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: election
New Wave of Summons, Return of Prisoners to Prison and Executions
With less than 4 weeks left till election day, Iran is witnessing a new round of summons of civil and political activists to Iran’s ministry of intelligence, non-extension of prison leaves and mass summons of prisoners on leave. In addition, two women political prisoners, whom Tehran’s prosecutor’s office called Mossad and CIA spies, were […]
Security forces in place for announcement of candidates
An Iranian opposition website reports that Tehran “has put on a military face” as the Guardian Council is set to announce today the presidential candidates that have been approved to run in the election. The Kaleme website writes that the possible disqualification of Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, the preferred candidate of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad camp, […]
Karroubi’s Letter to Mr. Khamenei Denounces Security Forces
Mohammad Hossein Karroubi, the son of political dissident under house arrest since February 2011 Mehdi Karroubi, has written a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei decrying the continued confiscation of personal items security forces took in February 2013. “On February 11, 2013, security forces accompanying a representative from the Prosecutor’s Office, who had […]
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 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 […]
I Didn’t See A Need to Summon Those Witnesses,” Says the Kahrizak Judge
The eighth trial session of judges implicated in the Kahrizak Detention Center case was held on Monday, May 13 at Branch 76 of Tehran Penal Court under Judge Siamak Modir Khorasani. As in the previous seven sessions, the court session was held behind closed doors. Saeed Mortazavi, the main suspect charged with “participation in […]
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 […]