Deputy of Qom Seminary: The Majority of the Seminary Does Not Support Rouhani’s Government

The deputy of propaganda for Qom Seminary, while denying reports about his role in organizing a gathering of clergy opposed to the government, stated that “the majority of the seminary does not support Mr. Rouhani’s government”.

Mohammad Hassan Nabavi on Sunday, the fourth of Shahrivar, in an interview with the news website Khabar Online said that he “did not participate” in the gathering of clergy opposed to the government.

He also expressed lack of knowledge about which institution had issued the permit for this gathering, and at the same time said that organizing gatherings in the seminary “is not without accounting.”

Mr. Nabavi, regarding the controversial slogan written at this gathering, said: “This is a very wrong thing and should not have given an excuse to others; but the real question is whether from this slogan, it is really understood that we will kill the president?”

He also said that “the majority of the seminary does not support Mr. Rouhani’s government.”

Mr. Nabavi, referring to his statements during last year’s presidential election period, emphasized: “Whoever promotes corruption and seeks to give concessions to those without hijab in order to get votes… even if they get votes, it is against Islamic law.”

At a gathering held on the 25th of Mordad with the theme of “demanding economic justice” at Feiziyeh School in Qom, an image of a slogan at the ceremony that implicitly threatened Hassan Rouhani with the fate of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani made headlines.

The Iran newspaper had reported that the organizers of this gathering said: “The political center of the seminaries is also the organizer, and the propaganda deputy of the seminaries is our defender.”

According to this report, the main members of the faculty association and the “Imam Sadiq Battalion” which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were the organizers of this gathering.

The faculty association is a group that supported Ibrahim Raisi in the presidential election. Hussein Tayebi-Far, commander of the special Hawza battalion, called the “Imam Sadiq Battalion,” was one of the speakers at this ceremony.

However, following protests from Naser Makarem Shirazi and Hussein Nouri Hamadani, sources of emulation in Qom, and the Society of Qom Seminary Teachers, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps denied the role of its forces in organizing the gathering.

According to reports, the “Imam Sadiq Battalion” played a role in suppressing prominent clergy critical of the government during the leadership of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and some critical sources of emulation, including Ayatollah Montazeri and Ayatollah Ahmad Azari Qomi, had spoken about the role of this battalion’s forces in attacking their offices and homes.

Ayatollah Montazeri in a famous speech that led to his house arrest, announced that he had sent a message to Ayatollah Khamenei, “What right does such a battalion have to come to Qom and stir up a bunch of kids and disrupt the seminary.”

On Sunday, Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje’i, spokesman for the judiciary, announced the formation of a file in this regard at the “Special Prosecutor’s Office for Clergy.”

Several days after the gathering of Qom Seminary, Iranian news sites reported that Mansour Arzeshi, a famous mourning reciter from Tehran who is usually seen at ceremonies attended by Ayatollah Khamenei, repeated threats to kill Hassan Rouhani.

Meanwhile, Laaya Joneydi, legal deputy of Hassan Rouhani, said she would file a complaint against “those who insult the president.”

Source: Radio Farda