Ahmad Montazeri: Ebrahim Raisi's Candidacy is an Insult to the Iranian Nation

Ahmad Montazeri, the son of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, described Ebrahim Raisi's candidacy for the presidency as "a joke" and "an insult to the Iranian nation." In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran on Sunday, April 20, he said, "This issue is more like a joke. How can Mr. Raisi, who has no experience in executive work, become the head of the executive branch?" He added, "In the executive branch, there are many figures from various political factions who have decades of executive management experience. Mr. Raisi's candidacy is an insult to all those figures and an insult to the Iranian nation." Ebrahim Raisi has previously held no high-level government management positions, serving instead as the Deputy Chief of the Judiciary and the Attorney General. Montazeri also considered Raisi's "direct and undeniable involvement" in the execution of political prisoners in 1988 as "a very important issue," stating, "If one of the candidates has attacked someone with a knife, he cannot obtain a certificate of good conduct from legal authorities. His case is completely clear." Ebrahim Raisi, a former judicial official, was previously a member of the decision-making committee for the executions of the 1980s. Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in an audio file released last year by his son Ahmad, referred to Raisi's role. Judicial officials present at the meeting with Ayatollah Montazeri included Hossein Ali Niri, the then Islamic judge, Morteza Eshraqi, the then Tehran prosecutor, Ebrahim Raisi, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the representative of the Ministry of Intelligence at Evin Prison at that time, as well as the Minister of Justice of Rouhani's government. In this audio file, Ayatollah Montazeri described the summer executions of 1988 as "the greatest crime of the Islamic Republic" and stated that history would condemn Iran for this crime. However, Raisi has not yet directly responded to this issue. Ebrahim Raisi is also the prosecutor of the Special Court for Clergy, the same court that sentenced Ayatollah Montazeri's son to 21 years in prison for releasing this audio file, six years of which are enforceable. Ahmad Montazeri also mentioned the possibility of releasing more audio files from Ayatollah Montazeri, stating, "When the situation becomes favorable and the officials of the country show the necessary patience, the rest of the files will be released, and a significant amount of transparency has already been achieved." On Sunday, Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi, issued a statement emphasizing the need for "change" in the current situation and the "salvation of the country," announcing that he would run for the presidency "regardless of political groupings" and "avoiding turmoil and misuse of sacred values and public assets." Hours after this statement was released, Ezzatollah Zarghami, a principlist figure preparing to run for the presidency, interpreted Raisi's emphasis on running "regardless of political groupings" as a clear demarcation from the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces" and suggested that this group introduce another candidate instead of Raisi. The public relations office of the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces" responded on Sunday evening that the phrase "regardless of political groupings" in Raisi's candidacy announcement was "exactly taken from the charter of the Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces." The statement emphasized that Raisi's announcement was published "with the knowledge and consultation" of the board of the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces" and that he is "committed to the unity of revolutionary forces." The public relations office also stated that the inclusion of Parviz Fattah in the initial list of candidates was "in accordance with the front's regulations and at the request of the National Assembly" and that he had also "declared both his commitment to the front's regulations and his readiness to assist it." Zarghami had suggested in his letter to the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces" that instead of Ebrahim Raisi and the fifth candidate who explicitly objected to his name being on the list of candidates, the next two, namely Hamid Reza Hajibabaei and Ali Nikzad, should be replaced. In a meeting on Thursday, April 17, the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces," known as Jamna, selected Ebrahim Raisi, Parviz Fattah, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Alireza Zakani, and Mehrdad Bazrpash as the top five candidates of this group, and it was stated that the final candidate of this group would be chosen from among these five. In response to this issue, the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, headed by Parviz Fattah, announced in a statement that he "had no intention or plan to run for election and would not do so," and his absence from the meeting of the Revolutionary Forces Front was for this reason. However, while Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, the spokesperson for Jamna, thanked Fattah for what she called "good faith, attention, and rational behavior," late on Sunday night, a new list of the five candidates of this organization was announced, in which, referring to the recount of votes, Hamid Reza Hajibabaei replaced Parviz Fattah.