Motahari's Reaction to Reports on the Disqualification of Bahavar and Momeni

Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, stated on Tuesday that he has heard about the disqualification of Emad Bahavar and Abdollah Momeni and has requested the Central Election Committee to provide clarification on this matter. Meanwhile, the head of the Supervisory Board for the elections in Tehran has stated that, according to the law, those who have been approved cannot be disqualified. On Saturday, Iranian media reported that supervisory boards had disqualified an additional 4,500 candidates for the council elections. Some reports indicate that the qualifications of individuals such as Emad Bahavar, Abdollah Momeni, and Ali Tajernia have also been rejected. In response to a question regarding the reports about the disqualification of Bahavar and Momeni, Motahari said: 'I have heard this news and have asked the Central Committee for an explanation. They said they provided names and claimed these individuals have criminal convictions and are not qualified to participate in the city council. There was a discussion about whether the letter is legal or not and whether these individuals can be disqualified or not.' He added: 'I personally believe that once the executive board and then the provincial supervisory board approve someone, no other entity should intervene and say whether to disqualify or approve individuals.' Motahari emphasized: 'This action is against the law, and I told them to stand firm on this issue. I am not aware of where it has reached; I have stood firm in many places. For example, there was a lot of pressure regarding Mr. Alviri to remove him. I also advised Abdollah Momeni to resist. This individual has spent several years in prison and has suffered greatly and has been harassed to the extent that it has even affected his speech now. We must confront this trend so that it does not happen again in the future.' Emad Bahavar, head of the youth branch of the Freedom Movement of Iran, was arrested in Esfand 2009 and was released after five years in prison. Abdollah Momeni, a former student activist, spokesperson for the Graduates Organization of Iran (Omid), and a member of the campaign team for Mehdi Karroubi in the 2009 presidential election, was also released after nearly five years in prison. Ali Tajernia, a member of the central council of the Participation Front, was arrested following the protests of 2009 and released after serving one year in prison. 'Approved candidates cannot be disqualified.' Meanwhile, Mohammad Reza Badamchi, the head of the Supervisory Board for the elections in Tehran, reacted on Tuesday to reports about the potential disqualification of approved candidates by stating: 'According to the law, no authority can disqualify candidates who have been approved by the executive board and the two supervisory boards at the county and provincial levels; the law does not grant such permission to the Central Supervisory Board either.' According to ISNA, Badamchi added: 'Based on this, the Central Supervisory Board can only re-examine the cases of those candidates who have been disqualified by the provincial supervisory board based on the opinion of the county supervisory board and the executive board, but this is also contingent upon the objections of these candidates.' According to Iranian election officials, out of approximately 290,000 candidates for the council elections, 10,000, or about three percent, were disqualified by executive boards. However, reports indicate that the qualifications of about 4,500 others have been rejected by supervisory boards. In this context, supervisory boards have disqualified more than 4,000 additional individuals. The announcement of the results of the qualification review for council election candidates has been met with controversy, including a rejection of Jannati's directive for the disqualification of religious minorities in council elections.