Faezeh Hashemi: Five Members of Our Family Have Been Banned from Leaving the Country

Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the second daughter of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former head of the Expediency Council, stated in a lengthy interview with the Shahrvand newspaper that "five members of our family have been banned from leaving the country or we are regularly summoned to court." The daughter of the former Expediency Council head mentioned that "the other family members have not been summoned, but five members of the family have been banned from leaving the country," and she herself was "banned from leaving on May 15 of this year." Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani discussed the "harassment" that the Hashemi Rafsanjani family has faced since her father's death, saying, "I previously did not have so many cases; I had some, but in the last four or five months, they have constantly sent summonses, and when we go, the reports are mostly false and do not reflect reality, and it seems that this matter is going to continue indefinitely." Four years ago, a court in Tehran sentenced Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani to six months in prison and a five-year ban from political activities and media presence. The charge against her was "propaganda against the regime," which arose after an interview she gave to the Rouydad Online website. In that interview, she strongly criticized the violation of freedoms and human rights in Iran, economic management, and the state of Iran's relations with other countries. She also described the attack and insults from a group of "Hezbollahis" against her and her associates in the city of Rey as "organized" and stated that the condemnation of this attack by senior government officials was "superficial" and insincere. In this interview, she remarked, "The management of the country is currently with these rogues and thugs." The former editor-in-chief of the Zan newspaper, a political activist, a member of the fifth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, a member of the Kargozaran Sazandegi Party, and the head of the Islamic Federation of Women's Sports told the Shahrvand newspaper that she wishes to revive this federation but her request for a permit has not been accepted. In another part of her conversation with Shahrvand, Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani criticized the status of women in the public sphere, saying, "I have always asked why we do not have a female minister, a female member of the Expediency Council, or a female university president and many other positions." Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani emphasized that Mr. Rouhani should be held accountable, stating, "Perhaps more than 50% of Mr. Rouhani's votes were from women, and this disregard for women's demands is unfair." Mehdi Hashemi, another child of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison on June 11, 2015, and has been serving his sentence for over two years. In this context, the news agency close to the IRGC deleted the report of Khamenei's meeting with the Hashemi Rafsanjani family.