M Khatami

[GoorGoor]

[Rasputin]

At Harvard, Khatami Condemns Bin Laden

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, in a speech at Harvard University, condemned Osama bin Laden for committing crimes in the name of Islam and said Jews have the right to live peacefully, but he s***ted the issue of whether they have the right to do so in their state of Israel.

Speaking on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khatami said he had two problems with the al-Qaida leader behind the attacks.

"First, because of the crimes he conducts," he said, "and second because he conducts them in the name of Islam, the religion which is a harbinger of peace and justice."

Khatami, whose speech in Farsi was relayed through a translator, said he was one of the first world leaders to condemn "the barbarous acts" of Sept. 11.

In response to a question about the notion of suicide bombers gaining entry to heaven as reward for their martyrdom, Khatami said, "Those who put others through hell will never go to heaven."

Khatami took a softer tone on Israel than current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when asked whether he favored the elimination of the state of Israel. He said he opposes the systematic elimination of any people. "The Jews have a right to live in peace and control their destinies," he said, but he didn't say whether they have a right to do so in an Israeli state in the Middle East.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, is widely believed to have received weapons and other support from its backers Syria and Iran. Khatami denied that Iran helps fund the group and defended the organization's right to exist.

"Hezbollah today is a symbol of Lebanese resistance," he said during his 30-minute speech given under tight security at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Khatami repeatedly praised the concept of democracy but said American politicians, since World War II, have been infatuated with "world domination."

Khatami is the most senior Iranian to travel outside New York in the United States since Islamic fundamentalists seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held Americans hostage for 444 days. He was invited to the United States by the U.N.-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations, of which he is a founding member. The group strives to foster cross-cultural understanding between Western and Islamic states.

Police estimated about 200 protesters showed up for the speech, and many blamed Khatami for failing to stop government crackdowns on student activists in Tehran during his two terms in office. Several human rights organizations say the crackdowns are believed to have been initiated by his rivals and approved by Iran's ruling Muslim clerics.

Khatami was considered a reformist during his two terms as president that ended last year. His visit to the United States has been criticized by many, particularly amid concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

The visit angered Joshua Levin, 42. He said, "When someone this evil comes to your city you must oppose him. He's a fascist. He sponsors terror."

[Rasputin]

Iranian Jews sue country's former president in US; say relatives were kidnapped..

Iranian Jews sue country's former president in US; say relatives were kidnapped, tortured ...

The Associated Press




NEW YORK A group of Jewish Iranians who say their missing relatives were kidnapped and tortured by the Iranian government have sued the country's former president, delivering the summons to him directly while he was visiting the United States.

The seven families, who reside in Los Angeles and Israel, say their relatives were arrested at different times between 1994 and 1997 as they tried to leave Iran by crossing into Pakistan.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, claims former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami instituted policies that prevented the relatives from having trials and did not give family members information about where they were.

The lawsuit mentions 12 missing Jewish Iranians, all male, some of whom were teenagers at the time of their disappearance. It includes the names of three people whose relatives have not officially joined the lawsuit. The families claim they have heard at times through former prisoners and guards that their missing relatives are still alive.

Khatami, who recently was granted a special visa to enter the United States, was handed copies of the complaint Friday while attending a reception in Arlington, Virginia, according to representatives of the plaintiffs.

The former president, who served from 1997 to 2005, was considered a moderate in Iran, a country with which the United States severed diplomatic relations more than 20 years ago. The State Department's decision to let him into the United States for a two-week speaking tour has drawn criticism from conservatives and Iranian exile groups.

Khatami has 20 days to file a response. A message seeking comment was left at the office of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.

The plaintiffs are suing under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, special laws that allow non-U.S. citizens to sue in American courts, according to one of their lawyers, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who is in Jerusalem. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of compensation.

Darshan-Leitner said Saturday in a phone interview that the families had planned the lawsuit for awhile but legally had to wait until Khatami was physically in the United States to file it.

Iran's Jewish community has deep roots in the country and is one of the largest in the Middle East, with estimates of at least 25,000 people. Though technically protected by Iran's constitution, Jews have led an uneasy existence under the country's Islamic government.

