DUBAI: Iran’s supreme leader on Tuesday ruled out the holding of popular referendums on state policies.
Iran faced calls for a referendum on the Islamic Republic itself during anti-government protests last year, and a moderate former president recently suggested such votes should be held to decide major policies as a way of reducing divisions.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say over such policies, rejected the idea when asked about it during a meeting with university students.
“Where in the world is this done? Is it possible to hold a referendum for various issues of the country?” he asked. “For any single issue, the country would be engaged in debate and arguments and polarization for six months, so that a referendum can be held on that issue.”
He appeared to be referring to recent remarks by former President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, who had suggested holding referendums on domestic and foreign policies.
Iran holds regular presidential and parliamentary elections overseen by clerical bodies that vet candidates. Under the constitution, a referendum is only possible if two-thirds of parliament votes for it and a 12-member constitutional body — half of whom are appointed by the supreme leader — approves.
Iran saw months of nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the death in September of a 22-year-old woman who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code. The protests rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the ruling clerics, marking a major challenge to their four-decade rule.
The protests died down earlier this year amid a violent crackdown by authorities, though there are lingering signs of discontent.
Iran held referendums to establish an Islamic Republic and approve a new constitution shortly after the 1979 revolution. It held another referendum in the late 1980s to amend the constitution.
Iran’s top leader rules out referendums on divisive issues
https://arab.news/jg6ys
Iran’s top leader rules out referendums on divisive issues
- Holding of such votes was impractical and would only worsen the country’s polarization
- Iran holds regular presidential and parliamentary elections overseen by clerical bodies that vet candidates
Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe
RAQQA: Baghdad on Friday urged European states to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who fought for Daesh, and who are now being moved to Iraq from detention camps in Syria.
Europeans were among 150 Daesh prisoners transferred so far by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria. They were among an estimated 7,000 militants due to be moved across the border to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swaths of territory to the advancing Syrian army.
In a telephone call on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said European countries should take back and prosecute their nationals.
An Iraqi security official said the 150 so far transferred to Iraq were “all leaders of the Daesh group, and some of the most notorious criminals.” They included “Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis,” he said.
Another Iraqi security source said the group comprised “85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region.”
They all took part in Daesh operations in Iraq, he said, and were now being held at a prison in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “non-Iraqi terrorists will be in Iraq temporarily.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces jailed thousands of militant fighters and detained tens of thousands of their relatives in camps as it pushed out Daesh in 2019 after five years of fighting.
