Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili headed to the second round of the Iranian presidential elections and, according to human rights activists, they have a long record of violating human rights in Iran.
This report highlights the relationship of these two individuals to the oppression of the Iranians and their record in the field of human rights violations.
With the official announcement of the results of the Iranian presidential elections, this Saturday morning, the total number of votes cast in the ballot boxes reached 24 million 535 thousand and 185 votes, and Masoud Pezeshkian headed to the second round with about 10 million and 400 thousand votes, and Saeed Jalili with about 9 million and 400 votes. One thousand votes, while the participation rate was about 40 percent.
A look at the history of these two individuals, one of whom will be elected as the next president of Iran, shows that they have a dark past in violating human rights and oppressing citizens and the Iranian people. It would have been better for them to be subjected to trials and accountability, not for them to compete for one of them to win the position of president of the republic.
Masoud Pezeshkian.. Complicit in killings and repression
Masoud Pezeshkian has held several positions, including President of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Deputy Minister of Health, then Minister of Health, Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
Bazashkian played a role in preventing the clarification of the real reason and method for the killing of the photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi, in a detention center, and concealing the truth of her murder and torture. He was one of the most important people who worked hard to whitewash the regime’s reputation during his tenure as the Ministry of Health.
In this case, Pezeshkian prevented the truth from being clarified and the real perpetrators behind the murder of this journalist, who holds Iranian and Canadian citizenship, being identified by submitting a false report about the real cause of her death.
In an interview during the first decade of the new millennium, Pezeshkian mentioned his role in implementing the “Cultural Revolution,” which was characterized by the suppression of university professors and students and the arrest of thousands of them. He said that the Cultural Revolution began from the Faculty of Medicine at Tabriz University after “the expulsion of leftists from the university.”
He opposed the popular protests that erupted against the backdrop of the killing of the young Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, at the hands of the morality police, and attacked the demonstrators, saying: “Their chanting of slogans against Supreme Leader Khamenei is evidence that they took instructions from abroad and made these mistakes.”
He described these protests as “pre-planned” and “the work of the enemy”, and held “America and Europe” responsible for bringing the country to “such a situation”.
The Harrana Human Rights website confirmed that Pezeshkian has a history of gender discrimination in the Iranian medical system, which is a violation of patients’ right to access medical care without discrimination or differentiation.
Saeed Jalili and the systematic suppression of political activists and protesters
Saeed Jalili, a close associate of Khamenei, has worked in the Supreme National Security Council and the Expediency Discernment Council for twenty years, and is known as one of the serious human rights violators in Iran.
In 2010, during his tenure as Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, house arrest was carried out against Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi, leaders of the Green Movement, who led popular protests against the fraudulent 2009 elections.
Internet blocking and disconnection have been approved by the Supreme National Security Council in many cases in recent years.
The Daddexter website, known as the “Exposure of Human Rights Violators in Iran”, listed violations of freedom of expression and the right to protest, the killing of civilians and the torture of detained protesting citizens, and referred to Jalili’s role in suppressing public protests, shutting down media outlets, and killing civilians in the streets and torturing them by security forces.
Jalili was also involved in the repression of the 2009 protests, which claimed the lives of many citizens protesting the election results.
In a statement earlier, the “Justice for Iran” organization expressed its deep concern about the absolute absence of democratic standards in the presidential election process in Iran, and referred to Saeed Jalili’s role in cutting off the Internet during the November 2017 protests as a member. In the Supreme National Security Council.
Telegram was blocked during the protests that erupted in December 2017, on the orders of the Supreme National Security Council.
A year after the killing of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini by the morality police, Jalili, known for human rights abuses in Iran, said that she had died, not been killed.
During the recent television debate of the presidential election candidates, he emphasized the street war against women who reject the compulsory hijab, once again, saying: “As long as the hijab is a law, it must be implemented.”