Khatami has made several public appearances during his nearly two-week trip to the United States. He was invited by the U.N.-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations, of which he is a founding member. The group strives to foster cross-cultural understanding between Western and Islamic states.

NEW YORK A group of Jewish Iranians who say their missing relatives were kidnapped and tortured by the Iranian government have sued the country's former president, delivering the summons to him directly while he was visiting the United States.

The seven families, who reside in Los Angeles and Israel, say their relatives were arrested at different times between 1994 and 1997 as they tried to leave Iran by crossing into Pakistan.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, claims former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami instituted policies that prevented the relatives from having trials and did not give family members information about where they were.

The lawsuit mentions 12 missing Jewish Iranians, all male, some of whom were teenagers at the time of their disappearance. It includes the names of three people whose relatives have not officially joined the lawsuit. The families claim they have heard at times through former prisoners and guards that their missing relatives are still alive.

Khatami, who recently was granted a special visa to enter the United States, was handed copies of the complaint Friday while attending a reception in Arlington, Virginia, according to representatives of the plaintiffs.

The former president, who served from 1997 to 2005, was considered a moderate in Iran, a country with which the United States severed diplomatic relations more than 20 years ago. The State Department's decision to let him into the United States for a two-week speaking tour has drawn criticism from conservatives and Iranian exile groups.

Khatami has 20 days to file a response. A message seeking comment was left at the office of the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.

The plaintiffs are suing under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, special laws that allow non-U.S. citizens to sue in American courts, according to one of their lawyers, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who is in Jerusalem. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of compensation.

Darshan-Leitner said Saturday in a phone interview that the families had planned the lawsuit for awhile but legally had to wait until Khatami was physically in the United States to file it.

Iran's Jewish community has deep roots in the country and is one of the largest in the Middle East, with estimates of at least 25,000 people. Though technically protected by Iran's constitution, Jews have led an uneasy existence under the country's Islamic government.

Khatami has made several public appearances during his nearly two-week trip to the United States. He was invited by the U.N.-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations, of which he is a founding member. The group strives to foster cross-cultural understanding between Western and Islamic states.

[mike435]

barikala
lets do the same with ahamaghinejad

[Rasputin]

[mike435]

non of you guys have an opinion about this

barikalah beshoon i personally think its bravary

[Rasputin]

Anti-Iran, anti-Khatami and anti-war protesters greet Khatami at Harvard .

[Rasputin]

Khatami's UK visit set to bring tirade from Iran

Iran's reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami is to visit Britain this month in a move certain to infuriate hardline supporters of his successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mr Khatami, who won admiration in the west for his attempts to liberalise Iran's theocratic political system during his eight-year presidency, will open a new Iranian studies department at St Andrews University and receive an honorary PhD from the Liberal Democrat leader, Menzies Campbell, on October 31. He will also speak at Chatham House, the London-based foreign affairs thinktank.

The former president will be the most senior Iranian political figure to visit Britain since the last shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution, came 34 years ago. It comes at a time when Britain, along with the US, is pressing for sanctions against Iran for defying a UN resolution demanding that it halt a key part of its nuclear programme, which the west fears is aimed at building atomic bombs.
Iran's state-run television reported today that Mr Ahmadinejad had ordered the country's nuclear facilities to be opened up to foreign tourists to show that its programme was peaceful.

Mr Khatami's visit follows last month's highly controversial trip to the US, during which he met the former US president Jimmy Carter. That visit was bitterly criticised by religious conservatives in Iran and by Jewish and emigre Jewish groups in the US.

Fatemeh Rajabi, the wife of Mr Ahmadinejad's official government spokesman, denounced Mr Khatami as a "mercenary" who had gone to the US to get "rewards for the eight years of implementing American plots disguised as reforms". The hardline newspaper Kayhan also criticised the trip as inappropriate in light of the nuclear dispute.

Visiting Britain, seen by many Iranians as an even greater enemy than the US, is bound to provoke equally fierce condemnation. Mr Ahmadinejad routinely singles out Britain in his frequent denunciations of western policies.

