Submission of List of 17 Ministers to Parliament; Minister of Science Not Introduced

On Tuesday, August 8, the list of proposed ministers for the twelfth government, except for the Minister of Science, was submitted by Hossein Ali Amiri, Deputy for Parliamentary Affairs of Hassan Rouhani, to the Parliament's presiding board. According to ISNA news agency, Masoud Pezeshkian, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, announced that Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi has been proposed for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Mahmoud Alavi for the Ministry of Intelligence, Masoud Karbasian for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, Mohammad Javad Zarif for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Bat'haei for the Ministry of Education, and Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi for the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education. Additionally, Ali Rabiei for the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, Mahmoud Hojjati for the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, Alireza Avaei for the Ministry of Justice, Amir Hatami for the Ministry of Defense, Support and Armed Forces, Abbas Akhoundi for the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, Mohammad Shariatmadari for the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, Abbas Salehi for the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli for the Ministry of Interior, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh for the Ministry of Oil, Habibollah Biat'raf for the Ministry of Energy, and Masoud Soltani Far for the Ministry of Sports and Youth have been introduced. According to Mehr news agency, Masoud Pezeshkian, who chaired the Parliament session on Tuesday, stated that next week, the vote of confidence for the ministers will be on the agenda of the Parliament's open session. According to the internal regulations of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, representatives have one week to review the proposed ministers' programs in specialized committees, after which the Parliament must enter into the examination of the ministers' qualifications in consecutive sessions in the open chamber. Based on the list of proposed ministers by Hassan Rouhani, eight of them are replacing ministers from the eleventh government. The names of these ministers are Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Masoud Karbasian, Mohammad Bat'haei, Alireza Avaei, Amir Hatami, Mohammad Shariatmadari, Abbas Salehi, and Habibollah Biat'raf. Alireza Avaei, Rouhani's proposed minister for justice, has been introduced for this position at a time when several human rights organizations, in an open letter referring to Mostafa Pourmohammadi's role in the execution of political prisoners in 1988, had requested that Rouhani not introduce him as Minister of Justice in his new government. According to reports, Alireza Avaei has worked in various positions since the beginning of the revolution, including as prosecutor in Dezful and Ahvaz. He later held the presidency of the judiciary in four provinces, including Lorestan, Markazi, Isfahan, and Tehran, and in 2014 was a judge in the Supreme Court. He was the head of the Tehran judiciary during the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential elections and, along with more than 30 other officials of the Islamic Republic, was included in a list banned from entering the EU due to involvement in human rights violations, illegal detention, failure to respect prisoners' rights, and increased executions in October 2011. Abdolkarim Lahiji, honorary president of the International Federation for Human Rights, based in Paris, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that the Minister of Justice is introduced by the judiciary to the president, and the president's choice for this minister is very limited, adding: 'One of the well-known and trusted figures of Sadegh Larijani was proposed as Minister of Justice, and he accepted.' Mr. Lahiji pointed out that Alireza Avaei is one of those who has been working in the judiciary since the early months after the victory of the 1979 revolution and was the head of the Tehran judiciary during the protests against the 2009 election results, and he could have played a role in the Kahrizak incident. Ehsan Mehrabi, a journalist based in Germany, stated in an interview with Radio Farda regarding the list of proposed ministers for the twelfth government: 'The overall composition of the government has not fundamentally changed compared to the previous term, and key ministers such as interior, foreign affairs, and oil have been retained. The replacement of Masoud Karbasian for Mohammad Nahavandian also indicates an important event and the impact of discussions with Hassan Rouhani. The introduction of Karbasian, who is one of the managers from Mohammad Khatami's government, indicates that the consultations of figures like Eshaq Jahangiri have been effective, and figures like Mahmoud Vaezi and Mohammad Nahavandian, despite their influence on Rouhani, are not the final decision-makers, and for Rouhani, the balance of power among his supporters remains important.' Mr. Mehrabi believes that 'the choice of Amir Hatami as Minister of Defense is also a new and different event, as previously, defense ministers in Iran were usually selected from the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.' He also mentions that 'the proposed Minister of Education could not be a desirable and maximum option, and the proposed minister can at best maintain the status quo.' Saeed Aganji, a journalist in Finland, also stated in an interview with Radio Farda that Hassan Rouhani has been able to make his desired choices, adding: 'Rouhani changed the Minister of Justice according to the demands of his critics and supporters, and as predicted before the publication of the list of ministers, Amir Hatami was selected and introduced from among the army.' In contrast, Mehdi Mahdavi Azad, a journalist and political analyst based in Germany, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that the proposed composition of Hassan Rouhani's government, like the eleventh government, is 'moderate principlist,' adding: 'This government has more of the color and flavor of Ali Larijani and the Moderation and Development Party, and the overall atmosphere of the government does not align with the demands of critical forces and is considered less risky for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the leadership.' Regarding the introduction of Masoud Karbasian as Minister of Economy, he believes: 'Mr. Karbasian is a full-fledged technocrat who has held responsibilities