Zohreh Elahian registered to vote after the death of Ibrahim Raisi in May
A radical Iranian lawmaker who advocated executing protesters has stepped forward, to become the country's first female presidential candidate.
Zoreh Elahian registered to run in the country's snap elections at the end of June after the sudden death of Ebrahim Raisi, its former president, last month. helicopter crash.
A staunch supporter of Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, she could potentially become the first woman ever allowed to run if approved by the Guardian Council, which vets all potential candidates.
p>Doctor by profession and former member. Member of Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, she has twice served as a member of Parliament, although no woman has ever been allowed to run for president.
Under Canadian sanctions
In March, Canada sanctioned a hard-liner for endorsing the death executions for Women, Life, Freedom protesters as the crackdown on the hijabi uprising continues to grip Iran and government enforcement tightens.
More than 550 protesters have been killed by state security forces since the 2022 uprising that followed the killing of Mahsa Amini by Iranian morality police, and more than 800 Iranians were executed last year alone, a record for Iran amid a surge in executions.
G Ms. Elahian, also a member of the Islamic Council of Iran, is now awaiting a decision from the country's Guardian Council, which is responsible for interpreting the country's Islamic constitution, with the election motto of “a healthy government, a healthy economy and a healthy society.” “.
Women are not legally allowed to run for president, but her possible candidacy hinges on the interpretation of the Arabic term for “men” and whether it refers to a more general term for “men,” “figures,” or “people.”
Azam Taleghani, a veteran reformist politician and journalist, registered to run in every presidential election from 1997 until her death in 2019. Each time, she was rejected by Guardian Council clerics and labeled an “Islamic feminist.”
< p>Ms Elahian, who was photographed holding a sniper rifle while part of a parliamentary delegation to an arms exhibition last year, is seen by some Iranian women as the personification of a misogynistic regime where sexual violence has become a systemic means of punishing women and women. Hundreds of people remain detained in the brutal crackdown on the hijabi uprising.
Dovlat Norouzi, a British spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran and an opposition group, said: “This is simply a ridiculous spectacle of a regime drowning in a quagmire of crises. No one will be fooled by these absurd tricks.
“The regime in Tehran oppresses and attacks women on the streets every day under the pretext of forcing them to wear the hijab. Under this regime, elections are meaningless, it’s a selection.”
She said the strict Islamic constitution would not allow a woman to join the ranks. “The clerical regime does not even tolerate a single woman in the cabinet. According to Article 115 of the regime's constitution, “the president must be among men.” The women of Iran know that the only way to achieve freedom and equal rights is through regime change by the people and the Resistance.”
Elahian's proposal is “unlikely in reality”
Iranian Maryam Ahadi, who now lives in Dubai, said: “It would be interesting to see a woman run for president, but let's be honest, she is not the kind of woman that would suit Iranian women. However, the reality is that the Guardian Council is unlikely to allow her to run, but in the meantime they will enjoy a global debate to try to divert attention from the brutal state-sanctioned oppression they are subjecting Iranian women and girls to.”
Mélanie Joly, Canada's foreign minister, announced sanctions against Ms. Elahian on International Women's Day in March, saying she and Masoud Dorosti, head of Tehran's metro system, “used their influence to call for or implement increasingly aggressive measures.” . repressive measures against women and girls in Iran.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran and an outspoken critic of the supreme leader, was the last candidate to register his candidacy for the June 28 vote, having been rejected after voting twice since his disqualification in 2017.
Ms. Elahian was at the heart of Iran's controversial political apparatus. As a member of the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, she was one of 227 Iranian lawmakers who signed a letter asking for the execution of protesters after the 2022 uprising.
Earlier that year, she said that if negotiations restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal will not continue in accordance with the country's interests after Donald Trump, then the US president, withdrew from the deal, they are not significant.
She said at a time when “all the sanctions must be lifted, and we must certainly receive reliable guarantees from the United States so that we are not threatened with another withdrawal from the agreement and the return of sanctions.”
She added: “We are waiting for the decision of the American side, and if this process becomes exhausting , a decision will be made whether to continue negotiations or not.”
Since Joe Biden took office, Iran has continued to accelerate its nuclear program, with Rafael Grossi, the UN atomic energy chief, recently saying that the country is now “weeks, not months” away from nuclear weapons.
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