Government in the 'Pressure Ring' of Parliament

The Iran newspaper, in its front page, quotes Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesperson, regarding the arrest of Hamid Baqai, the former deputy of the previous government, mentioning 'pursuing the violations of the previous government without media uproar' and stating: 'The eleventh government observed some legal violations with the documents it had at the beginning of its work. However, the authority that can ultimately confirm whether the previous government's behavior is considered illegal or not is the judiciary.' The second yellow card from parliament to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the announcement of the impeachment plan for the Minister of Education has received wide coverage in Wednesday's newspapers. The Etemad newspaper evaluated it as tightening the 'pressure ring' on Hassan Rouhani's government, while the Ebtekar newspaper used the headline 'Harmony with Questions, Sympathy with Impeachment' to express the latest pressures from the ninth parliament on the eleventh government. Youssef Rafahiyat, a teacher and member of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, told Etemad: 'From the perspective of trade activists, there is no doubt that Mr. Fani has had a weak managerial performance, but in comparative terms, he has performed much better than a minister like Mr. Hajibabaei, and his record is much more noteworthy than the previous minister's so far.' The Kayhan newspaper, in its front page on Wednesday, described the appointment of the heads of 21 universities, including Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabadi as the president of Tehran University, by a 'committee' formed in the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council as 'illegal.' The Farhikhtegan newspaper, in its front page titled 'End of the Caretaker Marathon,' wrote: 'As the support of university experts for the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council's decision to assign the approval of university heads to a five-member committee continues, the announcement of the approval of several university presidents shows that the government's approach to completing its managers in universities has worked.' This newspaper emphasized that 'the knot of approving university caretakers has remained unresolved for a year and a half. This knot, alongside the impeachment of Reza Faraji Dana, the former Minister of Science, and the repeated failure of the President's nominees for the Ministry of Science, before and after that, has been one of the government's and Hassan Rouhani's troubles in managing universities.' The Shargh newspaper reported that 'Tehran Fire Department' has been identified as responsible for the deaths of Nasrin Foroutani and Azar Haqnezari, two female workers in the fire on Republic Street. According to this newspaper, 'One year and five months after the deadly fire on Republic Street that led to the deaths of two women, judicial experts ruled that the fire department was negligent and remiss in that incident and the deaths of those two women.' The Aftab Yazd newspaper published a report about a threatening statement from the Qom Seminary regarding a gathering to counter the possible entry of women into the 12,000-seat Azadi Stadium to watch the Iran vs. USA volleyball match, describing this statement as 'suspicious.' This newspaper simultaneously published a letter from 481 civil activists addressed to the Minister of Interior and the Commander of the Police, asking the Ministry of Interior, the Volleyball Federation, the Ministry of Sports and Youth, and the Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs to 'take action to remove all existing obstacles and quickly prepare the conditions for women's presence in the stadium and inform the public.' According to Aftab Yazd, the civil activists who signed this letter emphasized that 'allocating a limited space for a minority of women or selectively inviting spectators will not meet our legitimate demands.' The Resalat newspaper dedicated its front page to the dust storm in Sistan and Baluchestan province, stating: 'Once again, the 120-day winds and the repeated story of drought in Sistan and the lost cries in the storm are at the forefront of the news from Sistan and Baluchestan,' and the concentration of dust in the Sistan region on Tuesday morning due to the severe sandstorm reached 25 times the permissible limit and eight times the critical limit, causing the people's breaths to be numbered. The government is in the 'pressure ring' of parliament; harmony with questions, sympathy with impeachment. The Etemad newspaper described the second yellow card from the ninth parliament to Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, as 'the second cultural yellow card with an oil scent' and evaluated it as 'a gift from seven members of the Steadfast Front to the Minister of Culture.' The Ebtekar newspaper also wrote: In a year that has been named by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic as 'Government and Nation, Sympathy and Harmony,' 'the government receives a yellow card from parliamentarians in one week, and the impeachment of another cabinet minister is also announced.' This newspaper noted that 'it is interesting that all the questioners of Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, in the public session of parliament on Tuesday were from a specific faction: the Steadfast Front.' The Ebtekar newspaper