PHOTO: Reformist lawyer Minoo Khaleghi, banned by Guardian Council from taking her seat in Parliament
In a pointed response to the Rouhani Government, Iran’s Supreme Leader has upheld the Guardian Council’s disqualification of a reformist MP elected in February.
MP Mohammad Javad Fatahi told reporters that Ayatollah Khamenei had maintained the ban on lawyer Minoo Khaleghi, who finished third in the ballot in Esfahan.
Fatahi said that the Supreme Leader had referred the case to a dispute resolution council at the request of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and that the council had confirmed the disqualification.
Khaleghi was one of 17 women who won seats in the Majlis, a record for the Islamic Republic. However, the Guardian Council later declared that she did not possess the required qualifications, without giving details.
Subsequent reports claimed that, while travelling in Europe and China, Khaleghi had been photographed without the mandatory head covering of the hijab. The lawyer denied that she was the woman in the pictures.
The Government maintained that the Guardian Council only has the authority to ban candidates before elections, and that it is Parliament which rules on qualifications after the vote. The position was supposed by leading MPs such as Ali Motahari, who was elected 2nd Vice Speaker this week.
However, the Supreme Leader refused to give way in a case which is part of a wider battle over the Guardian Council.
Since last year, President Rouhani has tried to curb the powers of the Council, particularly over the mass disqualification of candidates. Ayatollah Khamenei has firmly resisted any limits.
The Council banned thousands of candidates before the February elections. But, despite the purge, the centrist-reformist List of Hope was able to become the largest faction in Parliament, ending more than a decade of domination by conservatives.
