Retirement Privatization Plan

The newspaper Shahrvand, in one of the main headlines of its Thursday issue titled "The Sound of Breaking Bones of Retirement," has warned about "retirement privatization" in Iran and its consequences, stating: "On August 1 of this year, a plan was presented to the parliament that was signed by 87 representatives. A plan that has been tested in social and economic laboratories around the world for about 30 years in Latin American and Eastern European countries and has failed. A plan for privatizing retirement and replacing individual funds instead of public funds" and "moving from defined benefits to defined contributions." This newspaper pointed out that "the most important difference between these two funds is the acceptance of risk. In the former, the risk is shared by the worker, employer, and government, but in the latter, all the risk falls on the worker." It stated that if the plan is approved by the parliament representatives and retirement privatization occurs, "each worker will have an individual account where their paid insurance premiums will be saved and invested, and the balance or accumulated capital at the time of their retirement will be converted into their retirement income (pension)." The Shahrvand newspaper described the plan of some parliament representatives for retirement privatization as a failed plan and noted that "the 23 countries that implemented this plan at the suggestion of the World Bank either reverted from it or were forced to make deep structural reforms," and although "the World Bank did not admit its mistake regarding this plan, it proposed these reforms itself." This newspaper pointed out that "the names of representatives such as Soheila Jelodarzadeh and Alireza Mohajoub, representatives of the Workers' House, are also among the signatories of this plan," and asked: "Are the representatives aware of the fate of those 23 countries? Is the result of privatization one of the factors that guarantee social cohesion and solidarity?" The Shahrvand newspaper raised the question, "Why is the military and intelligence sector excluded from the representatives' privatization plan?" and stated that this exception contradicts one of the principles of "insurance funds," namely "equal treatment." The newspapers Etemad, Shahrvand, and Khorasan have reported on the parliament's report regarding the fire and collapse of the Plasco building in their Thursday issues. The Etemad newspaper, with the headline "The Nightmare of Plasco," wrote: "According to yesterday's report from the parliament, the culprits of the fire and collapse of the Plasco building have been identified." This newspaper reported that "on Wednesday, in the open session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the report of the Civil Commission regarding the fire and collapse of the Plasco building was read. This report discusses the occurrence and causes of the incident, responsibilities and legal duties, and the pathology of existing laws, and concludes with suggestions for legal provisions to prevent the recurrence of such incidents." It mentioned that "at the beginning of the report, it was noted that on January 19, 2017, at 7:58, the Plasco building caught fire on the tenth floor, and at 11:02, the scene commander ordered the immediate evacuation of operational forces and citizens via radio, and at 11:33, the building collapsed." The Etemad newspaper reminded that "in this incident, several firefighters and residents of the Plasco building lost their lives," and stated: "Six months have passed since the fire and collapse of Plasco, and during this time, the status of reconstruction or demolition of the Plasco building and the merchants whose shops and goods were destroyed in the fire remains unclear, while they held four protest gatherings in July, and their last protest was less than 15 days ago in front of the ruined Plasco building." The Shahrvand newspaper also reported on its front page with the title "Seven Culprits of One Ruin," stating that according to the report of the Civil Commission of the tenth parliament, "the owner and manager of the building, the Chamber of Guilds and guild members, the municipality and city council of Tehran, the governorate and district governor of Tehran, the Ministry of Labor, the Organization of Planning and Budget, and the National Crisis Management Organization are responsible for the Plasco incident." This newspaper emphasized that months after the collapse of the 54-year-old Plasco building, only ruins remain from the symbol of modern Tehran in the northeastern part of Istanbul Square, and at least 21 families are still mourning the loss of their loved ones. It noted that "the dimensions of the incident that sent 16 firefighters to their eternal abode on the last day of January 2017 and plunged Iranians into