in the governments of Mousavi, Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Khatami and has even worked with Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. He is a translator and author of globalization of the economy in Iran, and his selection by Rouhani is very significant and clarifies the government's economic policy in interaction with the world.' Meanwhile, according to the state news agency IRNA, some media outlets have mentioned Ali Khaki Sediq, the head of Kharazmi University, as Rouhani's preferred candidate for the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology. According to Mehr, Alireza Soleimani, a member of the Education and Research Commission of Parliament, stated that the Deputy for Parliamentary Affairs of the President mentioned that the government has not yet reached a conclusion regarding the final candidate for the Ministry of Science. Ehsan Mehrabi considers the non-introduction of the Minister of Science to indicate 'behind-the-scenes conflicts' regarding this ministry, adding: 'Although the non-introduction of ministers for some ministries has happened before, it is rare and not very common. The Ministry of Science has always faced challenges in selecting a minister after Mostafa Moein's resignation, and the Supreme Leader has also confirmed that there are 'sensitivities' regarding this ministry. Thus, the process of selecting a minister for this ministry has effectively stalled. Perhaps Mr. Rouhani intended to convey a message by not introducing a Minister of Science.' Meanwhile, Hossein Ali Amiri, the Deputy for Parliamentary Affairs of the President, stated that Hassan Rouhani consulted with 'party leaders and the heads of three parliamentary factions regarding the introduction of ministers and has also met with the heads of these factions and the women's faction in Parliament, and they provided their suggestions.' A significant point regarding Hassan Rouhani's proposed list of ministers is that he has not considered any female minister for the twelfth government. This is while there have been many requests for the appointment of a female minister in the twelfth government, including 175 members of Parliament who have called for the employment of a female minister in the new government. Among these, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, who has been proposed for the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, is considered the youngest proposed member of the twelfth government. Meanwhile, in recent days, much has been published about his background on social media. His opponents claimed that he was previously the director of wiretapping at the Ministry of Intelligence, but some of Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi's supporters stated that he left the Ministry of Intelligence in 2009. Hamid Reza Jalai Pour and Mohammad Ali Abtahi, reformist figures, also supported him. Supporters of Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi also stated that he had been involved in conflicts with the judiciary regarding the filtering of social networks during his time as Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology. The proposed Minister of Communications and Information Technology tweeted in this regard: 'I was and am an engineer, defending the rights of the people in any position. If I was in a collection one day, I worked for the people, not against them.' Meanwhile, Amir Rashidi, an internet access researcher at the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, commented on Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi to Radio Farda, saying: 'The issue is that we do not have accurate information about Mr. Jahromi's background. Except that he has been in the Communications Regulatory Authority and for the past two years has been in the Infrastructure Communications Company as Deputy Minister of Communications, however, details of his record in the Regulatory Authority are not available. But in recent weeks, rumors have circulated that he was responsible for wiretapping people's communications at the Ministry of Intelligence during Ahmadinejad's second term.' Mr. Rashidi added: 'We know that in 2009, many political, human rights, and civil activists were arrested, imprisoned, and convicted due to these extensive wiretaps. Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi also implicitly confirmed his work at the Ministry of Intelligence on Twitter. However, it should be clarified today what his role was at that time and what costs were imposed on the people due to these activities.' Previously, Elias Naderan, a former member of Parliament, had written on Twitter to Hassan Rouhani: 'By appointing the technical deputy of the Ministry of Intelligence, whose inherent duty is wiretapping and arrests, do you want to free the cyberspace?' In response to this issue, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted: 'The Ministry of Intelligence does not have a general department for wiretapping. Political affairs are not pursued in the technical deputy.' Meanwhile, according to IRNA, on Tuesday, Hassan Rouhani issued an order reinstating Eshaq Jahangiri as his first deputy. Reactions in Parliament to the proposed ministers: Mohammad Hassan Nejad, a representative from Marand and Jolfa in Parliament, stated on Tuesday in a verbal notice: 'Unfortunately, no minister from the Turk ethnicity has been elected in the government, which raises questions.' According to the House of Representatives news agency, he stated, 'Was there not a capable person from this ethnicity to be present in the cabinet?' He added, 'We are truly dissatisfied with the president, and now that no minister from this ethnicity has been announced, it would be better to at least have an assistant or a head in an organization from this ethnicity to be able to place several Turk ministers in the cabinet in the coming years.' Previously, according to ISNA news agency, Nader Qazipour, a representative from Urmia in Parliament, had warned on July 19: 'If capable, skilled, and committed Turk-speaking ministers are not introduced, the government should not expect votes from the Turk-speaking faction, which has 110 members, for the proposed ministers.' In this context, according to ISNA, Hossein Naqvi Hosseini, spokesman for the 'Vali' faction, stated that this faction welcomes the government's proposed candidate for the Ministry of Defense. He also mentioned that regarding the method of examining the qualifications of the proposed ministers in this faction, 'The committees of the Vali faction are to define the criteria for selecting ministers in each field so that based on those criteria, the qualifications of the ministers can be examined.'