TEHRAN: The Iranian parliament on Wednesday blocked the appointment of a politician from the Sunni minority as vice president, state media reported.
In August, President Masoud Pezeshkian had announced the appointment of Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh as his vice president for rural development and disadvantaged areas, citing his “valuable experience.”
But on Wednesday lawmakers voted against his resignation from parliament to take up the vice president post, the official IRNA news agency said.
“Parliament members voted 107 in favor, 129 against, and five abstentions out of the 247 representatives present,” it added.
Sunni Muslims account for around 10 percent of Iran’s population, where the vast majority are Shiites and that branch of Islam is the official state religion.
They have very rarely held key positions of power since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Iran has numerous vice presidents, who are tasked with leading organizations related to presidential affairs in the country.
A 44-year-old reformist, Hosseinzadeh has since 2012 represented the northwestern cities of Naghadeh and Oshnavieh in the Iranian parliament.
He has spoken out publicly on several occasions in defense of the rights of Iran’s Sunnis.
During his election campaign Pezeshkian, himself a reformist, criticized the lack of representation for ethnic and religious minorities, in particular Sunni Kurds, in important positions.
Iran parliament blocks appointment of Sunni to VP post
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Iran parliament blocks appointment of Sunni to VP post
HRW says Israel’s Lebanon evacuation risks violating laws of war
- “Calling on everyone who lives south of the Litani (River) to evacuate immediately raises serious legal and humanitarian red flags,” said Kaiss
- “How are older people, the sick and people with disabilities going to be able to evacuate immediately?”
BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the Israeli military’s call for residents of vast areas of southern Lebanon to evacuate raised “serious risks of violations of the laws of war.”
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel with Israel conducting air strikes across the country and its troops pushing into border towns.
On Thursday, Israel renewed its warning to residents of hundreds of square kilometers (miles) of southern Lebanon to evacuate because of military action.
“Calling on everyone who lives south of the Litani (River) to evacuate immediately raises serious legal and humanitarian red flags and fears for the safety of civilians,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“How are older people, the sick and people with disabilities going to be able to evacuate immediately? And how will their safety be guaranteed as they leave?” he said in a statement from the rights group.
HRW said “the sweeping nature” of Israel’s call raised “concerns that their purpose is not to protect civilians,” adding that the area was home to hundreds of thousands of people.
The evacuation call “raises serious risks of violations of the laws of war,” it added.
Lebanese authorities said dozens of people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced from their homes since Monday.
