Written Warning from 32 Members of Parliament to the Minister of Culture Regarding 'Retreat from Holding Concerts' in Mashhad

In continuation of the protests against the cancellation of concerts in Khorasan Razavi, 32 members of the Iranian Parliament issued a written warning to Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture, demanding an explanation for the 'reason for retreat' from conducting 'cultural activities' in Mashhad and 'excluding' this city. According to the website of the House of the Nation, Ali Motahari, Mahmoud Sadqi, Elyas Hazrati, Soheila Jelodarzadeh, Nahid Tajeddin, Mostafa Kavakebian, Parvaneh Mafi, and Alireza Rahimi are among the signatories of this written warning, which was published on Sunday, September 7. Several conservative members of the Iranian Parliament, including Ezzatollah Youssefian Molla, Gholamreza Kateb, Kazem Delkhush, and Abdolreza Azizi, also signed this warning. The name of Yonatan Bet-Kelia, a representative of the Assyrian religious minority, also appears in the list of signatories. Following months of conflict between the government of Hassan Rouhani and Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad and representative of the Supreme Leader in Khorasan Razavi, Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture of Iran, ultimately announced on Tuesday, August 16, that no concerts would be held in Mashhad anymore. After these remarks, several other Friday prayer leaders also called for the suspension or limitation of music concerts in their cities. In contrast, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, on Tuesday, September 1, criticized the Minister of Culture's retreat, stating: 'Anyone who wakes up in the morning and finds a podium cannot legislate, and the minister should not comply because the minister must be subject to the law.' Following these remarks, Ali Jannati, in statements differing from his previous remarks, named Ahmad Alamolhoda as the main reason for the cancellation of concerts in Khorasan Razavi and stated that concerts in Mashhad should be treated like in other regions. Ahmad Alamolhoda, in his Friday prayer sermon on September 5, implicitly referred to Jannati's remarks as an 'insult' to the clergy and said that Hassan Rouhani's government, in an attempt to attract the 'secular class,' has fallen into 'cultural laxity' and 'tolerance' and insults the clergy to please this class. On the same day after the Friday prayer in Mashhad, a gathering was held in support of Alamolhoda's positions, with some websites, including Ensaf News, reporting that only '150 people' participated. The issue of holding concerts has also been a point of contention between government officials and the judiciary in Iran. In this regard, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, announced three conditions for holding concerts: 'guaranteeing and ensuring the security of the event' by the governor or mayor of Tehran, 'guaranteeing the health of the content of the program presented' by the Ministry of Culture, and official recording of the event by the police. Regarding these conditions, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, said on Sunday that although the issuance of permits is the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, 'the issuance of a permit cannot prevent the commission of crimes.' Mr. Mohseni Ejei emphasized that the judiciary and law enforcement have a duty to deal with 'issues contrary to public decency' during or after the concert. Previously, Hossein Ashtari, the commander of the police force, had emphasized that despite the issuance of music permits by the Ministry of Culture, the 'crime prevention apparatus' cannot remain indifferent to what he called 'indecent side issues' of concerts.