Tehran Judiciary Chief Protests Approval of Former Political Prisoners' Candidacies

The Chief Justice of Tehran Province criticized the 'indifference' to the views of the judiciary regarding the approval of some former political prisoners to participate in council elections, calling for their disqualification. Gholamhossein Esmaeili stated in an interview with the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, on Wednesday, May 10, that 'we have learned that some individuals with criminal records, including severe and even security convictions, have been approved, which will result in losses for the councils.' Judiciary officials refer to political prisoners as 'security prisoners.' The Chief Justice also announced that the inquiries sent by the judiciary regarding the qualifications of these candidates were not taken into account. This judiciary official criticized this process despite the fact that inquiries for council election candidates were sent from the Ministry of Intelligence, the judiciary, the police, and the Civil Registration Organization, which are known as the four supervisory bodies. Esmaeili emphasized that 'although according to the law, the bodies responsible for reviewing qualifications are the executive and supervisory committees, and the judiciary merely sends the records to the relevant authorities, there was an expectation that more attention would be paid to these very important matters to maintain the integrity and efficiency of the councils.' He expressed hope that the supervisory committee for the council elections would pay attention to this issue in the 'final hours and days of reviewing qualifications.' Esmaeili's comments come at a time when, according to the council election law, the central supervisory committee cannot interfere in the work of the county and provincial supervisory committees regarding the approval of candidates and the confirmation of election results. However, Farhad Tajri, spokesperson for the central supervisory committee for council elections, announced on Saturday, May 6, that this committee can reject the qualifications of individuals approved in previous stages. He criticized the approval of some individuals detained during protests against the 2009 presidential election, stating that 'in security matters, inquiries can also be made from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and specific authorities.' On the other hand, on Tuesday, Ali Motahari, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, called the submission of a list from the Tehran judiciary to the central supervisory committee for rejecting certain candidates 'illegal' and said this committee should not 'yield.' In response to Motahari's comments, the Chief Justice of Tehran stated that this body has once again sent the records of 'convicted individuals' to those involved in the elections 'so that they cannot say we did not see this record.' Previously, conservative media had protested the approval of Abdollah Momeni in the executive committee and the county supervisory committees for council elections, calling for his disqualification in later stages. Abdollah Momeni is a former student activist, spokesperson for the Graduates Organization of Iran (Advar Tahkim Vahdat), and a member of the campaign team for Mehdi Karroubi in the 2009 presidential election, who was released after nearly five years in prison. Emad Bahavar, head of the youth branch of the Freedom Movement of Iran, was also a candidate in the council elections but was disqualified. He was arrested in December 2009 and released after five years in prison. Ali-Asghar Ahmadi, head of the country's election headquarters, reported on Saturday, May 6, that supervisory committees had disqualified another 4,500 candidates for the council elections, bringing the total number of disqualified candidates by these committees and the executive committees to about 14,500. Unlike other elections in Iran, which are overseen by the Guardian Council, the supervision of council elections is handled by a committee made up of members of parliament. This committee includes about 90 members of parliament, comprising both conservative and reformist representatives.