Why didn't Khatami visit Iran's supreme leader in hospital?
Iranians have speculated over social media on why former President Mohammad Khatami failed to visit Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during his hospital stay.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei checked out of the hospital yesterday, Sept. 16 after undergoing prostate surgery. Since he entered the hospital Sept. 8, his personal website has live-blogged the entire event, uploading pictures and videos of visits from current and former political figures, Iranian artists and regional officials from Iraq and Lebanon. The most notable absence — excluding his family, who is hardly ever photographed — was former Reformist President Mohammad Khatami.
Given the sensitive nature of the issue, much of the news about it had come via social media, written by political and media figures themselves.
Yesterday, political dissident Isa Saharkhiz wrote on his Facebook page that Khatami had consulted with a number of Reformist figures and decided it would be best to “request a meeting” with Khamenei while he was in the hospital. When the request was not accepted, Khatami then decided to leave Tehran Sept. 12 and visit his ill mother in his birthplace of Ardakan, where he also met local officials and prayed for Khamenei’s health and successful surgery.
Journalist Seyed Mahdi Dezfouli shared over Google Plus that during an interview with Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Khatami’s former vice president, Abtahi was asked why Khatami did not visit Khamenei in the hospital. According to Dezfouli, Abtahi said that Khatami had gotten in touch with Khamenei’s office, which answered that if permission were granted, the staff there would get in touch with him. On his Facebook page, Abtahi denied making any such comments.
