A list of 100 people and a world of controversy about dual-nationality managers

Javad Karimi Qodousi says he was initially against publishing the list of dual-national managers, but now that the list has been published, the finger of accusation is pointed at this conservative member of parliament. One accusation is that he is of Afghan origin.

A list of 100 people in two sections, blue and green, which Javad Karimi Ghoddousi, a fundamentalist member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, says is the result of a year of work by the parliament's investigation committee on dual citizenship, has become the source of much debate and controversy.

A summary of the report of the Islamic Consultative Assembly's Investigation and Investigation Committee on dual-national government officials was first presented on Tuesday, July 23, by Javad Karimi Ghoddousi, a member of the Assembly's National Security Commission.

However, the main focus of Karimi Ghoddousi's remarks was not on the report itself, but on the publication or non-publication of a list included in the committee's report, which includes a list of government officials who are suspected of having dual citizenship.

The list consists of two parts: the first part concerns those who “based on evidence and circumstantial evidence, there is a possibility that they may have dual citizenship.” The second part concerns the names of managers who “based on available evidence, there is a strong suspicion that they may have dual citizenship.”

The first list also includes the name of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and the controversy has begun from there.

Karimi Ghodousi: This list should not have been published

In his eight-and-a-half-minute speech in the open court of the parliament, Javad Karimi Ghoddousi clarified that the preparation of this list was the result of a year of work by the investigation and investigation committee, and to prepare it, they went to various institutions, from the security police to the passport police, the IRGC intelligence, the judiciary, and the Ministry of Intelligence, and finally read the report of this one-year work in the parliament's National Security Commission.

Karimi Ghoddoosi says that during the reading of the report, he insisted that the list not be published, and that the reason was that “society does not have the capacity to accept hearing these names.” He mentions the name of Mustafa Kawakbian, a reformist representative, and claims that during the National Security Council meeting, “our brother Mr. Kawakbian insisted that the names be read,” and apparently, in the end, due to his insistence, the list was read at that meeting.

Karimi Ghoddoosi says that after reading this list at the National Security Commission meeting of the Parliament, he insisted that now that the list had been read, at least not publish it, “but then Mr. Rahimi [Rahimi Jahanabadi, a reformist MP] gave an interview and said that Mr. Rouhani’s name was on this list.”

These two lists have been published on the Moj website, and in the first part, in addition to Hassan Rouhani's name, there are also the names of other people such as Masoumeh Ebtekar, Vice President for Women, and Saeed Namaki, the current Minister of Health.

The second list, which concerns those who are "strongly suspected" of having dual citizenship, includes the names of Mohammad Nahavandian, the President's Chief of Staff, and Abdolrasoul Dori Esfahani, head of the Monetary and Banking Committee of the Nuclear Negotiating Body.

On August 1, the Moj website published a photo of a court ruling according to which Dori Esfahani was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of espionage.

Karimi Quddousi: My seven ancestors were not in Afghanistan

Karimi Qodousi, the representative of Mashhad, mentions in his speech that after the publication of this list, in which he apparently had no role and was even opposed to its publication, he is being "accused" by some of being originally from Afghanistan.

This Mashhad representative says: "If Mr. Rahimi has a document stating that one of our ancestors was in Afghanistan for even seven generations and came here, he should broadcast this document on the Iranian Broadcasting System... Otherwise, I ask the Afghan government to come and investigate if we have had a vein and root throughout history in the Afghan people. Let them say, 'We are also returning to Afghanistan.'"

Karimi Ghoddoosi is referring to the words of Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, a reformist representative from Torbat Jam, who strongly criticized Karimi Ghoddoosi and said: " Who gave you an Iranian ID card, who allowed you to join the ranks of the system, how many days of frontline experience do you have, how many operations have you participated in to reach the rank of general? Since when did you become Iranian when we were not Iranians?"

In another part of his speech, Rahimi Jahanabadi said: "Mr. Karimi Ghodousi, when your ancestors, your relatives from Afghanistan were attacking Iran, we were Iranians and we were defending Iran."

Of course, references to Karimi Ghodousi's lineage were not limited to the parliament. Mahmoud Vaezi, the head of the presidential office, also said about the publication of the list of dual nationals: "We do not know where these people come from or where they come from. They make these statements so that no one will ask them where they come from."

The head of the presidential office also welcomed the publication of this list, saying: "We were happy that they published this list, and in front of each of them it is written that it was compiled based on evidence and evidence."

Vaezi, however, continued: "That is, you can make any claim based on evidence about anyone, anywhere in the world, and it turns out that none of the gentlemen's statements have any basis."

Parliamentary Vice President: I deny it.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency, IRNA, Hossein Ali Amiri, the parliamentary deputy to the president, said on the sidelines of a government meeting on Wednesday: "The Minister of Intelligence has repeatedly denied the list of dual nationals. What has been published in the media since yesterday is based on doubt, ambiguity, and 'what is being said' and is not correct."

Amiri emphasized: "I deny this list of dual nationals."

Proposed ban on employing dual nationals

Since October of last year, a bill has been under consideration in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, according to which the election or appointment of dual citizens in “all institutions that in any way use the general budget of the entire country” is prohibited. It is also prohibited to employ holders of “permanent or long-term residence permits for more than one year from foreign countries” and “ownership of land or property in foreign countries.”

However, this plan has not yet been approved and is highly controversial. Among them, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, former head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, said about this plan: "The rights and concerns of Iranians must be taken into account in the issue of citizenship. Dual residency and citizenship are not crimes."

Last year, the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Parliament began an investigation into "dual-nationality individuals and green card holders in the field of officials and senior managers" and presented its final report on August 17.

The introduction to this report, citing Article 989 of the Civil Code and Principles 41 and 42 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, emphasizes that dual citizenship is not accepted in Iranian law and that an individual's foreign citizenship is not valid except in cases such as "acquiring dual citizenship through place of birth or marriage of an Iranian woman to a foreign national."

The report states that Iran's laws for identifying dual nationals and employing them in executive agencies have many shortcomings and ambiguities that must be addressed.

Source: DW