Controversial Meeting of Faezah Hashemi: 'Warning from a Responsible Institution' to the Ayatollah

The newspaper Etemad, in its Saturday front page, described the recent statements of the elected representative of Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections as a sign of 'Aref's commitment to the people's vote' and quoted Mohammad Reza Aref as saying: 'I will act based on the demands of the majority of society who sought change in the parliament.' According to this newspaper, Mohammad Reza Aref mentioned during a meeting with several members of the Islamic Teachers' Association about the possibility of candidacy in the election for the Speaker of the 10th Parliament: 'I personally cannot ignore the people's wishes.' The newspaper Shargh dedicated its front page to the first elected representative of Tehran and quoted Mohammad Reza Aref as saying: 'Anyone who retreats is not a reformist.' Mohammad Javad Haqshenas, a reformist figure, wrote in a note titled 'Why Aref' in the Shargh newspaper: 'Mohammad Reza Aref was one of the key figures in the transformation process and a symbol of self-sacrifice and prioritizing national interests over factional and personal interests in the first step; when, at an appropriate opportunity, he bravely stood alongside Mr. Rouhani to realize the people's wishes and the multitude of reformist youth, and now he is the axis and symbol of completing the transformation and reform process in the second step.' The writer of the Shargh note also titled one of the participants' demands in the elections as 'change' and wrote: 'If we consider the basis and criterion of this change to be the will of the people and national necessity, we must accept that the presidency of the parliament should be entrusted to someone who has the determination and rhythm of change; someone who arises from the message of the people's desire for transformation, and Mohammad Reza Aref is the symbol and prominent figure of the people's desire for transformation and possesses all the necessary characteristics and conditions at this juncture.' Ahmad Gholami also noted in the editorial of Shargh that currently there are two perceptions of reformism in Iran and emphasized that 'the real idea of reforms is to solve political issues through maximum public participation,' reminding that Mohammad Khatami 'the President of the Reform Government is at the forefront of this thought, followed by theorists like Saeed Hajarian and Mohammad Reza Tajik and others.' On the other side are reformist figures who 'fear the radicalization of reforms due to the bitter experience of the past and seek to reconcile conservatism with reformism and exploit it for the benefit of change in the current situation,' and then wrote: 'Abbas Abdi or technocrat figures who have efficient managerial backgrounds in the reform and construction governments somewhat think this way.' The editorial writer of Shargh likened the atmosphere and evaluations of the two factions of reformists for determining the Speaker of the 10th Parliament to the atmosphere before the presidential elections of 1997, writing that at that time 'some of the leftists believed that the rational path of politics was through the election of Nategh Nouri to preserve the current situation and continue the path of Hashemi Rafsanjani. The reasons they presented for their opinion were Nategh's political and managerial background and his serious influence in official references and institutions. The comments that relate to the current election of the Speaker of the 10th Parliament. At that time, all the reasons seemed correct and logical, except for one, and that was the 'desire' of the people, which leaned towards change.' The newspaper Javan, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in its Saturday issue, published a note titled 'My Baha'i Friend, Where Are You?' stating: 'Fariba Kamalabadi, one of the leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran, recently had a special guest during her leave from prison.' Kobari Asoupar criticized Faezah Hashemi in the Javan newspaper for meeting with Fariba Kamalabadi and referred to her as an 'Ayatollah's daughter' who 'went to meet her unveiled Baha'i friends in Islamic attire' and wrote: 'A meeting of a privileged child with the leaders of the Baha'i community is a subject of our protest and criticism.' The Javan newspaper pointed out that 'Faezah Hashemi visited someone she had previously met during her six-month imprisonment in Evin' and called for action against Faezah Hashemi, writing: 'If someone, under the pretext of this alleged meeting, says something about Faezah Hashemi, her supporters should not quickly take a position, claiming that because they have a problem with her father, they are protesting against his child, as anyone other than the children of Ayatollah Hashemi who had gone to this meeting would have opened the door to these protests, and the essence of this meeting creates so much motivation for protest that no one needs a motive of revenge against the father to protest against Faezah Hashemi.' This newspaper, close to the IRGC, implicitly deemed meetings with Baha'i citizens, including Fatemeh Kamalabadi, as prohibited and deserving of action, writing: 'This raises the question of whether Faezah Hashemi's freedom of action is due to her being the daughter of Hashemi.' The Javan newspaper emphasized that 'many high-ranking members of the Baha'i community in Iran are in prison' and wrote: 'It would not be an exaggeration to say that Faezah Hashemi, in the geography of the Islamic Republic and by abusing her position as the child of a system official, is engaged in actions against the system, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that this action of Faezah Hashemi is an action of an Ayatollah's daughter that goes beyond being against the system; it is an action against the religion of Islam.' Kayhan described the meeting of Faezah Hashemi and several political prisoners with Fariba Kamalabadi, who had been imprisoned without leave from May 25, 2008, until last week, as 'Faezah