Raghad, the Six-Year-Old Girl Who Became a Victim of a Landmine

The newspaper Shahrvand has reported that since the beginning of this year until March 9, at least "55 people in contaminated areas" due to landmines have been killed or injured from sudden explosions, including 18 fatalities, of which 16 were civilians and 2 were military personnel. Among the 37 injured from landmine explosions across various parts of Iran, there were "13 mine-clearers, 4 military personnel, and 20 civilians." Last year (1394), 30 people were injured and 15 were killed, including 14 mine-clearers, 8 military personnel, and 23 civilians. According to this newspaper, "All these victims suffer injuries and see their lives and families go up in smoke, while Mohammad Hossein Amir Ahmadi, head of the Mine Clearance Center, stated in Azar 1390 to Fars News Agency that 'Iran is the second country in the world in terms of the volume of mine-contaminated areas, and of the 4 million 200 thousand hectares of contaminated land, only 70 thousand hectares remain for clearance, with 95% of contaminated areas having been cleared.'" The head of the Mine Clearance Center also mentioned that "Dehloran County in Ilam Province has the highest level of mine contamination among other cities, accounting for about 40% of the contamination volume," but two years later, the statistics from the head of the Mine Clearance Center became more optimistic, stating that "99% of the mine-contaminated lands in the western region have been cleared." Narges Joudaki, a reporter for Shahrvand, alongside these statistics, has covered the story of "Raghad," a six-year-old girl who was killed in a landmine explosion in the village of "Ghodrat Abad" in Farvardin 1395, writing: "Raghad was buried in the martyrs' cemetery of Susangerd, 25 kilometers away from her home. In the 10 months since the incident, her father has visited various offices and organizations to obtain his daughter's martyrdom certificate." Raghad's father told this newspaper: "We did not think that there would be explosives 15 meters in front of our house. We were told that this area had been cleared," and even "after the explosion, the council of Ghodrat Abad wrote a letter to Amir Ahmadi, the head of the Mine Clearance Center, expressing their concern that another incident might affect one of the residents." The newspaper Hamdeli, on its front page with the headline "Political Intervention by the Guards is Prohibited," published statements from Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in a gathering of commanders and officials of this force, stating: "No one in the IRGC, whether from the Guards or commanders, has the right to intervene politically and factionally in elections and to defame candidates as in the past." The IRGC commander also stated: "Supervisory bodies in the IRGC have been tasked with continuously monitoring and controlling the implementation of this important matter and dealing with violators without leniency." The newspaper Hamdeli reminded that on October 16 of this year, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic "issued the overarching policies for the country's elections," which emphasized the "prohibition of the entry of armed forces, the three branches of government, including ministries and their subordinate agencies, intelligence and security agencies, organizations, institutions, and state companies, and public institutions into political and factional classifications during elections and supporting candidates." This newspaper pointed out that previously, on the eve of the 1394 parliamentary elections, the semi-activity of the IRGC in elections was raised, but Ali Saeedi, as the "Representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC," responded that "one of our (IRGC's) tasks is to identify currents. Identifying currents does not mean intervening in elections. To say that a certain current has this policy is one of the tasks assigned to the IRGC and the Representative of the Supreme Leader within the IRGC to recognize currents. In elections, we announce the criteria. We announce candidates who are in line with the revolution. We evaluate the best candidates with criteria and indicators and inform the people about them." According to Hamdeli, Ali Saeedi, however, did not consider these actions as "intervention" in elections, stating that "the IRGC has not and does not intervene in elections. The IRGC does not enter into specifics, and its status is not to do so, but the inherent duty of the IRGC is to clarify the scenes. It is the duty of the guardians of the revolution to identify supportive, opposing, and neutral currents to the people." The newspaper Mardomsalari also emphasized on its front page that "the IRGC has no right to intervene in elections," welcoming the statements of the IRGC commander regarding the prohibition of political and factional intervention in elections. This indicates that "the Supreme Leader's directive regarding elections has had its effect and has become the final word for all groups." This newspaper published excerpts from Ayatollah Khomeini's statements on March 15, 1981, which emphasized the non-involvement of the military and the IRGC in political party activities, stating: "In a situation where the IRGC and Basij and military forces were to intervene in political party matters, that period would have been a clear example of it," but Ayatollah Khomeini prohibited it. The newspaper Mardomsalari also pointed out that the current Supreme Leader had not issued any directive regarding the non-political and electoral activities of military forces, including the IRGC, before 1395, but this year, with the "issuance of overarching election policies," such action was taken. Nemat Ahmad, a lawyer, discussed the presence of military personnel in elections with Mardomsalari, stating: "The spirit of the statements of Imam and the Leader (Ayatollah Khomeini and Khamenei) is that military personnel should not enter elections in a manipulated manner. If a military entity places all its resources behind one person and does not hesitate