Iran judiciary cites numerous violations ahead of elections News
Iran judiciary cites numerous violations ahead of elections

The Iranian judiciary news service Mizan reported [text, in Arabic] Tuesday that there have been over 60 violations of election law and two arrests leading up to planned presidential elections in the country later this week. The election, which is scheduled for Friday, is among current President Hassan Rouhani [BBC profile] and a handful of challengers. Rouhani is favored to win the election after he was able to negotiate a deal over the nuclear sanctions. The infractions [DailyMail report] leading up to the elections were committed by “governors, county chiefs, district chiefs and the heads of government offices” as reported by Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei. The two arrests were in connection with an attempt to steal rival campaign documents. The government has not released information about any of the other violations, only saying that they are being pursued by the courts. The tensions building in the nation are between the moderate and hardline political factions.

The main political challenger Ebrahim Raisi, who was a former member of the often criticized hardline judiciary, has been criticized for executions of jailed dissidents during his time as prosecutor in the 1980’s. The choice the nation is faced is with the more conservative Raisi who might follow the hardline policy that many of the courts follow. In April the Supreme Court of Iran upheld [JURIST report] the conviction and five-year prison sentence of a British-Iranian woman, but did not disclose the crime she is accused of committing. Conditions in the Iranian prison system has led to the US Department of the Treasury to implement sanctions [JURIST report] against the Iranian prison company Tehran Prisons Organization and one of its senior officials over conditions and treatment of prisoners, many of which are political opponents.