Qarchak Governor: Conservative Representative to be Introduced to Judiciary for Gathering Against Larijani

The governor of Qarchak defended the permit issued for holding a reformist conference in the county and announced that Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the conservative representative of Varamin in the parliament, along with others involved in disrupting this conference, will be referred to the judiciary. Meanwhile, Mr. Naqavi Hosseini, insisting on his previous positions regarding this conference, stated that "those who support the seditionists, whether the president or the minister, will be dealt with." On Thursday, November 28, a ceremony was supposed to take place with speeches by Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari, the interior minister of Mohammad Khatami's government, and Morteza Alviri, another reformist figure, in Qarchak, where a group of opponents of the reformists attempted to prevent the event by gathering in front of the hall. The Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, reported the number of these individuals to be around 200, but Mr. Naqavi Hosseini, who was present among the protesters, claimed that the protesters numbered between 300 to 400. However, Masoud Marseli Pour, the governor of Qarchak, stated in an interview with the Iranian Internet newspaper Omid Iranians that Mr. Naqavi Hosseini could only gather 50 people for this gathering and that "this movement actually backfired on him." He emphasized the governorate's decision to "identify and deal" with participants in this "illegal gathering," stating that Mr. Naqavi Hosseini and other participants would be "handed over to the judiciary." The governor of Qarchak also responded to the Varamin representative's objection to the issuance of a permit for the reformist conference, stating that "such matters are not within Mr. Naqavi Hosseini's responsibilities at all." The governor's statements about referring Mr. Naqavi Hosseini to court come at a time when previous courts have not reached conclusions regarding attacks on many legal gatherings, or the attackers have been acquitted. Meanwhile, Mansour Haqiqatpour, the deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the parliament, stated: "In the Qom incident, the names and contact numbers of the assailants against Dr. Larijani were provided to the judiciary, and it is expected that under the circumstances where codes have been given to this judiciary, such behaviors will be neutralized with full seriousness." According to the House of Nation news agency, he emphasized that those who disrupt licensed speeches "increase the cost of running the country under various pretexts." At the same time, Mohammad Reza Khabaz, the new governor of Semnan, referring to the Qarchak incident, stated that Hassan Rouhani's government "has conveyed the message to provincial officials through changing managers in some provinces that they should not be involved in these movements but are obliged to ensure the security of the people." On February 11, 2013, a number of clerics and plainclothes individuals, while holding pictures of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, interrupted Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, during his speech at the shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh in Qom by throwing shoes and prayer beads at him. A year later, Ghasem Ravanbakhsh, the political secretary of the weekly Partow Sokhan, affiliated with the institution headed by Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, reported his acquittal and that of two other members of this institution in the special court for clergy regarding the attack on Mr. Larijani's speech in Qom. Despite objections from government officials and some parliament representatives regarding the Qarchak incident, Mr. Naqavi Hosseini insisted on his positions again on Saturday, referring to Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari as a "seditionist." He added: "Anyone, in any clothing and position, whether president, minister, or governor, who wants to give space to seditionists, we will deal with them." Close associates of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, refer to the protesters against the results of the 2009 presidential election as "seditionists." After the Qarchak incident, members of the Velayat Faction, which is referred to as the majority faction in the parliament, emphasized that Mr. Naqavi Hosseini has been expelled from this faction. Meanwhile, according to ILNA news agency, Behrouz Namati stated that this decision was made earlier and has no connection to the Qarchak incident. While the plan for implementing the Vienna nuclear agreement was presented to the parliament by the Velayat Faction, Mr. Naqavi Hosseini had severely criticized this plan in positions close to the members of the Stability Front. Meanwhile, Safar Naeimi Rez, the spokesman for the Velayat Faction, announced on November 14 that Mr. Naqavi Hosseini had been expelled from this faction due to "not cooperating" with the decisions of the Velayat Faction.