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In this photo made available by the government-affiliated Young Journalists Club, presidential candidates participate in a televised debate in a state-run television studio, in Tehran, Iran
IRANIAN rights campaigners have warned that upcoming presidential elections will be the least free yet, with an unprecedented number of candidates disqualified.
The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights (Codir) condemned the “ineffectual, pale shade of a public debate” exemplified by the first presidential-candidate debates, which took place on Saturday between the only seven presidential hopefuls approved by the 12-member Council of Guardians.
“The regime has even rejected the candidacies of loyalists such as Eshaq Jahangiri, the current vice-president, Mostafa Tajzadeh, a senior adviser to the president and former interior minister, former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” said Codir assistant general secretary Jamshid Ahmadi.
The Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (Codir) welcomes demonstrations across Iran, which have put pressure upon the theocratic dictatorship, but warns against intervention by the United States to force Iran in a particular direction
Payam Solhtalab talks to GAWAIN LITTLE, general secretary of Codir, about the connection between the struggle for peace, against banking and economic sanctions, and the threat of a further military attack by the US/Israel axis on Iran