mentioned 'Masoud Mir-Kazemi, Hossein Tala, Mehrdad Bazrpash, Mohammad Soleimani, Morteza Aghatahrani, Bijan Nobaveh, and Seyed Ali Taheri' as the representatives who 'brought their question to the public session of parliament regarding Minister Jannati, and Ahmad Salek, the head of the Cultural Commission of Parliament, also explained in the report of this commission that the subject of the question was about 'the limitation of freedom of expression in the media' and among them 'the obligation of the National Security Council to the media regarding not entering the subject of the Karsent case.' The Ebtekar newspaper pointed out that 'Masoud Mir-Kazemi, the former Minister of Oil in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and the current representative of Tehran in parliament, on Tuesday, on behalf of other like-minded representatives, expressed his question to Ali Jannati,' stating: 'In no part of the constitution and the press law is there a crime called criticizing the government, but what you are doing indicates a dual behavior and support for those who have disrespected government critics, scholars, and members of parliament, sacred values, and the system in their records,' and this member of the Steadfast Front even 'made an interesting claim in his speech: the limitation of principlist media.' According to the Ebtekar newspaper, Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, in response to these questions stated that in the freedom of expression of the press, violations of the law are pursued, saying: 'According to the resolution of the National Security Council, no authority, including the press, has the right to comment on the Karsent case.' He also said that 'two issues were raised in the representatives' questions to me, namely whether freedom of the press has been limited in this period or whether the press has been free and can convey the content,' while 'many believe that the press has been overly free in this period and has reached a level of laxity, which of course the constitution determines the level of freedom of expression for the press, and the press law is the criterion for us in this regard,' and some of the other 'issues that Mr. Mir-Kazemi mentioned were practically criticisms he had against the government, so according to the regulations, the questions raised must be within my duties, and I am responsible for the press.' The Ebtekar newspaper wrote: 'After Ali Jannati's speech, Masoud Mir-Kazemi announced that he was not satisfied with the Minister of Culture's answers. As a result, it came to a vote among the representatives. After voting, with 84 votes in favor, 116 votes against, and 4 abstentions out of a total of 212 present representatives, the representatives found Ali Jannati's answers unconvincing,' and thus 'the Minister of Culture received his second yellow card from parliament.' This Ebtekar newspaper emphasized that the yellow card to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance 'was not merely a sympathetic and harmonious accompaniment of parliament with the government,' and on Tuesday 'the impeachment plan for the Minister of Education was also announced with the signatures of 64 representatives.' The shadow of impeachment over the Minister of Education. The Etemad newspaper also reported with the headline 'The Shadow of Impeachment over Fani,' referring to 'the announcement of the impeachment plan for the Minister of Education,' stating: 'Ali Asghar Fani, a few days after receiving the second yellow card from parliament in Bahman 1393, in response to reporters' questions about the possibility of his impeachment, said: 'Impeachment is not a concern,' and now Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, the Minister of Science in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first government and the current head of the Education and Research Commission of the ninth parliament, 'has spoken about the impeachment of the minister, citing managerial issues, factional and clannish appointments, and the use of unqualified individuals as part of the impeachment issues for the Minister of Education.' Zahra Choupankareh, a reporter for Etemad, pointed out that one of the reasons that is at the top of the list of impeachment factors, which the spokesperson of the Education Commission also mentioned, is 'the minister's inability to gain the satisfaction and trust of the important education community,' and in recent months, one of the groups that seemed to align with this clause of the impeachment plan was the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, which, along with teachers across the country, participated in silent gatherings and protest meetings of educators, believing that the minister should focus on the trade demands. However, now with the news of impeachment, it seems that the members of this association are also somewhat surprised.' Youssef Rafahiyat, a teacher and member of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, told Etemad: 'From the perspective of trade activists, there is no doubt that Mr. Fani has had a weak managerial performance, but in comparative terms, he has performed much better than a minister like Mr. Hajibabaei, and his record is much more noteworthy than the previous minister's so far.' This member of the Teachers' Trade Association emphasized that 'the impeachment issue is another matter; our point is that Mr. Fani, with all the criticisms we have of him, has performed much better than the previous