in the past. But Mossadegh was certain that Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi would not dare to take this step. He dissolved parliament and began planning new elections.
On August 15, 1953, Mossadegh was informed by telephone of his planned dismissal by the Shah from Noureddin Kianouri , a leading representative of the Tudeh party. Noureddin Kianouri spoke of a "coup against Mossadegh". The Tudeh party had built a secret network of middlemen in the army up to and including the Shah's Imperial Guard, and had learned of the plans to oust Mossadegh as prime minister. Colonel Nematollah Nassiri , head of the Imperial Guard, went to the house of Mossadegh on the evening of August 15 and gave him a certificate of discharge signed by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Operation Ajax was under way.
literature
- Minutes of the Iranian Parliament of the Seventeenth Legislature (April 25, 1952 - December 19, 1953)
Individual evidence
- ^ Minutes of the 22nd session of the 17th legislative period of the Iranian parliament
- ↑ Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009, p. 143.
- ↑ Speech transcript of the parliamentary scribes of 16 Majlis, 8th Tir 1329. Quoted from: Ali Mirfetros: Mohammad Mosaddeq - Pathology of a failure. Farhanf, Montreal 2008, p. 57.
- ^ Full text of the minutes of parliament from June 27, 1950
- ↑ Gholam Afkhami: The life and times of the Shah. University of California Press, 2009. p. 148.
- ^ Minutes of the 60th sessions of the Iranian parliament of the 17th legislative period
- ↑ Speech by Parliament President Kaschani according to the minutes of the 60th sessions of the Iranian Parliament of the 17th legislative period
- ↑ Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians. Syracuse University Press, 2008, Volume 1, p. 115.
- ^ Minutes of meetings of the Iranian parliament of the 17th legislative period
- ↑ Gerard de Villiers: The Shah. The power and glory of the emperor on the peacock throne. Munich 1976, p. 271.
- ↑ Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians. Syracuse University Press, 2008, pp. 243ff.
- ↑ Darioush Bayandor: Iran and the CIA. New York, 2010, p. 95.