Ali Larijani: The Revocation of Sepanta Niknam's Membership from Yazd City Council is Unacceptable

The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani, deemed the revocation of Sepanta Niknam, a Zoroastrian member of the Yazd City Council, unacceptable and announced that if the disagreement with the Guardian Council is not resolved, the matter will be pursued through the Joint Dispute Resolution Committee. According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), on Wednesday, October 18, Larijani informed the President and members of the Tehran City Council that he had discussed this issue with Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, emphasizing that the formation of councils 'must be based on the law.' The Speaker also stated that he had informed the judiciary officials that the Administrative Justice Court's intervention in this matter was 'not timely.' Larijani announced that if the disagreement between the Parliament and the Guardian Council is not resolved, 'the matter will be pursued through a letter to the Joint Dispute Resolution Committee based on the existing mechanism.' The 'High Dispute Resolution Committee and Regulation of Relations between the Three Branches' was established in 2011 and is chaired by Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the former head of the judiciary and a member of the Guardian Council. Although the establishment of this committee is not provided for in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic and its amendment that was put to a referendum in 1989, its designated duties are in accordance with Clause 7 of Article 110 of the Constitution, which lists resolving disputes and regulating relations between the three branches of the Islamic Republic as part of the leader's responsibilities. This committee also includes Mohammad Hassan Abutalebi, the Deputy Speaker of the 9th Parliament, Morteza Nabavi, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, Abbasali Kadkhodai, a legal member of the Guardian Council, and Samad Mousavi Khoddel, a member of the legal office of the leadership institution. Abbasali Kadkhodai, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, who is also a member of this committee, stated that the Guardian Council's interpretation regarding the 'unlawfulness' of non-Muslim candidates running in areas where they are in the minority, including regarding Sepanta Niknam, is 'enforceable.' Following a complaint by Ali-Asghar Bagheri, one of the defeated candidates for the Yazd City Council, the Administrative Justice Court issued a temporary suspension of Sepanta Niknam's membership in this council in September, and this ruling has been implemented. The ruling of the Administrative Justice Court cited the opinion of the Guardian Council's jurists regarding the prohibition of electing religious minorities as members of the city council. Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, in a letter dated April 15, referred to Article 4 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, Articles 19 and 21 of the internal regulations of the Guardian Council, and the opinion of the jurists of this council regarding the first clause of Article 26 of the Council Law, requesting the disqualification of non-Muslim minority candidates in areas where the majority of the population is Muslim. The ruling of the Administrative Justice Court regarding the suspension of Mr. Niknam's membership has led to protests from some members of Parliament and political figures. Larijani's statements about pursuing the cancellation of Sepanta Niknam's membership through the 'Joint Dispute Resolution Committee' come at a time when this committee confirmed the Guardian Council's opinion in a disagreement between the Guardian Council and the Ministry of Interior regarding the 'cancellation' of the votes for Minou Khalighi, the third elected representative from Isfahan in the 10th Parliament. In July 2015, the government's insistence on halting the implementation of the 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' law for reviewing 'the government's concerns' led to Hassan Rouhani's letter being referred to the High Dispute Resolution Committee, which ultimately rejected the government's objections to this law and confirmed the Parliament's resolution.