Ex-President’s Jailed Daughter Says Stay Away From Iran Elections

Majid Naseri-Nejad, one of 18 representatives of the oil-rich province, was in the city for the groundbreaking ceremony of a nursing college when one of his constituents emptied a bottle of gasoline on the cleric before being stopped by the MP’s entourage as he was trying to flick his lighter. 

According to Naseri-Nejad, the reason or motivation of the assailant is not clear, adding that he fled the scene after the incident. He added that a complaint has been filed and it will be followed up by the relevant authorities. 

The lawmaker claimed that unknown gunmen had also shot at his house and car before, without providing any details about such incidents. 

Attacks against the clergy have been on the rise in recent months, especially after protests engulfed the country in September, seen as the bane of the country’s problems as they gained increasing power since the revolution. 

Last month, a cleric had his neck slashed while leaving Tehran's metro while another cleric was stabbed in central Markazi province and taken to hospital after being wounded by his assailant, a young man in his twenties.

In late April, a former Khamenei aide associated with the mass executions of the 1980s was assassinated in a bank in the northern city of Babolsar.

In January 2022, a well-known Iranian cleric talked about the growing hatred and grudge towards the clergy, warning of a crisis unfolding in society.

The men were investigated after photos and videos of the alleged rapes began circulating on the Internet. The judiciary said that the men who were medical workers set up a fake beauty institute and drugged women with medications they stole from emergency health services.

Rape could carry the death penalty in Islamic law, but many instances of rape between acquaintances go unpunished. The Islamic penal code in Iran says that if rape takes place through deception, it is categorized as “sexual offence” but if it is carried out by force or threat of force, it is considered rape that carries the death penalty.

The law also specifically mentions intoxication of victims as the most serious category of rape with mandatory death penalty.

Court documents speak of one of the executed men setting up an “illegal beauty institute” and incapacitating some victims by injecting mild drugs before raping them and apparently taking images.

He was convicted of seven counts of rape, while one of the other suspects was convicted of four rapes and the third man for one rape.

The Judiciary in Hormozgan Province said that the men appealed their case multiple times and each time the relevant branch of the Supreme Court confirmed their conviction and the death penalty.

The hangings on Tuesday added to an estimated 354 executions so far in 2023 in Iran, the majority for narcotics convictions.

Iran International broke the news June 29 that US special envoy Robert Malley was suspended, and his security clearance status was under investigation.

Javid Qorbanoghli, a former Iranian diplomat was quoted as saying by Entekhab website in Tehran that Malley could have helped Iran resolve the nuclear issue. He added that Malley “was on our side” and his talks during secret meetings with Iran’s UN ambassador Saeed Iravani in New York had made progress.

“Malley, as the top person in this [nuclear] file and chief [US] negotiator was on our side, and in talks with Iravani took steps to free frozen assets [in exchange] for prisoners and…”

The former diplomat said that Israel was angry and alleged that it “succeeded to separate Malley from this file,” with using one security issue.

From the time Malley was appointed as special envoy by President Joe Biden in early 2021, many observers said that he was sympathetic toward the Islamic Republic and not a suitable choice. Critics noted his role in engineering the 2015 JCPOA agreement that they believed was advantageous to Iran, not the United States.

Apparently, Malley was suspended as early as the beginning of May, but the State Department did not share the information with Congress. Lat week, several lawmakers began objecting to lack of candor by the administration. 

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul sent a letter demanding more information from the White House about Malley’s status.

Former Iranian diplomat Fereydoun Majlesi has said sarcastically in an interview with Didban Iran website that: "Ms. Abad can now help the pious in Finland to deliver their babies in the Islamic way." 

Although Majlesi's view can be challenged for its political incorrectness, his criticism of the irrelevance of the appointment looks valid, because the appointee has no relevant experience.

Iranian ambassadors are usually selected from the ranks of career diplomats or experienced political, military figures.

Referring to Abad's career record and her diplomatic mission, Majlesi said that the Islamic Republic has no serious presence in the international arena, so it does not need a professional diplomat for such a mission."

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He also quipped that most probably the ambassador can be a good host at parties with Muslims in Helsinki. 

It was not only Majlesi who criticized Abad's appointment. It raised a wave of uproar from Iranians on social media. Protests in this regard came even from among political supporters of the current government. The Student Basij of Imam Sadeq University, one of the most hardline political and militia organizations in Iran, wrote in a tweet June, 28: "How has she been appointed as an ambassador after serving as a Tehran City Councillor and the head of the maternity ward of Najmiyeh Hospital? Is this meant to make the role of Iranian women prominent in the international public opinion?" 

On Twitter, user Naji Ali presented a document that Ms. Abad was one of those involved in the "astronomical real estate" corruption case at the Tehran Municipality under current parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf who gave her some property at an extremely low price. 

According to Didban Iran, Massoumeh Abad was a prisoner of war for some time during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and has written her memoirs in a book entitled: "I am alive." She has a doctorate from the Shahid Beheshti University in the field of fertility and has been a member of the Tehran City Council twice.

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The website also confirmed that Abad was implicated in the "astronomical real estate" case, which became public in 2017 as part of a huge corruption case involving the mayors’ closest aides who were Revolutionary Guard officers. Eventually, two top people were convicted by a military tribunal. It was reported at the time in local media that embezzlement and give away of city property totalled at least five billion dollars.

The website added that now that President Ebrahim Raisi has appointed several Imam Sadeq University (a dubious religious university) alumni as his cabinet ministers, it is not strange to appoint a midwife as an ambassador.

Media reports say Abad is Iran's fifth female ambassador since the 1979 revolution. Previously, Marziyeh Afkham, a career diplomat and a former foreign ministry spokesperson was appointed ambassador to Malaysia, and Afsaneh Nadipour, Forouzandeh Vadiati, and Homeyra Rigi were appointed as ambassadors in Denmark, Finland and Brunei. 

Former diplomat Majlesi observed that "When the circle of government insiders is getting increasingly smaller, then they do not have any real expert to appoint to key posts."

He added that Iran has been buying expensive buildings abroad for a long time to use as premises for embassies and someone like Ms. Abad can certainly attend to the building and keep it in a good shape. 

Social media users have pointed out that Abad's husband, Sayyed Safar Salehi was previously appointed to a mission to forge oil deals in the UK. Others on social media said that the reason for Abad's extra-ordinary promotion is that she was the gynaecologist of one of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's daughters-in-law. 

Referring to the protests which have erupted in France following the death in police hands of a young Muslim, Anne-Claire Legendre said: “We understand your concern for human rights and the lives of French citizens ... and for this reason, we will not kill anyone with a weapon of war, nor will we shoot an eye to blind it!”

Legendre's comments came after Spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nasser Kanaani “advised the French government and police to take into account the demands of the protesters while exercising restraint and avoiding violence,” the issue widely covered in Iranian state media.

Legendre was referring to the killing of hundreds of protesters by the Iranian regime in the months following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September. The Islamic Republic security forces have also been systematically targeting protesters’ eyes.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights on Friday documented over 20 cases of people being blinded in one eye as a result of fire from the security agents during protests, adding that initial data indicates that young women were disproportionately represented among people who had sustained such wounds.

The group claimed that Iran Human Rights researchers have collected and verified information related to many citizens who have lost their sight in one or both eyes as a result of being shot with shotguns or paintball guns in the nationwide protests in recent months. The report also provided a list of cases independently verified by their researchers, noting that the real number is much higher.