great sorrow are still under discussion and examination." According to the Shahrvand newspaper, after the report from the Tehran City Council and the report of the special committee for the national investigation of the Plasco building incident, which was formed at the instruction of the president, the Civil Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly has now published the results of its investigations; a report that identifies one of the main causes of the fire as "the unauthorized use of heating equipment and illegal and non-standard wiring by workers of the guild units on the tenth floor of the building" and names the seven culprits of this incident as "the owner and manager of the building, the Chamber of Guilds and guild members, the municipality and city council of Tehran, the governorate and district governor of Tehran, the Ministry of Labor, the Organization of Planning and Budget, and the National Crisis Management Organization." The Khorasan newspaper, while publishing parts of the report from the Islamic Consultative Assembly about Plasco, wrote: "The merchants of Plasco have been gathering from time to time. They have protested in front of the Plasco building, in front of the Foundation of the Oppressed and the Prosecutor's Office several times to demand that their situation be clarified as soon as possible and to know when and how they will receive their commercial units in the reconstructed Plasco building. However, the officials of the Foundation of the Oppressed say that the only authority that can introduce the tenants of the Plasco building and its owners to the foundation is the judicial authority." This newspaper pointed out that "the head of the Foundation of the Oppressed once announced: 'The reconstruction of the Plasco building will begin on June 30,' and later it was said that it would be completed by the end of September." It quoted the head of the properties of this foundation as saying: "So far, no request has been received from the Plasco merchants regarding the purchase of tenancy rights or the replacement of tenancy rights with shops, and if the merchants request it, we will review it in the Plasco building committee." The Khorasan newspaper also wrote that "the 50-year-old Plasco building caught fire and collapsed within a few hours, but for months, about 600 merchants affected by this incident have been living in uncertainty, and their last protest gathering only led to a written response from the officials of the Foundation of the Oppressed with the promise that they would think about organizing the situation of these victims." However, "it remains to be seen where these promises will lead." Masoud Salimi, the editor-in-chief of Jahan San'at, in an editorial titled "If the Order is Given, They Will Get Drunk," wrote that in the report of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on the fire of the Plasco building, "there were as many culprits as you could wish for; in fact, every organization that has any relationship with the nature of Plasco is implicated in this report, and this diversity is noteworthy from several aspects; first, by looking at the names of the culprits from the Foundation of the Oppressed and the municipality to the ministries of cooperation, roads and urban development, and the interior on one side and the fire department and the Plasco building council on the other side, we realize that the institutions related to prevention, intervention, prevention, and treatment of urban damage in Tehran have not performed their duties properly." The editorial writer noted that the second point is whether "such a report can serve as a legal document for restoring the rights of bereaved families and financial victims in court and whether it can at least reduce the occurrence of such catastrophic events in the future," and answered that "without a doubt, the report of the parliament regarding the seven culprits of the Plasco disaster represents two different matters: proving and pursuing legal rights." The Hamdeli newspaper dedicated a photo in its Thursday issue to a picture of Alireza Rajai before his recent surgery with the headline "This is Your Image," stating that "the right eye of Alireza Rajai, a veteran reformist journalist, was removed due to cancer." This newspaper pointed out that on Wednesday, "a bitter image of Alireza Rajai appeared on social media, with the right side of his face bandaged." It stated: "This image said that this journalist now has to see the world, read, and write with only one eye. He lost his right eye in a 14-hour surgery." According to this newspaper, "Alireza Rajai, a well-known journalist, political activist, and director of the Gham No publishing house, obtained his PhD in political science from Tehran University and was responsible for the political section of the editorial boards of