Rasool Nafisi

WASHNGTON—In early January, following the demise of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, the Society of Teachers and Researchers at Qom Seminaries, a pro-statel clerical body, announced that it did not acknowledge cleric Yusuf Sanei as an ayatollah. The reason for such a decision, like many other seemingly religious decisions of the Islamic regime, was rather political. A great part of politics in today’s Iran is based on clerical rivalry and personal innuendo rooted in the clerical community. more»

Fatemeh Haghighatjoo was a member of Iran’s Parliament from 2000 to 2004, and a prominent advocate of women’s rights and political reform. more»

Termeh Mandegar

TEHRAN—The June 12, 2009, election in Iran allowed students to participate in another social and political event and show their presence. Twelve years earlier, students had been able to persuade the masses to elect the anti-establishment candidate, the reformist Mohammad Khatami. But the students soon became disenfranchised after Khatami failed to meet their demands, and after the bloody events of the summer of 1999, during which student dormitories were attacked by security forces. This alienation and disenfranchisement lead to the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. During his presidency, pressure on students has increased dramatically. The authorities have limited any student behavior seen as criticism of the government to they point that they even shut down student association elections, which had been held every year. more»

Lili Mansouri

BERLIN—The election on June 12 will always be remembered in Iran as the day of a coup d’état to alter Iran’s politics, but it should also be remembered as coup for women. Four years earlier, on June 12, 2005, thousands of people who had participated in a demonstration asking for the elimination of all discrimination against women. That year, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was running for president for the first time. He was the only candidate who did not have any campaign slogans regarding women and their affairs. Once he took office, it became apparent that he did not have any plans for women either. more»

Kazem Alamdari

LOS ANGELES—In the past thirty years, the power structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran has moved from populism to clientelism, and now to militarism. The triangle of power that includes Supreme Leader Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is much more fragile as opposed to the previous power structures. Why? more»