Reza Taghavi: We Controlled Rafsanjani's Last Friday Prayer in 2009 'With Teeth and Claws'

The head of the Council for the Policy-Making of Friday Prayers in Iran stated that this headquarters and security forces controlled Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's last Friday prayer in 2009 'with teeth and claws.' In a television program on January 5, Reza Taghavi referred to Rafsanjani's Friday prayer on July 26, 2009, saying, 'We really had a very hard time a day or two before, figuring out how to control the Friday prayer.' He added, 'Security and law enforcement forces and the Friday prayer headquarters in Tehran helped ensure that the prayer did not get disrupted. Despite all the controls, someone stood up and shouted between the two prayers, and the officer there hit him in the face and expelled him, injuring his face as well.' Taghavi emphasized, 'We tried with teeth and claws to maintain that Friday prayer. If that prayer had been disrupted, it was unclear whether other Friday prayers could be controlled.' Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in his last sermon on July 26, 2009, called for the release of those arrested after the elections, consolation for the victims, and the creation of an environment for expressing various viewpoints in Iran's state media. During this Friday prayer, protesters against the 2009 presidential election results shouted slogans, which security forces dispersed using tear gas and batons. Taghavi continued, 'If he wanted to come the following Friday and disrupt the prayer, what would remain for Friday prayers?... Thus, Mr. Hashemi himself realized that he could not pray in this manner.' He added, 'The atmosphere was not one where they could hold the Friday prayer. They themselves witnessed how hard we worked to manage the Friday prayer.' In April 2013, Taghavi also stated that Rafsanjani's return to Tehran's Friday prayer was out of the question. Mohammad Hossein Naghdi, the cultural deputy of the IRGC, mentioned on October 8 that the Friday prayer headquarters later concluded that as long as Friday prayers were to be a gathering place for 'seditionists,' Rafsanjani's leadership should not continue. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had been the temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran for three decades. In this television program, Taghavi also discussed the rights of Friday prayer leaders, stating, 'We do not use the term salary; we use the term stipend. The same thing that has been customary in religious seminaries, from 150,000 to 200,000 tomans. This is provided by the Supreme Leader.' The head of the Friday prayer policy-making headquarters also stated, 'One of the places where listeners and audiences should only listen is Friday prayers. There is no discussion of opposing sides.' Taghavi added, 'The sermon must be read by the Friday prayer leader; no one should speak or talk; this is a religious requirement, not something we have said ourselves; everyone must listen.' He also mentioned that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government provided more financial assistance to this headquarters than other governments. He stated on September 2 that there should be no exaggeration regarding Ahmadinejad's government, which he referred to as 'the eight years of principled governance.'