Khatami: Hariri “Killed by Terrorism”
Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami expressed his respect to Lebanon”s ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, saying he "was killed by terrorism."
"I loved him and we as in Lebanon miss him…he believed in dialogue, human development and freedom. I hope that Lebanon would reach the security and peace desired and hoped for by the martyr," Khatami said in an interview with the Mustaqbal Movement website.
"The historic willingness of the Iranian people is freedom, progress and justice. We have no other choice but the gradual and peaceful reform. Achieving freedom requires a heavy price that would entail some problems. We do not wish to have reform by force, rather we want to give it a chance to make its own criticism," he said.
Khatami added that if criticism is not heard and discussed, it could turn into future problems that no one could solve.
"We could silence voices for a while. However, this would lead to a blowout. There is nothing worse for a society than that of a single voice," Khatami said.