Clerics Do not Need a Permit to Engage in Political Activities

Less than two weeks after a member of Majlis’s committee on Article 10 of the Constitution related to political parties announced that the party activities of the Teacher’s Association of the Ghom Theological Center (Jame Modaresin Hoze Elmie Ghom) and also the Association of Combatant Clerics (Jame Rohaniayte Mobarez, a conservative outfit) were illegal, and advised them to apply for a licence to perform political activities, some members of these two groups reacted harshly. The two groups, which are striving to form a coalition of hardline principlists for the upcoming Majlis elections, declared that their activities were in fact “religious” rather than political.

On April 14^th, 2014, Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani said in a speech, “The  Ghom Theological Center and the Association of Combatant Clerics had not applied for a licence to engage in political activities and therefore committee on Article 10 in the Majlis views their activities to be unlawful because they argue that they are a guild whereas they perform political work. So it would be better if they applied for a licence.”

On April 18, this non-voting member of the Majlis in Article 10 Committee had told the Majlis news agency repeated this statement  but added that the Steadfast Front (Jebhe Paydari, a coalition of hardline principlists) would be soon receiving its party licence.

According to Ardestani the activities of the Teacher’s Association and those of the Combatant Clerics were “illegal because their activities were political and they did not possess the licence to engage in such activity. If these two organizations are trade guilds then they should confine their work to their trade.”

Speaking to a group of reporters from IRIB he continued, “The essence of the Association of Combatant Clerics is a professional trade organization. The Teachers Association of Ghom Theological Center received its operational licence from ayatollah Khomeini. The Majlis committee on Article 10 of the Constitution on Political Parties views that some active organizations in the country should get a legal licence for their political activities  so that they do not face problems in their activities because of conditions that may be created by some hardline reformers.”

Some members of these two organizations responded to the calls. Jaafar Shajooni for example, a member of the Association of Combatant Clerics said that the characterization of the organization’s activities to be illegal was because of the new administration and asserted, “These issues are inciting and seditious .”

Speaking to Fars news agency belonging to the Revolutionary Guards, he continued, “Since the new government came to office, the Committee on Article 10 of the Constitution on political parties in the Majlis has been stressing on the unlawfulness of the activities of our organization. We shall never go to register with the Committee, something that the Majmae Rohaniyun which has no popular roots has done. Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani (the secretary general of the group) is against turning the association into a political party and rejects this notion completely.”

At the same time, ayatollah Hassan Mamdoohi, a member of the Teachers Association told Fars news agency, “The activities of this group which are scientific, in research and religious cannot be compared to the political party activities of an organization.” “The idea of getting a licence is fundamentally wrong. I strongly view such issues to be against the interests and believe that these issues are raised by people who have their own agenda.”

Another member of this group cleric seyed Mohammad Gharavi also reacted to this and proclaimed these two groups to be above law!

Speaking to Tadbir website, he said, “The Teachers Association has a history of over 50 years and in the words of the supreme leader nobody has granted the association its standing, therefore nobody can take it away. The supreme leader explained that the standing of the association was inherent and that it played a key role in the revolution and political activities before and after the revolution. In a letter to ayatollah Meshkini, ayatollah Khomeini wrote and stressed that if clerics did not have a relationship with the teachers association they would become followers of American Islam.”

He continued, “The Teachers Association engages in political activity but does not need a licence to do this. The credibility of the association is higher than laws. The credibility of the association with the supreme leader, the senior clerics of the theological centers is much more than this.”

Morteza Bakhtiari, who is the representative of the judiciary in the Committee on Article 10 announced that there was no need for these two groups to get a licence from the Committee, revealing the divisions that exist within the members of the Majlis committee. “These groups already have the credibility to perform revolutionary, religious and political activities among people and the clerics and we cannot require them, like we ask of other political parties, to obtain a licence for engaging in political activities.”

These two groups have regularly supported hardline right wing candidates at the national elections, commonly known as the principlists. Since the eight Majlis in 2008, these groups have intensified their political activities. More recently and in preparation for the next round of Majlis elections, these two groups have been striving to achieve  unity, under the rubric of “unity among principlists,” which observers believe have not been successful because of divisions and splits within the groups.  Seyed Reza Taghavi who is the current head of the Friday Prayer Policy Making Council while also being a member of the central committee of the Association of Combatant Clerics has been engaged in activities that includes the principlists’s organizations on behalf of both the Teachers Association and the Association of Combatant Clerics.