In contrast to Mr Ahmadinejad's confrontational approach, Mr Khatami has called for the nuclear issue to be resolved "tactfully".

Britain has been historically distrusted by many Iranians because of its monopoly of the country's oil industry during the 20th century.

Mr Khatami prompted a thaw in Anglo-Iranian relations during the 90s when he declared the controversy over the British novelist Salman Rushdie "completely finished".

His comments were interpreted as lifting the death sentence imposed by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the Islamic revolution, in retaliation for Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. Mr Khatami's declaration in turn led to a restoration of diplomatic ties between Iran and Britain.

[Rasputin]

رهبران يهودي از اقدام دانشگاه «سنت اندرو» اسكاتلند، مبني بر اعطاي مدرك افتخاري به رئيس*جمهور سابق ايران، سيدمحمد خاتمي، انتقاد كردند.

به گزارش سرويس بين*الملل «بازتاب»، «جويش تلگراف» نوشت: خاتمي، «حزب*الله» را به «خورشيد درخشاني كه همه مسلمانان را گرم مي*كند»، تشبيه كرده بود.

«اپرايم بوروفسكي»، مدير شوراي اسكاتلندي جامعه يهوديان از اين دانشگاه خواسته است تا اعطاي مدرك دكترا را كه قرار است در 31 اكتبر به خاتمي اهدا شود، لغو كند. او گفت: «حتي يك جستجوي كوتاه در اينترنت نيز نشان خواهد داد كه خاتمي حامي تروريسم ضد يهوديت حزب*الله است، در حالي كه جستجوهاي دقيق*تر، تنها اسناد كمي را مبني بر حمايت وي از پيشرفت گفت*وگوي بين مذاهب نشان مي*دهد. اهداي نشان افتخار به چنين مردي، زير سؤال بردن خود مفهوم «افتخار» نيز هست. دانشگاه «سنت اندرو» بايد اين كار را متوقف كند».

اين مدرك به خاطر تجليل از تلاش*هاي خاتمي در تشويق گفت*وگوي بين مذاهب به او اهدا مي*شود.
خاتمي هم*اكنون رئيس بنياد بين*المللي گفت*وگوي تمدن*هاست.
در دانشگاه «سنت اندرو»، او مؤسسه*اي مطالعاتي در مورد ايران باز خواهد كرد كه كتاب*هايي به ارزش صد هزار پوند داراست. او همچنين در تالار Younger دانشگاه نيز سخنراني خواهد كرد. اين مدرك توسط «سر منزيس كمپسل»، مشاور دانشگاه كه به خاطر موضع ضداسرائيلي مشهور است، اهدا مي*شود.

دكتر «كنت كالينز»، رئيس شوراي نمايندگان يهودي «گلاسكو» گفته است: «اعطاي دكتراي افتخاري از سوي يك دانشگاه اسكاتلندي به خاتمي به عنوان پاداش به كشور وي، به خاطر موضعش عليه اسرائيل است. من با مسئولان دانشگاه صحبت مي**كنم تا در اين*باره بينديشند.

اين در حالي است كه مقامات دانشگاه نيز از كار خود دفاع و اعلام كرده*اند كه دانشگاه آنان با دانشگاه*هاي ديگر فرق دارد.

[Rasputin]

In praise of ... the University of St Andrews

Mohammad Khatami, the former Iranian president, will face protests when he delivers a lecture at the University of St Andrews next week. Exiles and human rights groups want to highlight the fate of the thousands of people who were imprisoned and tortured for their political beliefs during his eight years in office, before he was replaced by the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr Ahmadinejad's supporters often attack Mr Khatami as a western stooge. He did express regret for the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in a famous interview with CNN, tried to rein in the ayatollahs and helped resolve the dispute with Britain over The Satanic Verses. From an opposing stance, liberal critics counter that repression (though often carried out by state institutions he did not control) continued alongside his reformist policies. There were protests when he gave a lecture at Harvard and met Jimmy Carter while being boycotted by the Bush administration, as fixated with Iran as Iran is with the "Great Satan". Mr Khatami has called for the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions to be resolved "tactfully". He will be the most senior Iranian figure to come to Britain since the Shah in 1972. That makes his visit important. So does his role as president of the International Foundation for Dialogue amongst Civilisations. St Andrews is right to encourage such dialogue. But this great university will want to respect its own finest intellectual traditions by ensuring that it is an open and a critical one.

