Letter to Khamenei: Compensate for Damage to the Regime's Reputation in the Khaleqi Case

Ahmad Montazeri, a critic of the Islamic Republic's rulers, in a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei deemed the Guardian Council's action in disqualifying Minou Khaleqi after the elections as "illegal" and urged the Supreme Leader to "compensate for the damage to the reputation of the Islamic Republic." In this letter, published on Wednesday, May 11, on the website Khabar Online, Mr. Montazeri described the confirmation of the disqualification of the third elected representative from Isfahan in the parliament after the elections by the powers' dispute resolution committee as a sign of the "entire Islamic Republic's endorsement of this undesirable innovation." Meanwhile, no official news regarding the high committee's decision on this matter has been released, and the positions of government officials, including Hassan Rouhani, indicate that the issue is still unresolved. Mr. Montazeri then reminded Mr. Khamenei that "one of your duties is to protect and safeguard the regime's reputation" and added: "If you return the rights of Ms. Minou Khaleqi and the people of Isfahan in line with this duty, this damage to the Islamic regime's reputation will largely be compensated." Ahmad Montazeri is the son of the late and critical cleric Hossein Ali Montazeri. Mr. Montazeri's letter was published on the same day that Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, defended the disqualification and annulment of Ms. Khaleqi's votes after the elections, stating that "the Guardian Council's supervisory oversight [over elections] is general and at all stages." The case of the disqualification and annulment of the votes of the third elected representative from Isfahan in the Islamic Consultative Assembly has recently been referred to the high committee for resolving the disputes of the three branches of power, and unofficial reports currently indicate that this committee has also ruled in favor of the Guardian Council. Meanwhile, Hassan Rouhani's government claims that, in its view, Ms. Khaleqi is still considered a member of parliament. In this context, the parliamentary deputy of Rouhani stated: "From the government's perspective, there are 18 female representatives in the parliament."