PHOTO: Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani


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What if Tehran Ran US Elections?


Challenging attempts by others in Iran’s regime — including the Supreme Leader — to restrict centrists and reformists in February 26 elections, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani gave a strong statement of support to the centrist-reformist alliance on Friday.

Rafsanjani defied Ayatollah Khamenei with condemnation of the disqualification of thousands of candidates by the Guardian Leader, the 12-member body appointed by the Supreme Leader and the judiciary, for the vote for Parliament and the Assembly of Experts.

The former President said the Council’s purges of candidates “over the past several years” had weakened the Islamic Republic: “If the law had been executed well, [our] republican character would have been completely preserved.”

The Council initially banned 60% of the 12,000 candidates for the 290-seat Parliament, including 99% of 3,000 reformists. Some applicants were reinstated after discussions with the Rouhani Government, but only 90 reformists have been approved.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Leader rejected any criticism of the Council with the warning that it supported American attempts at “sedition”: “Since the first day of the [Islamic] Revolution, Americans have opposed certain basic organs, including the Guardian Council, but they could not do away with it. Now they want to call into question its decisions.”

See Iran Feature: Supreme Leader Issues Another “Sedition” Warning About Elections

The Tehran Friday Prayer leader, Hojatoleslam Sedighi, repeated the message: “If the Guardian Council is illegal, then the confirmed candidates are illegal as well….Those who attack the Guardian Council alongside foreigners — where do they get their credibility?” He said Iran’s enemies, especially the US and Britain, are encouraging Iranians to “vote for those whom [the enemies] want”.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, another Friday Prayer leader and an Assembly of Experts member, also spoke of the plots of the “global arrogance” to keep hardliners from victory at the polls:

They tell you not to vote for [Guardian Council head] Ahmad Jannati, [Assembly of Experts chair] Mohammad Yazdi, and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi in Tehran; Ahmad Khatami in Kerman; and Ahmad Alamolhoda in Khorasan….Jannati’s crime is loyalty to the Supreme Leader, Yazdi’s crime is perseverance, and Mesbah’s crime is endless purity.

The Mashhad Friday Prayer leader, Hojatoleslam Farzaneh, called on Iranians to “elect people who have ‘Death to America’ written on their foreheads when the cameras of the world turn to them”.

Rafsanjani Backs Coalition to Ensure Election Presence

Rafsanjani encouraged the response of centrists — linked to him and to President Rouhani — to establish joint lists of candidates, “The Coalition of Reformists and Government Supporters”, to ensure a meaningful presence in the elections. He cited the example of the 2013 Presidential vote, where he was banned by the Guardian Council, only for the “consolation” candidate Hassan Rouhani to win an unexpected victory.

Iranians will also vote on Friday for the 88-member Assembly of Experts, the body which chooses the Supreme Leader.

Rafsanjani is hoping to regain the chair of the Assembly, which he held from 2007 to 2011. However, the Guardian Council has all but blocked that effort with its disqualification of 80% of the 801 applicants, including many candidates seen as supporters of the former President.

(Hat tip to Iran Tracker for translations)


Detained and Confined for 6 1/2 Years, Iranian-American Academic Finally Allowed to Leave Iran

Iranian-American academic Kian Tajbakhsh has been allowed to leave Iran after 6 1/2 years of detention and parole.

Tajbakhsh was detained by the Iranian authorities in 2007 for four months and rearrested in 2009 amid the protests over the disputed Presidential election. He was one of more than 100 defendants in a show trial in August 2009. Initially, he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, but following international condemnation, an appeals court reduced this to five years.

After eight months in detention, Tajbakhsh was allowed to serve out the remainder of his sentence on parole with his family in Tehran.

The academic finally received travel papers last month, about the same time that four Iranian-American prisoners were freed amid the implementation of the July 2015 nuclear deal. He left the country with his wife and daughter on January 28.

Tajbakhsh, a leading expert in urban planning and local government reform, has taught at Iranian and American institutions including Columbia University in New York. He has also been a consultant for Iran’s Ministry of Interior, international NGOs such as the Open Society Institute, and the World Bank.

He has now resumed teaching at Columbia.