[Rasputin]

سفر سيد محمد خاتمی به انگليس همانند سفر وی به آمريکا با واکنش*های متفاوتی روبرو شده است. در اين ميان گروه*های تحت نفوذ رژيم صهيونيستی در انگلستان بيش از همه نسبت به سفر خاتمی اعتراض دارند. اين اعتراضات تا حدی است که برخی منابع نزديک به محافل يهودی ادعا مي*کنند ممکن است پليس انگليس از خاتمی بازجويی کند!

در همين رابطه، روزنامه ساندی تايمز در گزارشی نوشت ,محمد خاتمی به هنگام ورود به انگليس برای دريافت دکترای افتخاری دانشگاه سنت*اندروز در هفته جاری تحت بازجويی پليس قرار خواهد گرفت,.

بنا به اين گزارش، پليس لندن در حال بررسی شکايت دو تبعه ايرانی است. آنها مدعي*اند در دوران رياست جمهوی خاتمی به اشتباه زندانی و شکنجه شده*اند. آنها از پليس خواسته*اند براساس قانون قضايی جنايی 1988 خاتمی را دستگير کند. اين قانون اجازه مي*دهد هر فردی بدون توجه به مليتش برای انجام، چشم*پوشی و تبانی در جنايات شکنجه در هر کجای دنيا که انجام شده باشد دستگير شود.

در ادامه گزارش آمده است منريزکمپل، رهبر ليبرال دمکرات*ها و رئيس دانشگاه سنت*اندروز برای لغو سفر خاتمی به اين دانشگاه تحت فشار است. گروه*های مختلف تحت نفوذ رژيم صهيونيستی نيز به انتخاب خاتمی به عنوان ميهمان افتخاری دانشگاه سنت*اندروز اعتراض کرده*اند.

روزنامه گاردين نيز در گزارشی از سفر خاتمی نوشت: آقای خاتمی عالی رتبه*ترين شخصيت سياسی ايران است که از زمان شاه در سال 1972 به انگليس سفر مي*کند. اين مساله سفر وی را حائز اهميت بيشتری کرده است.

اين روزنامه انگليسی مي*افزايد: با توجه به اينکه خاتمی رئيس موسسه بين*المللی گفت*وگوی تمدن*ها است از اين*رو دانشگاه سنت*اندروز حق دارد در راستای تشويق چنين گفت*گويي*های از وی دعوت به عمل آورد.

خبرگزاری فرانسه نيز گزارش داد سفر خاتمی به اسکاتلند و لندن با انتقاداتی روبروست. بنا به اين گزارش مخالفان معتقدند در شرايطی که ايران از توقف برنامه هسته*اي*اش امتناع مي*کند، هيچ مقامی از اين کشور نبايد به انگليس سفر کند.

سيد محمد خاتمی 8 آبان ماه به انگلستان سفر خواهد کرد. رئيس موسسه بين*المللی گفت*وگوی تمدن*ها در اين سفر ضمن افتتاح ساختمان جديد دانشکده علوم انسانی و موسسه مطالعات ايرانی در دانشگاه سنت*اندروز، افتتاح مرکز مطالعات شيعه در دانشگاه دارهام و نشست با اساتيد و دانشجويان در دانشگاه آکسفورد را نيز در دستور کار خود دارد.

[Rasputin]

TEHRAN (AFP) - Former president Mohammad Khatami leaves Iran on a tour during which he will become the most senior Iranian politician to visit Britain since the 1979 Islamic revolution, a top aide said.



Khatami, who presided over a period of cautious liberalisation during his 1997-2005 stint in power, is to begin his trip by visiting Paris and will then head to Scotland on Tuesday, Sadegh Kharazi told AFP.

The former president -- who now leads a Tehran-based institute for dialogue of civilisations -- will open an Iranian studies centre at St Andrews University in east Scotland, where he will also receive an honorary doctorate.

