Minister of Culture: Judiciary's Reasons for Concert Cancellations are Baseless

Continuing the protests from officials of Hassan Rouhani's government against the cancellation of concerts in Razavi Khorasan province, the Minister of Interior wrote a letter to the head of the Judiciary, and the Minister of Culture described the reasons provided by judicial officials for the concert cancellations as 'baseless.' According to ISNA news agency, Salman Samani, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, announced that the Minister's letter regarding the cancellation of concerts in Razavi Khorasan was sent to the head of the Judiciary on Sunday, August 8. Mr. Samani stated that the Minister of Interior intervened with the aim of 'preserving' the 'rule of law' to have the Judiciary express its 'legal perspective' on the issue of holding concerts in Razavi Khorasan. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Iranian Minister of Interior, had announced on Saturday that he intended to write a letter to the head of the Judiciary to implement 'a method' and 'uniformity' across the country regarding the holding of concerts. He emphasized that the Ministry of Culture is responsible for issuing legal permits and determining the content of concerts, and 'no one can comment on the content of concerts except the Ministry of Culture.' Razavi Khorasan province has been in the news in recent months due to the repeated cancellations of music concerts, including those of Shahram Nazeri and Kayhan Kalhor, and on Friday, August 6, the concert of Salar Aghili in Sabzevar was also canceled. Hadi Sadeqi, the cultural deputy of the Judiciary, implicitly confirmed the ban on holding concerts in this province in an interview with the Shargh newspaper on Tuesday, June 7. Meanwhile, Gholamali Sadeqi, the prosecutor of Mashhad, announced that by the decision of the Judiciary of Razavi Khorasan and until a 'framework' for holding concerts is determined by the provincial public culture council, no concerts will be held in this province. In recent years, following the objections of Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad and the current representative of the Supreme Leader in Razavi Khorasan, several concerts in Mashhad and other cities of this province have been canceled. At the same time, Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture, said on Sunday that the concerts of Salar Aghili, Shahram Nazeri, and Alireza Ghorbani in Razavi Khorasan were canceled for 'baseless' reasons and that 'the Judiciary is creating costs for itself with these actions.' He added: 'They say Mashhad is a holy city and has its own special conditions. Very well, let concerts not be held there, but why do they interfere with holding concerts in other cities of Razavi Khorasan?' Mr. Jannati stated that to solve this problem, it is necessary to 'seriously' talk with judicial officials, adding: 'One province cannot operate outside the rules of the country. A province is not a separate island.' On June 6, the Minister of Culture also described the interference of prosecutors as the 'main obstacle' to holding some concerts and mentioned correspondence with officials of this institution for the execution of licensed concerts. Mr. Jannati did not refer to the outcome of this correspondence afterward.