minister,' while in the previous government 'the Ministry of Education became politicized, and many unregulated appointments were made, but now, despite one of the issues in the impeachment plan being Mr. Fani's appointment methods, it must be said fairly that, for example, in Hamadan, the education director was appointed in consultation with the associations, and in many other provinces, it has been the same.' Youssef Rafahiyat emphasized that 'the impeachment plan is not meant to solve the problems of education but arises from the personal opinions of some representatives,' telling Etemad: 'Unfortunately, the intentions of some people's representatives are not very good, and with the proximity of the parliamentary elections, they may want to present themselves as caring for educators.' Kayhan's attack on the 'five-member committee' of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council. The Kayhan newspaper, in its front page on Wednesday, described the appointment of the heads of 21 universities, including Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabadi's appointment as the president of Tehran University by a 'committee' formed in the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council as 'illegal.' This newspaper wrote: 'Following the meeting of the illegal committee for selecting the heads of the country's universities, the heads of 21 universities, including Tehran University and Tarbiat Modares University, were selected and appointed.' Kayhan pointed out that 'the composition of the committee' formed in the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council includes the head of the representative office of the Supreme Leader in universities, the Minister of Science, the Minister of Health, the Secretary of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, and the head of the Supervisory and Inspection Board of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, and 'as the Secretary of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council has announced, the council's resolution was that the five-member committee should decide on the qualifications of university heads by consensus, and if no consensus was reached, the matter should be referred to the general assembly of the council for all members of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council to express their opinions on the appointment of university heads.' This newspaper noted that 'the five-member committee held a meeting contrary to the council's resolution and without the presence of all its members and made decisions regarding the fate of 21 universities in the country,' writing: 'The head of the Supervisory and Inspection Board of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, who is a member of the committee, has not yet been identified, yet the five-member committee, whose very existence is illegal, held a meeting with the presence of four members, confirmed the qualifications of the heads of 21 universities, and ultimately the Minister of Science appointed all of them.' Kayhan also emphasized that 'entrusting the duties of more than thirty members of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council to a five-member committee effectively means bypassing the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council.' This newspaper also criticized Hassan Rouhani, the current head of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, and the members of this council, stating that the members of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council 'after two years and dragging the issue by the government, have finally succumbed to the personal opinion of the council's president and a few others and have remained silent with a strange lethargy regarding all this illegality and are shirking their inherent and legal duties.' 'Negligence of the Fire Department' as the cause of the deaths of two female workers in the Republic fire. The Shargh newspaper reported that 'Tehran Fire Department' has been identified as responsible for the deaths of two female workers in the fire on Republic Street. According to this newspaper, 'One year and five months after the deadly fire on Republic Street that led to the deaths of two women, judicial experts ruled that the fire department was negligent and remiss in that incident and the deaths of those two women.' Fatemeh Daneshvar, the head of the Social Committee of the Tehran City Council, in an interview with Sadra Mohaghegh, a reporter for the Shargh newspaper, stated that the case of the deaths of Nasrin Foroutani and Azar Haqnezari 'has been under investigation in Branch 7 of the 27th District Prosecutor's Office during this time, and the expert committee selected by the judiciary has announced the results of its investigations based on documents and scene examination and witness interviews.' According to Fatemeh Daneshvar, 'The ruling of the expert committee selected by the judiciary revolved around two axes: how the fire occurred and spread, and the role of the fire department in the deaths of the two victims of the incident, and based on this, judicial experts stated that the deaths of the two victims of the incident were not due to the fire but rather due to falling from a height, while the investigation of this committee shows that the tools and equipment used by the fire department in this incident were not up to date and ready for operations.' The head of the Social Committee of the Tehran City Council pointed out that...