He will round off his trip by giving a speech to Oxford University and visiting the Chatham House research institute in London, where he will also meet with Muslim representatives.

"Several requests for political meetings have been made, but Mr Khatami has still not taken a decision" on this, Kharazi said on Sunday.

The visit comes after a similar trip Khatami made earlier this year to the Islamic republic's arch enemy the United States, where he gave several speeches but did not meet with any officials.

Khatami's visit to Scotland and London has already sparked criticism in Britain, where some commentators have suggested an official of his status should not be in the UK at a time when Iran is refusing to halt its nuclear programme.

In France, which Khatami has already visited twice, the former president is due to give an address at a literary and cultural conference at the headquarters of UNESCO.

Under his presidency, Iranians experienced some press freedom and social liberties, although his reform plans were mostly blocked by conservatives in the parliament and the non-elected constitutional watchdog.

Khatami's US trip, comments such as declaring the Holocaust was "a historical fact" and backing a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict drew the ire of hardliners at home, some of whom accused him of playing into the hands of enemies.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

محمد خاتمی، رييس جمهوری پيشين ايران، قرار است برای افتتاح يک مرکز ايران شناسی و دريافت دکترای افتخاری از دانشگاه سنت آندروز، يکی از قديمی ترين دانشگاه های اسکاتلند، روز سه شنبه 31 اکتبر وارد بريتانيا شود.
اين برای نخستين بار است که از زمان انقلاب اسلامی ايران در حدود سی سال پيش، يک شخصيت سياسی عالريرتبه ايرانی از بريتانيا ديدار می کند.

عده ای از نمايندگان مجلس بريتانيا تصميم دانشگاه سنت آندروز برای اعطای دکترای افتخاری به آقای خاتمی را محکوم کرده اند.

يک نماينده اسکاتلند در پارلمان اروپا گفته است که در دوره رياست جمهوری هشت ساله آقای خاتمی نقض حقوق بشر و بازداشت و شکنجه فعالان سياسی در ايران ادامه داشته و او افزود که تصميم دانشگاه سنت آندروز "شرم آور" است.

ولی دانشگاه تاريخی سنت آندروز، که حدود ششصد سال از تاسيس آن می گذرد، از اقدام خود دفاع و تاکيد کرده است که آقای خاتمی يکی از مدافعان پر شور دموکراسی اسلامی، حقوق بشر و جامعه مدنی است.

مخالفان سفر آقای خاتمی، سر منيس کمبل، رهبر حزب ليبرال دموکرات، سومين حزب قدرتمند در بريتانيا و رييس افتخاری دانشگاه سنت آندروز را در روزهای اخير تحت فشار قرار دادند که از اعطای دکترای افتخاری به رييس جمهوری سابق ايران خودداری کند.

يک سخنگوی حزب ليبرال دموکرات حال در گفتگويی با بی بی سی تاييد کرده است که آقای کمبل در مراسم شرکت نخواهد کرد. ولی او افزود که اين تصميم سياسی نيست و رهبر حزب ليبرال دموکرات بايد برای يک رای گيری مهم در پارلمان، در لندن حضور داشته باشد.

برخی گروه های سياسی ايرانی، عده ای از سياستمداران بريتانيايی و بعضی از گروه های دانشجويی و يهودی در روزهای اخير گفته اند که قصد دارند در اعتراض به تصميم دانشگاه سنت آندروز در مقابل اين دانشگاه تجمع کنند.

اين گروه ها همچنين اعلام کرده اند که در روز چهارشنبه نيز در مقابل ساختمان مرکز مطالعات استراتژيک معروف به "چتم هاوس" در لندن که آقای خاتمی قرار است در آنجا سخنرانی کند تظاهرات خواهند کرد.


طرفداران آقای خاتمی او را يک سياستمدار اصلاح طلب می دانند و تاکيد می کنند که او در دوره رياست جمهوری اش برای پيشرفت حقوق بشر در ايران تلاش کرده است

در عين حال برخی از مطبوعات بريتانيا گزارش کرده اند که دو نفر از ايرانيان که می گويند در زمان رياست جمهوری آقای خاتمی شکنجه شده اند و هم اکنون به عنوان پناهنده در بريتانيا به سر می برند، قصد دارند که از طريق وکيلان خود از پليس بريتانيا بخواهند که آقای خاتمی را بازداشت کنند.

