Faezeh Hashemi: They Do Not Have the People’s Vote; Want to Obtain Votes Through Other Means

Hashemi Rafsanjani’s activist daughter Faezeh told Rooz that she did not view yesterday’s events in the Majlis unrelated to next year’s parliamentary elections. According to her, MPs who know that they don’t have the public vote want to get votes through other means. She believes that the verbal and physical attack of Ali Motahari by a group of his own colleagues in parliament, and the prevention of his speech are efforts to securitize the atmosphere. She also said the protests of 2009 had become an excuse for some to advance their personal agenda. These people she concluded feared Mousavi, Rahnavard and Karoubi’s names.

Early this week, Ali Motahari, a member of the principlist faction in Iran’s parliament, was beaten up by some hardline MPs and suffered injuries on his hand. Speaking on the floor of parliament he explicitly said that he viewed “The house detentions of Messrs Mousavi and Karoubi and Ms Rahnavard that took place after the 2009 street riots to be contrary to principles of the constitution.” But even before he finished his sentence, a group of MPs began to chant “Death to the seditionists,” a term hardliners use for the leaders of the Green Movement which openly challenged the government over the 2009 presidential election which reinstated Ahmadinejad in the presidency. As the commotion began, journalists were asked to leave the session which was halted by the presiding chairman. The cameras of the photographers who were present were confiscated and Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, an MP from Bam announced that the special committee that monitors the behavior of MPs would discuss Motahari’s remarks in the next session of the parliament.

A day before that event, Safar Naimirez, one of the attackers of Motahari told Fars news agency that more than 50 MPs had filed a complaint against Motahari with the parliament’s committee that monitors MP behavior.

Faezeh Hashemi, a former MP and the managing editor of now-banned Zan (woman) publication spoke with Rooz about the events in parliament and expressed surprise over them. “This is a strange story. Such events take place regularly outside the Majlis but now that the atmosphere has sharpened such attacks aim to prevent MPs from speaking. MPs today don’t have the patience to listen to their colleagues who have the constitutional right to express their views. This is an important warning and can be a harbinger of what lies ahead. This event must be minutely examined and the Majlis itself should do this,” she said.

She continued, “The committee that monitors MPs’ behavior plans to investigate Motahari’s speech but I do not know of any other such examination. These are all dangerous events and indicate the presence of other plans. Such bashing events narrow the atmosphere so that ultimately nobody is able to express their views, even more than what exists today.”

Ms Hashemi said she believed these events in the Majlis related to next year’s Majlis and Assembly of Experts elections. “When violators are not punished but allowed to behave above the law, this is an indication that they are pursuing some specific goals. We are close to the next national elections and I don’t think these events are unrelated to next year’s elections. They want to create a situation so people remain fearful by seeing how an MP is treated,” she said. “They want to securitize and terrorize the atmosphere so they can pursue their goals. This behavior indicates that because these representatives have no support among the public and in the next elections, they want to create an atmosphere that they can exploit to get elected through other means.”

Ms Hashemi pointed to the outbursts of a group of MPs after the names of Mousavi, Rahnavard and Karoubi were mentioned by Motahari and said this indicated their fear of even the names of these imprisoned personalities.

Seyed Mehdi Mousavinejad, a hardline principlist MP from Dashtestan told Rooz that in fact it was Motahari who attacked other MPs and not vice versa. But another MP Abed Fatahi confirmed to Rooz that Motahari had been pushed and physically hit. Some virtual social networks named seyed Mehdi Mousavinejad to have pushed Motahari in the Majlis. But speaking to Rooz, Mousavinejad denied pushing Motahari and counter accused Motahari of attacking other MPs.

According to state run IRNA news agency the speaker of Majlis Ali Larijani spoke with reporters about the commotion in the Majlis. “We have serious issues in the country and everybody should realize that we need a calm atmosphere in the country so we can address the problems. This is a national responsibility.” He added, “The media too should pursue this goal and atmosphere and not make issues. It would be better if you promoted the line that the atmosphere is moving towards calmness.”

Responses to the Majlis fight varied. Ayatollah Khamenei’s representative at hardline Kayhan newspaper Hossein Shariatmadari criticized Motahari for acting to disrespect his father (who was a leading ideologue revolutionary in the first years after the collapse of the monarchy). He equated Mousavi and Karoubi with Shemr and Yazid, who are the denounced Muslim leaders of the seventh century said to have murdered the third Shiite imam.

Masood Pezeshkian, an MP from Tabriz also spoke with Iran’s ILNA labor news agency and criticized the attackers. “Some don’t have the patience to hear out a seven minute talk. In fact it is good for people to see the regime because then they will know what kind of people and what kind of language are used,” he said. “When we have no patience to hear someone express his opinion, how can we expect to have a fair trial,” he added.

Among Motahari supporters were a number of wives of commanders who were killed in the 8-year Iran-Iraq war.