Zoroastrian Representative: Beyond Niknam, the Rights of an Iranian Are at Stake

The newspaper Aftab Yazd has celebrated the contributions of Zoroastrians in Yazd and Iran following the suspension of Spenta Niknam, a Zoroastrian member of the Yazd City Council. It states: "Zoroastrians consider Iran their first and last homeland, and for this reason, they have done and will do everything for the advancement of this country." Zoroastrians have been particularly influential in two areas in contemporary Yazd: education and health. Esfandiar Ekhtiyari, the representative of Zoroastrians in the tenth parliament, told Aftab Yazd that in the field of education, Zoroastrians have established 42 modern schools in Yazd province, noting that the first registered school in Yazd's education system was founded by Zoroastrians. In the health sector, Zoroastrians took the first modern steps in the province, establishing the first maternity hospital in southeastern Iran, named Bahman Maternity Hospital, which served not only Yazd but also the southeastern region at one point. Following this hospital, Zoroastrians built the Goudarz Hospital in Yazd, constructed water reservoirs for drinking water, and even made arrangements to respect the beliefs of some Muslims in Yazd. All of this demonstrates the friendly relations between Muslims and Zoroastrians in Yazd. The representative also mentioned that it is clear that the majority of voters for Niknam were Muslims, indicating that Muslims trust Zoroastrians. Regarding the suspension of Spenta Niknam from the Yazd City Council, Ekhtiyari stated, "I have been following this issue from the beginning and still am. This is not just about one individual! Besides defending Mr. Spenta Niknam's rights, it is essential to uphold the rights of an Iranian. Mr. Niknam was elected, and he should be respected in his position. However, beyond Niknam, the rights of an Iranian are at stake. Separating individuals and names, the rights of this Iranian must remain intact, and fortunately, the parliament insists that the law must be followed." Ekhtiyari also expressed his view that it is unprecedented for someone who did not win a vote to complain about an elected member of the council, questioning how one can complain about someone being Zoroastrian and not belonging in the council. He warned that if this trend continues, anyone could complain about the President, Speaker of the Parliament, etc. Aftab Yazd also reported on the reaction of the newspaper Bahar to the statements of the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who described the positions of this force regarding foreign policy and regional issues as coordinated with the Foreign Ministry and government but expressed differently, emphasizing the need for unified command in foreign policy and avoiding uncoordinated actions. The newspaper noted that in contentious files between Iran and the West, unlike the nuclear issue, the necessary coordination has not been present, and the requests of the Supreme Leader for focus on the Foreign Ministry have not been adequately addressed. Issues related to regional matters and human rights are among the tensions between Iran and the West. The newspaper also reviewed the disagreements between the Foreign Ministry and other governmental bodies, including the IRGC, during the ninth to twelfth administrations, recalling that towards the end of the tenth administration (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government), the government, the Supreme National Security Council, and the Foreign Ministry each chose separate paths in the nuclear file, which complicated the issue and increased sanctions. However, in Hassan Rouhani's first government, after coordination between the institutions and assigning the nuclear file to the Foreign Ministry, negotiations led to the JCPOA. Bahar also reminded that when in Ahmadinejad's era, the President appointed some of his close associates to foreign affairs positions parallel to the Foreign Ministry, the Supreme Leader criticized the "parallel work" in foreign policy and called for the concentration of this area’s work in the Foreign Ministry. The newspaper Shargh published the reaction of the government spokesperson to the espionage charges against Abdolrasool Dari Esfahani, an advisor to the Iranian nuclear negotiation team, quoting Mohammad Baqer Nobakht as saying, "Identifying spies is the responsibility of the Ministry of Intelligence." The newspaper reported that during a press conference, the government spokesperson stated regarding the ruling against Dari Esfahani as one of the experts on the nuclear negotiation team that since espionage matters fall under the responsibilities of the Ministry of Intelligence, and just as we accepted the testimony and report of the Minister of Intelligence regarding the unfounded espionage charges against the child of one of the heads of the branches of power, we should also entrust this matter to the intelligence and counterintelligence systems as they are aware of all matters. Nobakht also stated, "Let us allow the Minister of Intelligence to provide a report as an intelligence agency to society, and we will certainly accept it." However, the newspaper Javan, close to the IRGC, quoted the Tehran prosecutor emphasizing that "defending officials from a spy with a definitive conviction is not commendable." According to this newspaper, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi stated in the twelfth meeting of the Tehran prosecutor's assistants regarding the case of Abdolrasool Dari Esfahani that "in a case related to a dual-nationality convict who participated in the financial committee of the JCPOA and was an advisor to the head of the Central Bank, judicial proceedings regarding his charges have been completed, and the defendant has been sentenced to five years in prison, which has been confirmed in the appeal stage and is currently being executed." The Javan newspaper quoted the Tehran prosecutor as saying, "In the course of this case, the defendant was defended repeatedly," but "defending defendants who act against national interests, especially by government officials, is not commendable." Simultaneously, the