Khomeini’s granddaughter barred from contesting poll

TEHRAN: Zahra Eshraghi, the granddaughter of Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has been barred from standing in next month’s parliamentary elections, reformist sources told AFP Monday.

Eshraghi, who is also married to reformist party leader Mohammad Reza Khatami, and is therefore a sister-in-law of President Mohammad Khatami, had registered to stand for a seat in the Majlis in Tehran.

However the conservative-run Guardians Council ruled that she was guilty of “non-respect for Islam”, was “disloyal to the constitution and Islamic republic” and “unknown” to prospective voters where she hoped to stand.

The Guardians Council is a 12-member political oversight body that vets all legislation and also screens candidates for public office. On Sunday it sparked a major crisis when it emerged the body had disqualified massive numbers of reformers.The candidacy of Mohammad Reza Khatami, who heads the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), was also rejected.

Eshraghi, who is aged around 40 and holds a degree in philosophy, is well known for her modernist views and open support of the campaign for greater women’s rights by Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Last October, she was among prominent reformers and activists who gathered at Tehran’s airport to greet Ebadi after the announcement the rights lawyer had won the Nobel Peace Prize. Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989. —AFP

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