Iran said to crack down on reformists ahead of February elections
Rouhani ally and former president Rafsanjani throws hat into ring for spot on council to elect future supreme leader
Hardliners in Iran have cracked down on activists, journalists and artists in the run-up to February’s elections in what some view as an effort to curb the influence of President Hassan Rouhani, Reuters reported Friday.
Dozens were interrogated and detained by Iranian intelligence, the news agency cited rights groups and opposition outlets saying. The government has denied the claims.
“The hardliners are wary of Rouhani’s influence at home and abroad. They fear it may harm the balance of power in Iran,” an anonymous senior official close to Rouhani said.
The arrests were said to aim to tighten conservatives’ authority and protect that of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from presidential activism. Should Rouhani’s faction win in the February elections for the council in charge of selecting the supreme leader, it would empower reform-minded leaders.
Iran’s former influential president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said he would run in elections for the Assembly of Experts. The pro-reform Shargh daily on Thursday quoted Rafsanjani as saying, “God willing, I will come,” to run in the elections.
The 81-year-old Rafsanjani has close ties with Rouhani. His nomination will be a challenge to hardliners.
The assembly’s election is scheduled to take place alongside parliamentary elections in February.
Under the law, the 86-member body would be responsible for choosing a successor to Khamenei.