Director General of Political Affairs of the Ministry of Interior: We Do Not Have a Blacklist for Speakers

The Director General of Political Affairs of Iran's Ministry of Interior announced that there is no 'blacklist' in the country regarding 'who can or cannot speak' and that 'so far, no institution or agency has prohibited individuals from speaking.' According to the state news agency IRNA, Amin Razazadeh, a senior official in the Ministry of Interior, stated on Thursday, June 20, in Hamadan that 'if there are individuals who are banned from speaking, it has been limited and based on judicial rulings.' In recent years, several political and social activists in Iran have been sentenced by the courts to 'deprivation of social rights.' Meanwhile, many speeches by reformist figures or critics of the Islamic Republic have been attacked and left unfinished. Reports indicate that some of the assailants at these speeches were members of the Basij and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). For instance, Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, implied that the attackers in March 2015 in Shiraz were affiliated with the IRGC, and Mustafa Torkhamdani, his lawyer, reported that the 'commanders' of the attack on his client held 'military positions,' and the second part of this case is 'under investigation' in the military prosecutor's office of Fars province. Meanwhile, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, last year merely advised that speeches that might provoke reactions from certain groups and 'disturb the atmosphere' should not be held at all. On the other hand, the website Asr Iran, referencing the statements of the Director General of Political Affairs of the Ministry of Interior, wrote that 'although we do not have individuals banned from speaking in the country, we have individuals and groups that disrupt speeches, going beyond the law, whenever they wish, either disrupting the legal speeches of various individuals or completely preventing their speeches from taking place.' However, the remarks of this Ministry of Interior official come at a time when even the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic has implicitly referred to the prevention of some speeches. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, stated on Tuesday, May 24, during a ceremony that he opposes 'creating noise and uproar' in speech sessions and disrupting them. Furthermore, last year, after the attack on the Saudi Arabian embassy, he strongly criticized the 'accusation' of 'Hezbollah' individuals of extremism, stating that 'just because an issue like the Saudi embassy and the British embassy arises, which is very bad and harmful to the country and Islam, do not use this as an excuse to attack believing youth.'