New President can't halt reforms, says Ebadi

The change of president in Iran will not halt the process of reforms initiated eight years ago in the Islamic state, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi said.

Former Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative, on Wednesday replaced pro-reform cleric Mohammad Khatami as president of the country of 67 million people.

Ahmadinejad's landslide victory in June elections united the circle of power in Iran where conservatives already control the military, judiciary and veto-wielding supervisory bodies.

Reformers fear that Ahmadinejad might turn the clock back on limited social and political reforms that have emerged since Khatami's 1997 election win.

But Iranian lawyer Ebadi, whose 2003 Nobel win shone a global spotlight on the struggle for human rights in the Islamic Republic, said reforms could not be stopped in Iran.

"The change of president cannot end reforms. Reforms belong to the Iranian nation," she said in an interview.

"People want reforms. No one can stop it and reforms are irreversible," said Ebadi, who did not vote in the June elections in protest at the disqualification of hundreds of hopeful candidates by an unelected panel of hardline clerics.

Ebadi said Khatami succeeded in creating avenues for reform wherever possible, but lacked sufficient power to push through greater changes.

Iran's constitution limits the president's power by giving ultimate authority to the supreme leader.

"Khatami could not deliver his promises because he did not have constitutional authority," said Ebadi. "The power structure in Iran does not give enough room to the president to manoeuvre," said Ebadi.