Rouhani's Implicit Criticism of Election Rivals: Don't Talk About Freedom, Freedom is Ashamed

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, accused his conservative rivals in the elections of having 'cut tongues and sewn mouths shut,' and told them, 'Do not talk about freedom, for freedom is ashamed.' According to ILNA news agency, this presidential candidate said during a speech in Urmia on Sunday, May 6: 'Those who cut tongues and sewed mouths shut speak of freedom of expression and criticism.' He added: 'Over the past years, what you have exported is the word prohibition; prohibition of pen and prohibition of image. Please do not talk about freedom, for freedom is ashamed.' Mr. Rouhani emphasized: 'Do not talk about criticism when you work in an institution that no one dares to criticize even once.' In the debate on Friday among the election candidates, Mostafa Mir-Salim accused Hassan Rouhani of being intolerant of opponents, and Ebrahim Raisi also stated that Mr. Rouhani had used 50 'insulting' phrases about critics. Ebrahim Raisi, a presidential candidate who has the support of major conservative groups, has held judicial positions since the early years of the 1979 revolution, including Attorney General and First Deputy of the Judiciary. He was previously a member of the decision-making committee for the executions of the 1980s, which Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri described as 'criminal actions.' Mr. Raisi is also the prosecutor of the Special Court for Clergy, the same court that sentenced the son of Ayatollah Montazeri to 21 years in prison for releasing a recording of his statements to the execution decision-making committee, of which six years are enforceable. Ahmad Montazeri previously described Ebrahim Raisi's candidacy in the presidential elections as 'a joke' and 'an insult to the Iranian nation.' Additionally, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, another conservative rival of Mr. Rouhani, previously held the position of police chief before becoming the mayor of Tehran. After the attack on Tehran University in 2009 and the student protests, he, along with several commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, wrote a letter to then-President Mohammad Khatami demanding action against the protesting students. Mr. Rouhani himself has held the position of Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran for many years, overseeing many of the Islamic Republic's security actions, but has had confrontations with the Revolutionary Guards during his presidency. Previously, Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, stated that none of the approved candidates in the twelfth presidential election of Iran have an acceptable human rights record. 'Confining people to a self-made media' The President of Iran, in another part of his speech, accused his conservative opponents of trying to prevent the increase of internet bandwidth in Iran and filtering social networks to 'confine people to a media they have created.' Mr. Rouhani had previously stated several times that if his government had not been in power, the virtual space would have been blocked, and election candidates would not have been able to use this opportunity for their promotion. On Tuesday, April 10, he mentioned efforts to block social networks, saying, 'If it were not for the efforts of the President and the government, you would not see a network that is alive and sacrifices everyone.' He also previously spoke about his government's efforts to eliminate the 'security atmosphere,' especially in universities. These statements come while the human rights situation in Iran during Mr. Rouhani's four-year government, according to international organizations, has not improved, and student organizations within the country continue to protest against pressure and repression in universities. The 'Freedom House' institute also, in its latest annual report, pointed out the increase in pressure on media freedom worldwide, naming Iran as one of the 10 unfree countries regarding media freedom. Implicit criticism of the non-payment of taxes by Astan Quds Razavi Mr. Rouhani, in another part of his speech, referred to the presence of managers from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government in the campaign headquarters of a candidate, stating that during the eight years of the previous government, 'no jobs' were created. The President of Iran also noted that in the previous government, 860,000 employed women became unemployed and claimed that in his government, jobs were created for 750,000 women. He added: 'They say you must pay taxes, but no one asks if you have paid taxes where you manage until now?' This issue may refer to recent statements by Ebrahim Raisi regarding 'tax evasion by the wealthy.' Ebrahim Raisi recently criticized the tax collection method in his election speeches, stating that the government only collects taxes from employees, but some wealthy individuals evade taxes. This criticism comes at a time when Astan Quds Razavi, the organization headed by Ebrahim Raisi, is exempt from paying taxes, and efforts to collect taxes from this organization have been unsuccessful due to the intervention of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. The root of the tax exemption for Astan Quds Razavi dates back to the 1980s and the decision of the then-government to collect taxes from Astan Quds Razavi and its affiliated companies, which faced opposition from Ayatollah Khomeini, the then-leader of the Islamic Republic. 'The business of the sanction profiteers has become sluggish' Hassan Rouhani, in another part of his speech, said: 'You sanction profiteers, are you upset that your business has become sluggish? Do you want to take us back to four years ago? Do you want to bring sanctions and siege back to Iran?' He added: 'We will not retreat. We have chosen our path; our path is freedom, we are against sanctions and against the siege of Iran, and we want to live peacefully with the world.' The JCPOA was the main focus of the second election debate among the candidates, and in this debate, Mr. Rouhani told the conservative candidates, 'You who have been against the JCPOA from the very beginning and were happy when Trump became president of the United States and tore up the JCPOA, today you must tell the people what you will do with the JCPOA and whether the sanctions will be restored or not.' Among Mr. Rouhani's election rivals, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Ebrahim Raisi have stated that despite criticizing the nuclear agreement, they will adhere to it. These two presidential candidates have also emphasized that after the nuclear agreement, sanctions were not lifted and there has been no 'opening' in people's lives. Reaction to the broadcast of censored parts of Rouhani's documentary After the campaign headquarters of Mr. Rouhani published censored parts of his election documentary on Saturday night, the spokesman for the Advertising Oversight Commission deemed the publication of these parts on social networks as 'a violation of the law' and stated that this issue will be reviewed in this commission. Ehsan Ghazizadeh Hashemi said on Sunday regarding this matter that if the campaign headquarters of the candidates do not comply with the amendments proposed by the commission, the amendments announced by the IRIB will be implemented. Mr. Rouhani's campaign headquarters announced on Saturday that about six minutes of the film of this presidential candidate had been censored. Most of the censored parts of this film relate to the speeches and slogans of a group of students in the presence of Hassan Rouhani. In the film broadcast from Iranian television, the students' speeches and slogans about the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Karroubi, leaders of the Green Movement, their references to former President Mohammad Khatami, their criticism of the judiciary's inaction against the attackers on the Saudi embassy, and the reference to the approval of the nuclear agreement by Ayatollah Khamenei were deleted. In this film, Mr. Rouhani's criticisms of the judiciary's inaction against officials of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government regarding the removal of Iran's assets from the United States and their confiscation were also deleted. Previously, a program of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was also subject to amendments by the Advertising Commission, but the refusal of Mr. Qalibaf's campaign headquarters to implement the proposed amendments led to this program being replaced with another program of Mr. Qalibaf. In this context, the protest slogans of miners during Rouhani's visit to the Yort mine, the reaction of the Basij commander to Rouhani: 'The annihilation of Israel is among our ideals,' Rouhani's main rival, Rouhani's complaint against Raisi's remarks about the Teachers' Fund, and Rouhani's criticism of the Revolutionary Guards provoked a reaction from the General Staff of the Armed Forces.