50 Iranian MPs Form a Faction to Pursue 'Citizens' Rights'

Fifty Iranian MPs have formed a faction called 'Citizens' Rights' to address issues concerning ethnic groups, religious minorities, women, children, media personnel, and political activists. Abdulkarim Hosseinzadeh, the head of this faction, announced on Saturday, November 4, that elections for the faction's leadership have also taken place. According to this report, Qasem Mirzaei-Neko and Fatemeh Saidi were elected as vice presidents, Parvaneh Salahshouri and Mohammad Kazemi as secretaries, and Bahram Parsaei as the spokesperson for this faction. The leadership members of this faction are from reformist representatives in the parliament and members of the Hope faction. Besides Hosseinzadeh, some other members of this faction, including Mohammad Naim Aminifard, are Sunni representatives in the parliament. Hosseinzadeh stated that the faction aims to 'operationalize the Citizens' Rights Charter' and 'realize the demands of the nation' through legislation and oversight. He mentioned that the faction will pursue issues related to the implementation of citizens' rights from each minister while holding brainstorming sessions with the President's special assistant for citizens' rights. This is the first time a faction named 'Citizens' Rights' has been formed in the Iranian parliament. There are existing factions for women, Sunnis, and children in the Iranian parliament. In the fall of 2016, Hassan Rouhani's government drafted and published a charter called 'Citizens' Rights,' which describes intrusions into citizens' lives and religious and ethnic discrimination as contrary to the Islamic Republic's constitution, emphasizing the rights of women and minorities. This charter received negative reactions from some conservatives, including Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council, who described it as 'electoral propaganda' and 'against the law.' In response, Rouhani stated on Wednesday, August 29, that 'we did not write the Citizens' Rights Charter for display, propaganda, or elections; we wrote it so that people feel secure and free.' Rouhani had promised that if he won the presidential election, his government would send a bill to establish a 'National Citizens' Rights Institution' to the parliament within the first 100 days of his term. However, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, declared on July 2 that the establishment of this institution is 'against Sharia and the law.' Some experts have also stated that the government lacks the ability to implement the Citizens' Rights Charter, considering it a ceremonial text. The 'Citizens' Rights' faction has been formed while Rouhani's government has avoided appointing a Sunni minister or governor and a female minister or governor despite requests. In recent weeks, the suspension of the membership of Sepanta Niknam, a Zoroastrian member of the Tehran City Council, by the Administrative Justice Court, citing the opinions of the Guardian Council's clerics, has led to negative reactions from the Speaker of the Parliament and some government officials. In Iran, Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are deprived of holding high government positions. Baha'is, another religious minority in Iran, are even deprived of rights such as studying at universities and holding government jobs, and after the 1979 revolution, dozens of them were executed, and hundreds imprisoned. Issues such as the arrest of journalists, artists, filmmakers, and political and civil activists, the status of women's rights, the judicial process, prison conditions, and the implementation of corporal punishments such as flogging and amputation have always been criticized by international human rights organizations.