As Iran’s Guardians Council is processing the qualifications of the presidential candidates, the country’s media has reported that 7,456 jurisprudents have written a letter to it requesting that it disqualify those individuals who “in the past and in the course of the 2009 sedition had deviated from the path of the revolution.” A number […]
Tag: Presidential
Election gatekeepers balk at aged candidates
Iran’s Guardian Council has expressed concern about the “physical capabilities” of election candidates and the ability of senior candidates to handle the workload of presidential duties. Abbasali Kadkhodayi, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, said: “One who wants to assume a chief executive post and is only able to put in just a few […]
Iran’s Guard warns against post-election turmoil
A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that his forces will be on watch for possible unrest after next month’s presidential election, calling the outcome “unpredictable” and sending the strongest message yet against any attempts to revive street protests, media reported Sunday. The comments by Col. Rasool Sanaeirad point to a wide-ranging […]
Iran’s ban on female presidential candidates contradicts Constitution
Iran’s ban on female presidential candidates contradicts several articles of the country’s Constitution as well as international law and should be removed, Amnesty International said. Mohammad Yazdi, a clerical member of Iran’s Council of Guardians, a constitutional body responsible for ensuring that legislation adheres to Iran’s Constitution, as interpreted by Iran’s religious scholars and […]
Presidential Candidate Brags About His Direct Role in Violence and Repression
The Campaign has obtained a secretly recorded two-hour audio file of Qalibaf in which he details his prominent and direct role in repressing and carrying out violence against student protesters in July 1999, July 2003, and in the 2009 post-election protests. Qalibaf, Mayor of Tehran, Should be Added to Human Rights Violators List (May […]
Ahmadinejad May Face Charges
Iran’s constitutional watchdog says it might seek to press charges against President Mahmud Ahmadinejad for violating election rules. Ahmadinejad, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third term in the June 14 presidential election, accompanied his controversial chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, to the election registry office on May 11. A spokesman […]
Multiple last-day entrants in Iran’s presidential race
Just minutes before the deadline on March 11 to register as a presidential candidate, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani made it official that he wants to be the next Iranian president. Meanwhile, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s top aide, also entered the race during the final minutes of the registration period. Today, numerous well known figures […]
Censorship intensifying in run-up to June presidential election
Reporters Without Borders condemns the continuing harassment of news providers and yet another escalation in censorship. With just six weeks to go to a presidential election, the intelligence ministry has been summoning netizens and media editors to give them instructions on what they may and may not cover. At the same time, persecution of […]
Presidential election to put regime’s claims to the test, says Tajzadeh
The coming weeks will determine whether Iran’s ruling elite, including its leader, are committed to defending the people’s right to shape their own destiny, says a top reformist figure currently behind bars. In his most recent piece, which was published by the Norooz website, Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent pro-reform figure in the country, discussed […]
Morsi Wins Egypt’s Presidential Election
Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi has been declared the winner of Egypt’s presidential run-off.