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All tagged Guardian Council
◢ The U.S. said it has sanctioned members of an Iranian government agency that it says rigs elections in the country by disqualifying candidates who don’t echo the political ideology of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Five members of Iran’s Guardian Council and its Elections Supervision Committee, who are appointed by Khamenei, were added to the U.S. sanctions list on Thursday.
◢ Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday it is a "religious duty" for people to vote in this week's general election and strengthen the Islamic republic against the "propaganda" of its enemies. "Participating in elections and voting... is a religious duty, not just a national or revolutionary duty," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech, parts of which were aired on state television.
◢ Campaigning kicked off in Iran on Thursday ahead of next week's crucial parliamentary election at which conservatives are expected to win most seats after thousands of moderates and reformists were disqualified. The February 21 election comes after months of escalating tensions between Iran and its arch enemy the United States.
◢ Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani asked his top aides and lawmakers to draft a bill revising the election-related powers of the Guardian Council, one of the Islamic Republic’s most powerful institutions. The move comes after swathes of candidates, including allies of Rouhani, were disqualified from standing in the February 21 parliamentary vote.
◢ Iran's president warned Monday of threats to the Islamic republic's "democracy and national sovereignty", after a body dominated by his ultra-conservative rivals disqualified thousands of candidates, weeks before elections. Rouhani, whose alliance fears losing its majority in the February 21 polls, said the disqualifications risked appointments being made "elsewhere" than the ballot box.
◢ Iran will for the first time grant citizenship to children born to an Iranian mother and foreign father after a long-awaited bill was signed into law by the powerful Guardian Council in a significant victory for women’s rights. The law was passed by parliament with an overwhelming majority in May, and ratified on Wednesday.
◢ Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed the head of the judiciary, Sadegh Amoli Larijani, as chairman of the powerful Expediency Council on Sunday, according to his website. The Expediency Council is a key behind-the-scenes institution, settling disputes between different branches of government.
◢ Iran's powerful Guardian Council on Sunday rejected a bill on joining the UN convention against terrorist financing seen as crucial to maintaining trade and banking ties with the world. The conservative-dominated council, which oversees legislation passed by the parliament, said aspects of the bill were against Islamic law and the constitution and sent it back to lawmakers for revision.
◢ Iranian authorities ruled Saturday that a member of the minority Zoroastrian religion had been wrongly suspended from his post on a city council. Sepanta Niknam, a member of Iran's ancient Zoroastrian religion, was the only non-Muslim elected to the council in the central city of Yazd in May 2017, but he was suspended later in the year following a complaint by one of his fellow councillors.
◢ Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that his ally Hamid Baghaie was on hunger strike and in deteriorating health after being imprisoned on what he said were politically motivated charges. Ahmadinejad, who served as president from 2005 to 2013, made the claims in a letter to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, published on the Dolatebahar website run by his supporters.
