Iran’s president-elect extols human rights, the Internet

Iran’s newly elected president, Hasan Rouhani, says he is in favor of upholding civil liberties that have been “ignored” in Iran, and hints that he is unhappy with the extent of clerics’ involvement in the Islamic Republic.

In comments made to the Iranian youth magazine Chelcheragh and translated by The Guardian on Tuesday, Rouhani, a perceived moderate, said he opposed the separation of men and women in the public sphere and would work to limit censorship. The item, the most in-depth interview given by the president-elect since he won the election last month, suggested his views were not as extreme as those of his predecessor.

Rouhani, who was elected to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after the latter ends his second four-year presidency next month, promised to lead Iran back to a path of moderation and openness toward the world. One of the reasons for his decision to run, he told the magazine, was because he felt Iran was “in peril.”

The basic rights of Iranian citizens had “been neglected,” Rouhani, who will be sworn into office in August, said. “Today the republican [nature] of our country is overshadowed by a specific interpretation of its Islamic [character],” he said.

“Some of the principles of our constitution have been emphasized while others were neglected, and this is why we are facing an imbalance as a result,” he said in comments which could hint at his discomfort over the intense involvement of religious leaders — and specifically of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in the nation’s politics.

“The freedom and rights of people have been ignored but those of the rulers have been emphasized … Restricting [people’s right] to criticize will only stifle and lead to inefficiency,” he added.

While Rouhani spoke out against police brutality and violence against women caught wearing tight-fitting clothing or walking around without the traditional hijab head covering, he didn’t say the regulations enforcing a modest dress code would change.

“If a women or a man does not comply with our rules for clothing, his or her virtue should not come under question… In my view, many women in our society who do not respect our hijab laws are virtuous. Our emphasis should be on the virtue,” he said.

Rouhani also came out against Internet censorship, saying attempts to filter out parts of the web were done for “political reasons.” He said that those in leadership positions “have fears of the freedom people have in online atmosphere. This is why they seek to restrict information. But filtering is incapable of producing any [useful] results.”

“Supporters of internet filtering should explain whether they’ve successfully restricted access to information,” he said. “Which important piece of news has filtering been able to black out in recent years?

“The virtual space is a tool and it can be an opportunity or a threat. I remember that [former president] Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani once called social networking websites such as Facebook a welcome phenomenon. Indeed they are.”