{"id":987,"date":"2017-01-11T16:26:09","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T16:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=987"},"modified":"2017-01-11T16:26:09","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T16:26:09","slug":"rafsanjanis-death-reshuffles-the-political-deck-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=987","title":{"rendered":"Rafsanjani\u2019s Death Reshuffles the Political Deck in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>January 11, 2017\u2014The public funeral of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on January 10, 2017, has led to an outpouring in Tehran of public calls for the release of opposition leaders held under house arrest<\/a> and political prisoners<\/a>, in a resurgence of support for reformist issues that have been harshly suppressed in Iran for the last decade.<\/p>\n

The events since Rafsanjani\u2019s death on January 8 have revealed not only the sharp fractures within Iranian society between hardliners and reformists, but also the unhealed wounds dating back to the violent repression of the citizenry after protests against the disputed 2009 presidential election result rocked the country.<\/p>\n

Large crowds\u2014some of which were dispersed<\/a> by security forces\u2014chanted slogans calling for the release of opposition leaders<\/a> Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, who have been under house arrest since 2011.<\/p>\n

The polarization of Iranian society was reflected in the reaction to Rafsanjani\u2019s death among Iran\u2019s political elite. Conservative Member of Parliament Ali Motahari tweeted<\/a> that peoples\u2019 chants demanding the release of the opposition leaders<\/a> show that the government must soon resolve the issue. Hardliners, however, publicly rejoiced over his death: \u201cWith Hashemi Rafsanjani\u2019s death, the last barrier protecting reformists has been eliminated \u2026 and has resulted in the complete harmony of political power,\u201d tweeted<\/a>\u00a0conservative journalist Bahman Hedayati.<\/p>\n

It is ironic that Rafsanjani has emerged\u2014in his later years and now in death\u2014as a galvanizing force for reformists in Iran. He never fully embraced progressive ideas or became an advocate for human rights, but many now fear his death will embolden political hardliners and reinforce totalitarian tendencies in the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can easily see fear in some of the people\u2019s reactions,\u201d wrote prominent reformist journalist Jila Baniyaghoob on Twitter<\/a> on January 8 after the 82-year-old former president was pronounced dead from a massive heart attack.<\/p>\n

Beyond the current reactions to Rafsanjani\u2019s death is the question of the political effect of the departure of one of the main architects of the 1979 revolution, who came to serve as a buffer against conflicts between hardline and moderate forces in recent years.<\/p>\n

Evolution of an Architect of the Revolution<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the revolution\u2019s first two decades\u2014when he was at the height of his power and influence as president (1989-97)\u2014Rafsanjani allowed political crackdowns to occur under his watch, including the assassinations of political dissidents inside and outside Iran.<\/p>\n

Throughout the 1990s, during Rafsanjani\u2019s presidential terms, the Intelligence Ministry<\/a> launched a campaign of intimidation and persecution against political dissidents. In 1996, intelligence agents almost succeeded in killing a group of Iranian writers and intellectuals after forcing a bus the group was travelling in to swerve into a valley. The abduction of journalist Faraj Sarkohi<\/a>\u00a0that year by the Intelligence Ministry and suspicious deaths of dissident literary figures including Ali Akbar Saeedi Sirjani<\/a>, Ahmad Miralaie<\/a>,\u00a0and Ahmad Tafazoli in the 90s\u2014which many held the ministry accountable for\u2014also took place under Rafsanjani\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n

However, shortly after his presidency ended, Rafsanjani surprised Iranians in 1997 when a speech he gave\u2014ostensibly to dispel fears of vote-tampering\u2014ultimately led to the election of reformist presidential candidate Mohammad Khatami over conservative candidate Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri, who, as the establishment\u2019s favored candidate, had seemed a shoo-in.<\/p>\n

His public criticism<\/a>\u00a0of the government\u2019s violent repression of pro-democracy figures following the disputed 2009 presidential election hastened his fall from the favor of his former hardline allies, including the Islamic Republic\u2019s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and reflected his move toward the center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t end [the protests], they will be responsible for the consequences and chaos,\u201d warned<\/a> Khamenei on June 29, 2009, after millions of Iranians took to the streets chanting \u201cwhere is my vote?\u201d in response to the result of the presidential election a week earlier, which brought conservative hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second presidential term. Khamenei\u2019s comment was seen as a green light for security forces to violently suppress the protests in a campaign that continued for months.<\/p>\n

Rafsanjani and Khamenei once stood together as key leaders of the revolution, but less than a month after Khamenei\u2019s comment, Rafsanjani publicly sided with the protesters. \u201cA large section of the people have doubts about the result of the election,\u201d he said<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0July 17, 2009. \u201cWe must alleviate those doubts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after, Rafsanjani was forced to step down from his chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts, a powerful body that selects the country\u2019s supreme leader, although he remained a member.<\/p>\n

More recently, Rafsanjani remained silent when an audio file<\/a> was posted in August 2016 by the son of the once-successor to Iran\u2019s first supreme leader, Hosseinali Montazeri, in which Montazeri described the mass executions<\/a> of dissidents in the summer of 1988 as \u201cthe greatest crime in the Islamic Republic of Iran\u201d while holding Khomeini and some of his closest allies responsible.<\/p>\n

Declining Influence<\/strong><\/p>\n

As of 2010, the once powerful Rafsanjani seemed resigned to his declining influence. \u201cIf I relay your request to the authorities, I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll get a positive response,\u201d he told<\/a> the family of political prisoners\u2019 who had asked him to put in a good word for their loved ones with Khamenei. \u201cIt might have the opposite effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

But rather than receding into the shadows, Rafsanjani began advocating for the release of Mousavi, Rahnavard and Karroubi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything happens to those in house arrest, it would leave a permanent stain on the state,\u201d he said<\/a> during a 2013 meeting with Khamenei, according to the Karroubi-affiliated Saham News website.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Rafsanjani spoke out against the disqualification of Hassan Khomeini\u2014 the moderate grandson of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini\u2014from running in the February 2016 election for the Assembly of Experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have disqualified a distinguished man, a man who carried the spirit of the late Imam Khomeini. Who are you? Who gave you the right to take over and pass judgment on Parliament, the government and others?\u201d he said<\/a>, addressing the hardline Council of Guardians, which vets political candidates.\u00a0\u201cWho gave you permission to have all the guns and media? Who gave you permission to control\u00a0Friday\u00a0prayers and IRIB (state TV)? Who gave you these rights?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet even as a sidelined former president with most of his titles stripped, Rafsanjani remained as one among a handful of senior Iranian officials who could publicly question and criticize state policies and actions without being imprisoned\u2014even though two of his children were imprisoned, one for her political dissent.<\/p>\n

Rafsanjani\u2019s death removes a potential moderating voice from the Assembly of Experts, which will select Iran\u2019s next supreme leader. It has also left a political vacuum in Iran, with unclear implications for moderate and reformist forces who relied on his moderating powers, especially President Rouhani, who Rafsanjani helped to elect.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

For the latest human rights developments in Iran visit the Campaign\u2019s<\/em> website<\/a><\/p>\n

For interviews, contact:<\/p>\n

Hadi Ghaemi at +1-917-669-5996, hadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow the\u00a0Campaign<\/em> on Facebook<\/a> and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January 11, 2017\u2014The public funeral of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on January 10, 2017, has led to an outpouring in Tehran of public calls for the release of opposition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[244,288,120,287],"class_list":["post-987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-hassan-rohani","tag-khamnehei","tag-mohammad-khatami","tag-rafsanjani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":988,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions\/988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}