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 […]
Tag: iran
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Rafsanjani And Mashaei Disqualified From Elections
The Interior Ministry has finally released the results of those who can run for the presidency. Mashaei and Rafsanjani were vetted out. Here is the list: 1) Saeed Jalili 2) GR. Haddad Adel 3) Mohsen Rezaei 4) Hasan Rawhani 5) Mohammad Reza Aref 6) Mohammad Gharazi 7) Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf 8) Ali Akbar Velayati
International Religious Freedom Report for 2012
Executive Summary Foremost among the rights Americans hold sacred is the freedom to worship as we choose…we also remember that religious liberty is not just an American right; it is a universal human right to be protected here at home and across the globe. This freedom is an essential part of human dignity, and […]
Iran’s prisoners of conscience – an interactive guide
As Iran gears up for a presidential election in June, the conditions in which prisoners of conscience are held in some of the country’s most notorious prisons have worsened. Below are some of the activists, students, journalists, women’s rights campaigners, lawyers, artists, former politicians and members of Iran’s religious and ethnic minorities who have […]
On the Non-Legal Letter Written by Jurisprudents
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 […]
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 […]