the newspapers Jame'e, Tose'e, and Neshat, and during the sixth parliamentary elections, he was elected as the 28th representative of the capital in the parliament. However, after the Guardian Council annulled several ballot boxes, Gholamali Haddad Adel replaced Alireza Rajai in the parliament." This newspaper referred to the repeated arrests and the onset of Alireza Rajai's illness during his four-year prison term between 2011 and 2015, stating: "In March 2000, he was arrested along with Ezzatollah Sahabi, Habibollah Payman, Reza Raeisi Tusi, Mohammad Maleki, Mohammad Basteh Negar, Mohammad Hossein Rafiei, Mohammad Mohammadi Ardehali, Taghi Rahmani, Hoda Saber, Masoud Pedram, Saeed Madani, Reza Alijani, Morteza Kazemian, and Mahmoud Omrani and was tried in the winter of 2002. He also has a history of arrest in 2009. He was arrested again in 2011 and sentenced to four years in prison on charges of acting against national security, and was released from prison on October 26, 2015." The Hamdeli emphasized that this journalist, when he was released from prison two years ago, went to the doctor and found out that he had right sinus cancer, and quoted one of Alireza Rajai's relatives as saying: "This journalist has undergone four rounds of chemotherapy since 2015 when he went to the doctor for his diagnosis, and has had 35 sessions of radiotherapy. However, his illness recurred, and he underwent another six rounds of chemotherapy. In the surgery last Sunday, in addition to the removal of Rajai's right eye, the maxillary bone, part of the upper jaw, and part of the masseter muscle were also removed, and he is currently hospitalized in the ICU, but doctors have said that his general condition is good." Elaheh Khosravi Yeganeh also wrote in a note in the Iran newspaper titled "From the Suffering We Endure," stating: "What can be done when we see the face of Alireza Rajai, a colleague, journalist, and political activist, like this on a hospital bed? How can words describe our sorrow and regret? For a man who has no other goal than to uphold humanity and knows no other aim? Dr. Alireza Rajai, after those hard years, has now been diagnosed with right sinus cancer, and doctors have removed his eye and cheekbone to perhaps rid him of this cursed cancer and keep him, who is a symbol of dignity and humanity, for us. For us who look to the sparkle of his pen and have the goal of living like him, which is a profoundly difficult and distant aim. His presence, demeanor, and behavior are a model for us, he who does not give up hope." In this note, referring to Alireza Rajai enduring 14 hours in the operating room and still smiling at us from the hospital bed, it wrote: "He even seeks to teach us something while on the hospital bed, patience, and of course perseverance in the path and principles we have chosen. What can we do but wish for health? What can we do but regret for the days when the disease had just taken root, and if attention had been paid, it would not have come to this? Nevertheless, hope is our only identity; it is our only asset. So we dedicate all our hope to the wish for Alireza Rajai's recovery so that we can see him once again in one of these editorial offices, with that noble smile on his lips and that gaze filled with awareness and kindness. So that once again, from reading an article of his, we learn something new and, with his presence, come closer to the truth of journalism, the truth of being human, and the truth of dignity." The Arman newspaper reported the issuance of a "23-year prison sentence" for six managers of detained Telegram channels and quoted the lawyer of a group of managers of reformist Telegram channels as saying: "The detained managers of Telegram channels have been sentenced to a total of 23 years in prison." This newspaper quoted Ali Mojtahedzadeh regarding the issued verdicts for the managers of Telegram channels, stating: "Through the bailers, the defendants in this case were informed to refer to the court for the issuance of the verdict, and all individuals referred to the court, and the verdict was issued to them. According to the verdict issued by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, Mr. Nima Keshvari and Ali Ahmadnia were sentenced to 5 years in prison, Mr. Saeed Naqdi and Javad Jamshidi to 4 years in prison, and Subhan Jafari to 3 years in prison. Since Mr. Mojtaba Baqeri was outside Tehran, his verdict will be issued to him on Saturday, and it seems that his sentence is 2 years in prison." According to the Arman newspaper, Ali Mojtahedzadeh stated: "Since the verdict is nearly sixty pages long, we have not yet managed to read it completely, and on Saturday, one of the lawyers will go to the court office to obtain a copy of the verdict," but "some of the defendants in this case have also been deprived of some social rights for two years."