newspaper Shargh quoted Hamid Baidi Nejad, Deputy Foreign Minister and a member of the Iranian nuclear negotiation team, stating, "Contrary to some media's desire to introduce Mr. Dari Esfahani as a core member of the nuclear negotiation team, he was not a core member but represented his organization and participated in some sessions as needed, providing advice to the nuclear negotiation team in specific areas. About 25 such individuals directly consulted the nuclear negotiation team in various fields, including technical nuclear issues, agency oversight, economic matters, banking, aviation industry, pharmaceutical industry, automotive industry, legal issues, media, etc., and participated in negotiation sessions when their presence was necessary." The Deputy Foreign Minister emphasized that "these individuals were all official representatives introduced by their organizations, and the Foreign Ministry had no responsibility to determine their intelligence and professional qualifications." He stated that "Dari Esfahani was not an unfamiliar figure for the country and had participated for at least two decades in many financial, banking, and legal areas at various levels, and due to his achievements in effective legal defense in the country’s arbitration courts, he has been recognized by some of the country’s most sensitive organizations," adding that "the individuals who provided consulting to the nuclear negotiation team had specific work areas and did not have the qualifications to engage in broader national policy matters, such as issues related to the lifting of sanctions, areas of lifting sanctions, timing of lifting sanctions, and similar matters." The newspaper Etemad reported that the commander of the IRGC Quds Force in Kerman province believes that all facilities in the province are in the hands of the Kargozaran party, stating that the main problem in Kerman province is the Kargozaran party, led by Hossein Marashi, which has all the facilities of the province at their disposal. According to the newspaper, Gholamali Abuhamzeh stated, "The IRGC will stand against them. We have sent them messages and will say again, come and be accountable and tell us about your accounts, otherwise, you will be facing the IRGC. We will return all illegal actions and properties that you have unlawfully seized to the public treasury." The commander of the IRGC in Kerman named "Mahan Airlines, Haft Bagh, Del Alam, and Kerman Motor" as part of the properties of figures close to the Kargozaran party, emphasizing that "these issues must be raised enough for the people to demand them." Etemad simultaneously published a report on the IRGC's three-year involvement in economic corruption cases, titled "Cases with Specific Defendants," stating that since 2015, the IRGC has arrested individuals as economic defendants, and now "one of the ways to continue the role of an institution that was established in the early days after the revolution to act as a guardian of the revolution is to enter economic corruption cases." The newspaper reported that "despite some questions, the IRGC continued its involvement in economic corruption cases. The actions of this institution became so prominent" that Hossein Najat, the deputy head of the IRGC intelligence organization, stated last year that "the institution that is currently fighting economic corruptors is the IRGC intelligence." The Etemad newspaper also noted that in the latest case, "a few days after the news of the arrest of the brother of the first vice president was announced, the detaining institution was also identified as the IRGC." The Kerman IRGC, in actions taken last week, arrested Mehdi Jahangiri and began preliminary investigations by forming a case against him, with Gholamali Abuhamzeh, the commander of the IRGC Quds Force in Kerman, describing Mehdi Jahangiri as one of the roots of corruption, and "of course, he also addressed his remarks to Eshaq Jahangiri, criticizing his positions regarding the arrest of his brother, saying: instead of coming and condemning his brother's actions, he says these people are seeking personal revenge." The newspaper Hamdeli published a photo of an apple orchard with cut-down trees on its front page, titled "The Grief of the Orchard," stating: "An orchard owner from Ardabil, protesting against the severely low prices and lack of sales of his apple products, took the unprecedented step of cutting down all the trees in his orchard." This newspaper wrote: "This image is the suicide of an orchard when an orchard owner from Ardabil, due to unsold apples, cut down all the trees to no longer see the dark image of intermediaries who have always been lurking for red apples; those who have bought apples cheaply thousands of times and sold them at high prices." The newspaper Arman referred to Saeed Mortazavi as the "32-volume defendant" and wrote: "The 32-volume defendant did not show up again." According to this newspaper, the court session regarding the Social Security Organization's complaint against Saeed Mortazavi was held on Tuesday, but Mortazavi did not attend due to illness, and after that, "it was announced that another court would be held on Wednesday, but no explanation was given about it, and everyone was waiting for Saeed Mortazavi to appear in court on that day. Wednesday also arrived, and again there was no news of Mortazavi." The Tuesday court was related to Mortazavi's charges during his presidency of the Social Security Organization, and the Wednesday court session was related to his charges during his tenure as Tehran's prosecutor in connection with the deaths of several protesters from the 2009 elections in the Kahrizak detention center. According to this newspaper, Taheri and Kamali, the lawyers of the victims' families, stated after leaving Branch 22 of the Tehran Court of Appeals that the court has set November 30 for further consideration of this case. Mir Majid Taheri, one of the lawyers for the family of Mohsen Rouhalamini, one of the victims of Kahrizak detention center, stated about Saeed Mortazavi's case: "Considering that it has been over 8 years since the case has been under review, it has reached volume 32 and has 15,000 pages."