86 Members of Parliament Protest New Restrictions Against Mohammad Khatami

The Hope Faction of Parliament deemed the "new restrictions" against Mohammad Khatami as "in clear and explicit contradiction" with some principles of the Constitution, and 86 members of Parliament called on Hassan Rouhani to take action to prevent this issue and announce the results. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the judiciary announced that these restrictions are "not new" and are merely extensions of previous restrictions based on a "resolution from the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council." On Sunday, October 8, the Hope Faction issued a statement calling the "increased restrictions on Mr. Khatami's participation" in "political, cultural, and promotional events" as "in clear and explicit contradiction" with Articles 20, 23, 36, and 37 of the Constitution. This faction emphasized that these actions have "increased the popularity" of the former president of Iran. The Hope Faction also demanded that the issuing authority of this order adhere to the law. Meanwhile, several members of Parliament reminded Hassan Rouhani, as the head of the Supreme National Security Council, to be the "guardian of the people's constitutional rights" and to prevent any actions that "restrict and undermine civil rights." These representatives called for the President to act to prevent the imposition of "new restrictions" against Mohammad Khatami and to publish the results for public awareness. Among the signatories of this reminder are Ali Motahari, Mohammad Reza Aref, Gholamreza Heydari, Elias Hazrati, Mohammad Reza Tabesh, Soheila Jelodarzadeh, Fatemeh Saidi, Hamideh Zarabadi, Abdolkarim Hassanzadeh, and Shahabuddin Beig-Moghadar. According to the Iran newspaper's website, 86 members of Parliament signed this reminder. The Kalemeh website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, reported on October 5 that the "Special Clerical Court, by sending a letter signed by the special prosecutor, Ebrahim Raisi, to Mohammad Khatami's home, informed him that he should not participate in any political or promotional events for three months." According to this report, the letter stated that "from now on, any presence of Khatami in meetings, halls, conferences, artistic events, such as theater, concerts, and also participation in various non-family gatherings, even in private meetings, is prohibited." The spokesperson for the judiciary reiterated the statements of the special prosecutor. Mohammad Abdollahi, the special prosecutor of the Clerical Court of Tehran, announced on October 6 that "no new restrictions" have been imposed on Mr. Khatami. He also claimed that the "preventive measures taken so far" regarding Mohammad Khatami have been "based on a resolution from the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council." A day after the denial by the special prosecutor of the Clerical Court of Tehran, Mohammad Anjam, Khatami's lawyer, announced that based on "documents attributed to a judicial authority," from October 1, Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran, has been banned from attending "public political, cultural, and promotional events" for three months. However, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, referred to the statements of the special prosecutor of the Clerical Court of Tehran on Sunday, stating that "no new action has been taken" and that "the same previous restrictions from the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council" have been in place, which "every once in a while a letter was sent to the agents." Ejei's statements come despite his previous mention of the resolution from the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council as the reason for Khatami's media ban, but after the president denied this issue, he stated that these restrictions were imposed by the prosecutor's office. The references made by Ejei and the special prosecutor of the Clerical Court of Tehran to the resolution from the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council regarding Mohammad Khatami come at a time when Hassan Rouhani and his government officials have stated that there is no such resolution. Meanwhile, Masoud Pezeshkian, the deputy speaker of Parliament, responded on Sunday to a question about the reference to the Supreme National Security Council's resolution regarding the restrictions on Mr. Khatami, saying: "They have not provided any paper or text; they are afraid to show it. They have done this but do not have the courage to document it, because it will remain in history and will be judged later." Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, stated in a speech on October 7 that the purpose of the restrictions against Mohammad Khatami is to "punish" him for his "influence" in the elections, saying, "If someone repeats that people should come to the polls, should they be punished?" The issue of banning the publication of images and news about Mohammad Khatami arose in winter 2014, when reports indicated that Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the public prosecutor and revolutionary prosecutor of Tehran, warned media managers in a meeting against publishing images and mentioning the name of the former president of Iran, threatening offenders with media suspension and closure. After that, the spokesperson for the judiciary cited the resolution from the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council as the reason for this action, but Hassan Rouhani and his government officials stated that this council and its secretariat had no resolution in this regard. Subsequently, Ejei announced that Khatami's media ban was imposed by the Tehran prosecutor's office. Protests against the sentence of seven reformist activists. Parvaneh Salahshouri, a representative from Tehran in Parliament, also stated on Sunday in her interjection that the restrictions on Mohammad Khatami are in "clear contradiction with Articles 20 and 23 of the Constitution" and added: "It is unclear how long opportunities will continue to turn into threats." She also described the prison sentences for seven reformist figures as being in "contradiction with unity and integrity" and deemed the actions of state television in displaying the pixelated faces of these individuals as "slander and actionable." This member of Parliament raised the question: "Why does the prosecutor, as the public prosecutor, not pursue the perpetrators of this news?" Iranian television, in a report on the issue of espionage, displayed the faces of seven reformists who were recently sentenced to prison in a pixelated manner. Mohammad Reza Khatami, Hamid Reza Jalai Pour, Hossein Kashafi, Azar Mansouri, Ali Shakouri Rad, and Mohsen Safaei Farahani were sentenced to one year, and Mohammad Naeimi Pour to two years in prison. These seven were tried on December 5 last year on charges such as "conspiracy and collusion and propaganda activities against the regime and membership in illegal groups" in the Revolutionary Court. These seven senior members of the Participation Front Party had, in a letter to Parliament representatives on November 6, 2016, criticized issues such as the involvement of the Revolutionary Guards in "security matters," interrogating political activists "in unofficial and illegal centers," "securitizing cases," and "holding non-public trials without necessity," calling for oversight of the courts and legal reforms. These seven reformist figures emphasized in their letter that their charges are "based on interviews, participation in gatherings (even mourning ceremonies), and political statements," but their cases have been classified as "security-related."