Hashemi's consolation to the leaders of the Zionist Baha'i party.' This newspaper noted that 'before Faezah Hashemi, figures like Narges Mohammadi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, and others had also visited the families of the imprisoned leaders of the Baha'i community,' writing: 'Faezah Hashemi is part of the bridge of influence of a faction of groups to Hashemi's office,' and for this reason, 'a responsible institution' has asked Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to 'prevent Faezah's actions so that in the future, this path does not harm Hashemi.' The newspaper Jahan San'at reported in its Saturday issue with the headline 'Hear Neda's Voice' about 'the abuse of a 9-year-old girl from Zanjan by her teacher' and quoted Neda's mother as saying: 'The teacher offered me 50 million tomans to withdraw my complaint and give my consent,' but 'I stand by my right.' Fatemeh Beikpour, a reporter for Jahan San'at, quoted Neda's mother as saying: 'Neda's mental state is very bad and she is under the treatment of a psychoanalyst,' emphasizing that 'the issue becomes more shocking and heartbreaking when the child has been abused for several months and has been threatened by this same teacher not to tell her family anything. Neda, a 9-year-old child, was threatened with being thrown into a well. The teacher threatened her that if she told her mother anything, he would beat her. This child, in addition to the physical and mental abuse she suffered, was also beaten to prevent her from revealing the truth.' This newspaper, recalling that 'on the 16th of Ordibehesht, shocking news from a local newspaper in Zanjan revealed the assault on a 9-year-old girl student in the village of Qare Mohammad in Khodabandeh County by her teacher,' quoted Neda's mother referring to 'the previous history and file' of Neda's teacher and posed the question: 'Why is someone with a history allowed to teach children?' It wrote that the education department 'knew from the first complaint in Esfand that this teacher was sick and had problems, but they remained silent and took no action. Now that we have published the issue in the newspapers, they blame us for why we made the issue public.' One of the children's rights activists in Zanjan told this newspaper: 'Not only did the education department not provide any specific consolation, and they repeatedly reproached them for the media coverage of the issue, but they also did not incur any costs for Neda's treatment and help, and this impoverished family of Neda is the one paying for the psychoanalyst in their difficult living situation.' The newspaper Farhikhtegan reported that 'arrests related to financial violations and collusion in the city council and municipality of Tabriz continue, so that in recent days, in addition to the director of the municipality's security and the head of the mayor's office, more than 10 others have also been arrested.' According to this newspaper, so far 'the deputy of the mayor of Tabriz, the senior advisor and close associate of the mayor of Tabriz, the mayor of one of the districts, the deputy mayor of Tabriz, one of the deputies of district one, the CEO of a bank in Tabriz, one of the relatives of the mayor of Tabriz, and one of the officials of the Saeb Tabrizi Garden, the deputy of district one, one of the managers of district two, one of the managers of district four, the head of security of district one, one of the employees of the mayor's office in Tabriz, one of the managers of district two, the senior advisor of the Tabriz metropolis council, and over 10 contractors involved in the council and municipality violations are among those arrested.' Elham Kazemi in the report of the Farhikhtegan newspaper, referring to 'a list of other members of the city council and municipal managers awaiting summons and arrest for completing judicial investigations,' reminded that 'previously, the arrest of three members of the Tabriz city council had been confirmed by judicial authorities, and it was said late last year that several council members and municipal managers had also been arrested and summoned.' The Farhikhtegan newspaper wrote: 'It seems that the existence of this number of arrests at this level of responsible officials will bring the Tabriz city council and municipality into a new phase. So that with the completion of judicial investigations and confirmation of charges, it may even lead to the dissolution of the city council and the dismissal of the mayor, who has been from the managers of the previous government and the CEO of the Aras Free Zone during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term.' Etesham Hajipour, the head of the East Azerbaijan provincial council and a member of the Tabriz city council told this newspaper: 'I have no interest in speaking about this,' and regarding whether the council members will take action regarding the mayor's impeachment, he said: 'Two members are supposed to ask questions of the mayor on Tuesday, which of course are not related to the recent violations.' 'Death Bridges' is the front page headline of the newspaper Shahrvand regarding 'recent suicides in the capital,' where Zahra Jafarzadeh and Elnaz Mohammadi, reporters for this newspaper, have provided a report on multiple cases of suicide or attempted suicide from the pedestrian bridges of Resalat and Mirdamad. The possibility of canceling the dispatch of Iranian pilgrims to Hajj has also been reflected in the Saturday issue of most newspapers. The Javan newspaper, close to the IRGC, in its front page emphasized that 'Al Saud has closed the way to the House of God,' describing the Saudi Arabian government as 'the infidel Saudi government.' The Aftab Yazd newspaper in its front page published the statements of Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, regarding 'fingerprinting Iranian officials in Saudi Arabia' and reported on 'the green light from religious authorities for not holding Hajj.' The newspaper Siasat Rooz also quoted some senior clerics in Qom as saying: 'This year, Hajj is not obligatory for anyone.'