طبق قوانين بريتانيا، می توان کسانی را که در هرکجای دنيا در اعمال شکنجه نقش داشته اند تحت تعقيب قرار داد. چند سال پيش اوگوستو پينوشه، رهبر نظامی سابق شيلی که برای معالجات پزشکی به بريتانيا سفر کرده بود به درخواست يک قاضی اسپانيايی به اتهام نقش داشتن در نقض حقوق بشر در کشورش مدتی تحت باز داشت قرار گرفت.

ولی طرفداران آقای خاتمی او را يک سياستمدار اصلاح طلب می دانند و تاکيد می کنند که او در دوره رياست جمهوری اش برای پيشرفت حقوق بشر در ايران تلاش کرده است.

ناظران سياسی معتقدند که احتمال بازداشت آقای خاتمی در بريتانيا بسيار اندک است و قبلا هماهنگی های لازم با دولت بريتانيا در مورد اين سفر صورت گرفته است. به خصوص که آقای خاتمی اخيرا سفر موفقيت آميزی به آمريکا داشته و از چند کشور اروپايی و از جمله از فرانسه نيز ديدار کرده است.

[Rasputin]

Mixed reception for Iran's ex-president

The former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, has begun a visit to the UK by calling for dialogue between civilisations to prevent religious wars. He is the most senior Iranian figure to visit the UK since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Mr Khatami also opened the new Institute of Iranian Studies
The BBC's James Shaw watched him deliver a speech to students and academics at the University of St Andrews in Fife as he picked up an honorary degree:

He cut a modest figure in the grey robes and black turban of a Shiite cleric. A small, bearded man, smiling at all the attention amid the gowns and mortar boards and applause in the Younger Hall at the university.

Introducing Mr Khatami, Professor Michael Bentley, of the university's school of history, gave a sense of the significance of the event.

He said the university wanted to offer its congratulations on "real and persistent efforts to reach out and engage with nations of the West".

Reforms rejected

It's certainly true that efforts were made to introduce liberalising legislation during his time as president between 1997 and last year.

The Iranian parliament tried to bring in laws for greater press freedom and to ban torture and sex discrimination.

These measures were thrown out by the Council of Guardians - the senior clerics and jurists who, along with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, govern Iran.


Mr Khatami's visit has provoked fury from human rights organisations

So the reforming parties were unable to make good on their promises. A more uncompromising president is now in place and Mr Khatami continues to reach out to the wider world.

A few weeks ago Mr Khatami was in the US. It now seems to be his guiding principle to try to build bridges between Islam and the nations of the West.

Outside the Younger Hall, in the bitter wind blowing from the North Sea, a dozen or so protesters penned behind metal barriers held up placards denouncing the event.

"Shame on St Andrews for inviting a terrorist," read one.

'Violence and insanity'

As his speech drew to a close inside, Mr Khatami called for a deeper analysis of the reasons behind what he called the "re-emergence of religious wars".

He asked how there could be talk of "crusades" at the start of the third Millennium. Perhaps this was a reference to George Bush's use of the word back in 2001 to characterise how the United States would respond to 9/11.


Mr Khatami called for greater understanding between Islam and the West
Then Mr Khatami described how some people saw their own religion as true and compassionate but insisted on viewing other faiths as ones of "violence and insanity".

Was he referring to those controversial remarks by the Pope, quoting a medieval Christian ruler on his views about Islam?

With these hints and allusions, he seemed to be offering a critique of the attitudes of some Western leaders to Islam.

Finally, he spoke of the pressing need to improve understanding between different cultures and religions. He remembered the advice of one of the founders of Shiite Islam. Imam Ali, the great Imam of Muslims, told his followers to respect others, either as fellow Muslims or simply as fellow human beings.

Many people who hear Mr Khatami's thoughts over the course of his three-day visit will agree that there should be greater understanding between Islam and the West.

The question is, does he have the influence to help make that a reality?