to express that, we call this election engineering by the military. Because they direct their subordinates in such a way that they go towards a specific individual, and this causes a significant impact on elections." This lawyer also stated: "The claim that military personnel should be prevented from participating in elections does not mean that anyone who is military and wants to participate in elections should be stopped. Mohsen Rezaei and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf were both military, but when they resigned from their positions, they were able to participate in elections. However, their presence becomes problematic when they engage in influencing elections in their military capacity." The newspaper Sobhe No, close to Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, interpreted the IRGC commander's statements as a reaction to Hassan Rouhani's remarks on March 7 at a national conference of election officials for the 1396 elections, where he stated: "If a military, armed, and security force violates the law, we must stand against it and protest." This newspaper emphasized that "the project of questioning the elections has been extinguished," writing: "It seems that Rouhani's concerns and those of his supporters about the decrease in his votes have reached a point where he is willing to shoot himself in the foot to prepare a reason and excuse for his potential defeat. However, this rope was cut by the IRGC commander's order, and now reformists and the moderate sheikh must look for another way to create an atmosphere regarding their potential defeat." The newspaper Shargh published a report on its front page about "the first Assembly of Experts without Hashemi," writing that on Wednesday, March 8, "Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Assembly of Experts, took the highest seat in the presidium; in front of seat number 12, the empty chair of Ayatollah (Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani), which now displayed a decorated photo with white flowers and a black ribbon." This newspaper wrote that Jannati "began the second session of the fifth Assembly of Experts with his remarks, in which he twice asked the President to apologize to the people. While Hassan Rouhani was seated in seat number four in the front row of the old Islamic Consultative Assembly, looking at him," thus "the second session of the fifth Assembly of Experts began with criticism of the government in the presence of Hassan Rouhani." Simultaneously, Kayhan dedicated one of its two main headlines to Jannati's statements in the Assembly of Experts, quoting him as saying: "Some positions are held by seditionists and they confront revolutionary youth." Jannati, a 90-year-old cleric who simultaneously holds the presidency of the Assembly of Experts and the secretaryship of the Guardian Council, stated in the opening remarks of the second session of the fifth Assembly of Experts that: "Unfortunately, oversight in the elections of the City Council has no accountability, and qualifications are not properly examined, and 400,000 people enter the elections without proper examination of their conditions and backgrounds." Ahmad Mohtashami-Gilani, a political science professor and member of the faculty of law and political science at Tehran University, told the newspaper Arman: "During Ahmadinejad's government, more than 7,000 factories and production units were shut down, while about 7,000 financial and credit institutions were created; institutions that were named with meaningful names to gain their profits by offering loans with 300% interest." According to this university professor, during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and "at a time when the government's oil revenues peaked, the government adopted a wasteful approach in the economy; institutions that received large loans with 4% interest due to their proximity to the government at the time and instead of investing in production, gave loans with high interest to the people." The newspaper Arman quoted Ahmad Mohtashami-Gilani as saying: "During the rule of the principlists, 'the government distributed poverty and tried to maintain prices with excessive imports from China in the midst of declining national production using oil rent. With the continuation of this populist approach, more than $700 billion of our oil revenue was wasted, and of course, China's work and production were strengthened. This is a serious illness for the economy. In fact, Ahmadinejad's government not only did not create jobs but also eliminated them." The newspaper Iran, close to the government, reported on the unveiling of the "Justice Shares" organization, with the headline "50 Million Iranians Became Shareholders," stating: "March 8, 1395, was the day when the uncertainty of about 50 million Iranians, who had been recognized as justice shareholders for 10 years, ended, and it was decided that 55 trillion tomans of government assets would be transferred to the people as shares." The newspaper Khorasan also published a note referring to the fact that "finally, a system for justice shares has been launched so that people can see the accounts and records of their shares. People can see that they own 532,000 tomans of a one-million-toman justice share and can pay an additional 468,000 tomans to own all the shares." According to this newspaper, "As the head of the privatization organization stated, for now, they become 'virtual owners' of the shares; that is, currently, the buying and selling of these shares is not possible. In summary, 49 million people subject to this plan - assuming they pay the remaining installments - will become virtual owners of a share that is currently worth about 2 million tomans, but still, there is no possibility of cashing it out." The newspaper Khorasan also referred to "the government's performance and the suspicion of political motivations," stating: "It would have been more logical for each group's shares to be freed 10 years after becoming shareholders so that there would be no need for debt settlement by the people now."