The Islamic Republic’s 2009 [s]election is shaping up to be just as it has been before; a “hardliner” wanting to curb “westernization” of Iran and an enlightened “reformist” promising liberal policies. And just as previous [s]elections, the theocracy has put its propaganda machine into overdrive, arguing that to boycott the [s]election means the enemy, which is defined as anyone who is against the Islamic Republic, will win. In keeping with tradition, the various factions within the regime are receiving various forms of support from foreign forces
Rafsanjani has gone so far as to spell out explicitly the Islamic Republic’s fears, stating that if less then 40 million Iranians vote, the legitimacy of the regime will come under question and if more then 40 million participate, the regime has insured itself for another four years. The regime has even lowered the legal voting age to 15 to help bolster voter turnout. The theocracy’s king, Khamenei, has declared that Iranians must vote so as to provide legitimacy to the ruling clique
Out of the more then 475 applicants only four were vetted to run for the presidency by the Guardian Council. In other words, less then one percent of the applicants were allowed to run. Unsurprising, all the women applicants were disqualified
The four candidates that were approved by what Khamenei referred to as the regime’s “microscope” are Ahmadinejad, Karoubi, Mousavi and Rezaei
One just needs to look back in these last four years to get a good idea of Ahmadinejad line of thinking, however the histories of the other three candidates is much more obscure to the world
Mehdi Karoubi is currently campaigning on a platform of human rights and women rights, though he supports gender apartheid, such as Shariah laws that states a woman’s word is worth half a man’s in the court of law and a woman’s life and limb being worth half as much as a man’s. When Karoubi was the head of the Foundation for Families of Martyrs he became famous for the various sexual scandals involving widows of the Iran-Iraq war and the sheer amount of corruption in the said foundation. When Karoubi was the speaker of the majority-reformist parliament during Khatami’s presidency, Khamenei issued an edict that the bill to ease censorship in the press should not be brought to a vote, and Karoubi obliged and removed the bill, even though Karoubi had campaigned on easing of press restrictions
Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a cousin of Khamenei has worked in the Expediency Council for last twenty years or so. Mousavi was also responsible for closing the universities immediately after the hijacking of the revolution of 78, to conduct cultural re-education. During the Iran-Iraq war he served as the Islamic Republic’s prime minister, helping extend the war for 5 long years even though at a point Iran had taken back all its cities from Iraq and the Arabs were willing to end the war and make huge financial compensations. Mr. Mousavi presided over mass executions of 80-81 and the dark summer of 1988 where over thirty thousand political prisoners were executed and buried and mass graves. Given the amount of blood on his hands it’s difficult to not to laugh when Mousavi speaks of creating a human rights council if [s]elected. As far as his anti-West views go, he stated in 1981 in the magazine Payameh Enghelab that “We are ready to participate within an armed force to fight Israel… We have repeatedly announced that we are ready to have an actual, real and military presence in Southern Lebanon and on the borders of the occupied Palestinian lands…we believe that with the support of the popular forces in Lebanon we shall be able to gradually find effective and powerful bases in the area for fighting Israel …we believe if the flow of oil in Muslim Lands is in the hands of Muslims and if the ideology of Islam controls the opening or closing of the oil valves we shall be able to bring the World Arrogance to its knees, to strike Israel and to destroy it.”
Mohsen Rezaei is a former chief commander of the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) and currently serving as Secretary of Expediency Council. During his reign as the head of IRGC, he ordered the bombing of Iranian Kurdistan Province in western and north-western Iran. He even boasted about how he didn’t have room for three Iranian Kurds POWs, and thus simply beheaded them and traveled back with their heads. Rezaei is wanted by Interpol for connection to the Argentine Jewish center bombing in 1994.
With such a candidate roster, one has to wonder what type of government would let people who have committed crimes against humanity run for public office. But then one remembers this is the Islamic Republic, having blood on one’s hands is a prerequisite for holding high public office
As with previous regime [s]elections, we reiterate that the Marze Por Gohar Party does not recognize the Islamic Republic as the legitimate representative of Iran and therefore we will not take any part in the regime’s [s]elections and encourage others to do the same. Even within the theocratic framework of the Islamic Republic, Iranians have the right to boycott the [s]elections
The freedom Iranians have earned during the reign of this regime have not come about from working “within the system” and thus voting only serves to give legitimacy to a government which is only answerable to God not Iranians
Long Live Iran
Marze Por Gohar Party
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