Ebadi: The human rights record of all presidential candidates is unacceptable

Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, described the human rights records of all the approved candidates for Iran's presidential election as negative and unacceptable, stating that the Guardian Council has forced the people of Iran to choose between bad and worse. In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights on Sunday, April 29, she separately evaluated the human rights records of the candidates in this presidential election cycle, particularly criticizing Ebrahim Raisi for his role in the 1988 executions and the widespread arrests of government critics during Hassan Rouhani's presidency. Ebadi stated: "Ebrahim Raisi has a dark record in human rights. His involvement in the atrocities and the massacre of political prisoners in the 1980s is unforgettable, when groups of young people were sent to cemeteries for having critical thoughts against the government, and they even refused to show many families the graves of the deceased." The head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center continued her remarks by addressing the executions of political prisoners in 1988, which were carried out without trial and solely based on a decree from Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. She said: "Mr. Raisi was one of those who committed such death sentences, and in a tape recorded by Ayatollah Montazeri that was released some time ago, the story of the massacre of defenseless prisoners is fully revealed, and Mr. Raisi is specifically addressed by name." Ebadi referred to the audio file released last year by the office of Ayatollah Montazeri, the then-deputy leader of the Islamic Republic, in which Montazeri addresses and criticizes the members of the four-person execution committee. Ebrahim Raisi, the then-deputy prosecutor of Tehran, Morteza Eshraqi, the then-prosecutor of Tehran, Hossein Ali Niri, the Sharia judge, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence, were members of this four-person committee. Ebadi further criticized Hassan Rouhani's performance, stating: "Unfortunately, the human rights record of the current president, Mr. Rouhani, and other candidates for this position is not acceptable... The Ministry of Intelligence, which is under Rouhani's government, has caused the arrest of many journalists and civil activists, and Mr. Rouhani cannot shirk this issue and say that the judiciary has condemned them, because the complainant is the Ministry of Intelligence, including my colleague Narges Mohammadi, who has been in prison for years; her complainant is the Ministry of Intelligence, which is part of Rouhani's government, as well as many others who have been arrested and sent to prison by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence. We should not forget these and should not attribute their imprisonment solely to the judiciary." Narges Mohammadi, the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges such as "colluding against national security and propaganda against the regime" and for forming the step-by-step abolition of the death penalty campaign (Legam). In this interview, Ebadi also referred to Mostafa Mirsalim, another presidential candidate who served as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance from 1993 to 1997, as the "executioner of books and press" and mentioned Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf regarding the case of "granting astronomical properties to specific individuals" that occurred under his management in the municipality. She concluded by stating: "Other candidates also have flawed records, and it is a choice between bad and worse. The people have always been forced to choose between bad and worse, and this is nothing but the result of the Guardian Council's supervisory oversight, which is contrary to Iran's international commitments regarding human rights and also contrary to the Iranian Constitution." In this context, the request for retrial of Narges Mohammadi was rejected by the Supreme Court. Hamid Reza Jalai Pour: The people's vote is beneficial. Hassan Shari'atmadari: The hypothesis of choosing between bad and worse has become clichéd. "Sending money in suitcases to Tehran has spoiled the Islamic Republic."