Political prisoner Mostafa Tajzadeh, a top reformist figure, announced in a letter from jail that the establishment has left no alternative for reformists but to boycott the elections. Tajzadeh writes that the disqualification of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai and other volunteers for the presidential race has simply “left the road open for […]
Tag: election
Rejected candidate Rafsanjani addresses supporters
Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Council, says the “extremists” in the Islamic Republic establishment have opposed him since the beginning of the 1979 Iranian Revolution because they find his views on “Islam’s focus on citizens’ rights” intolerable. Rafsanfani spoke on Saturday May 25 to a group of his supporters who had […]
Political Activists Arrested In Lahijan Ahead Of The Presidential Election
As the presidential election nears, a number of political activists have been summoned, homes of some activists searched and a number of activists who were planing to open a campaign office for Hashemi Rafsanjani have been arrested. Among the arrested are, Hamid Hadisi, Ebrahim Khoshsirat, Mourice Bagheri, and Mr. Jafari the chair of the […]
Disqualified reformist candidate urges unified front
Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, whose attempt to run in the upcoming presidential election was quashed by the Guardian Council, has thanked his supporters and, without referring to the reasons for his disqualification, he urged them to nurture the “unity that has risen among moderate reformist and conservative forces.” Hashemi writes that when he […]
Beyond The Presidential Election — Human Rights
Although the debate over the loaded term “free election” has receded in Iran as candidates ramp up their campaigns, rights groups continue to raise the niggling question whether human rights abuses will undermine the image of a legitimate Presidential ballot in June — particularly as activists, journalists, politicians, lawyers, and protesters detained in the […]
Banned Rafsanjani Blasts Iran’s Leadership
Iran’s former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has taken a parting shot at the country’s leadership days after he was disqualified from running in the upcoming presidential election. The Guardians Council, the powerful election watchdog, omitted Rafsanjani from its final shortlist of candidates. The eight men approved by the 12-member council, which vets all […]
Security Forces and Police Vehicles Increase Monitoring in Tehran
One day after the names of Iranian presidential candidates were announced by the Guardian Council, there was a tense security atmosphere in several areas of Tehran on May 22, following news of the disqualification of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as candidates, several eyewitnesses told the International Campaign for Human Rights in […]
Open letter to the eight candidates in the Islamic Republic’s 11th presidential election
Reporters Without Borders has written an open letter to the eight approved candidates in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s 11th presidential election, requesting that they publicly commit themselves to support freedom of information. The list of eight approved candidates published yesterday by the Guardian Council – whose members are directly chosen and appointed by […]
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Daughter of late Supreme Leader urges election reconsideration
Zahra Mostafavi, the daughter of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini, has written a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader, urging him to reconsider the Guardian Council’s disqualification of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani from the race for president. ISNA reports that Zahra Mostafavi’s letter to Ayatollah Khamenei mentions that on the day his […]
Rafsanjani, Mashaie Barred From Iran’s Presidential Election
Iran state TV and the Fars news agency are reporting that former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a leading ally of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, have been barred from running in the June 14 presidential election. The reports said Rafsanjani and Mashaie were not on the list of candidates vetted by Iran’s […]