CAMERA Tells Times Dispatch: No, ‘Moderates’ Did Not Win in the Iran Elections
(The letter below was published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch on March 11, 2016)
“The Times-Dispatch editorial “Iran votes for reform—maybe (March 3)” omits important information about the recent elections in Iran for parliament and the Assembly of Experts.
The editorial rightfully notes that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is “described as a moderate,” but “does not resemble Joe Biden or John Kasich.” This is correct—Rouhani is a regime insider who served as first secretary of the Supreme National Security Council when the Islamic Republic bombed Israel’s embassy and a Jewish community center in early 1990’s Argentina and assassinated regime critics on European soil.
Yet, the Times-Dispatch omitted that Iran’s unelected Guardian Council disqualified around 60 percent of the candidates who sought to run for parliament, including 99 percent of the reformist candidates, as well as 80 percent of the candidates for the Assembly of Experts. The latter body chooses the Supreme Leader, the man who ultimately holds final say in the Islamic Republic’s totalitarian theocratic system.
Of those not disqualified, Saeed Ghasseminejad, an analyst with Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a D.C.-think tank, said that the Rouhani camp saw it “could not win the AoE [Assembly of Experts] election so it decided to announce those who win are moderate and reformist even if they say they are not.”
If Rouhani did—as the editorial claims—receive a “boost,” it was from similarly immoderate regime insiders like former intelligence minister Ghorbnali Dorri Njafabadi and Mohammed Emami-Kashani, among others. The former is believed to be responsible for killing Iranian dissidents, the latter claims that the United States and Israel created al-Qaeda. Both won elections as “moderates.”
Reformers did not, as your editorial states, prevail in the elections. The regime did.
Sincerely,
Sean Durns
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America”
Note: This post was updated on March 20, 2016
More from SNAPSHOTS
Haaretz Editorial Repeats Inaccuracy About East Jerusalem Arabs
April 17, 2018
Despite the fact that just last month Haaretz corrected a news story which erred on the status of east Jerusalem Arabs, an April 10 editorial again misrepresents about the rights of this population, stating: Palestinians [...]
AP and Times of Israel Correct,
Haaretz Retains“Explosive Bullets” ChargeApril 13, 2018
Update: To its credit, Haaretz has also corrected its piece. After intervention by CAMERA, the Associated Press and Times of Israel have commendably corrected stories relaying the outlandish claim that gunshot injuries with exit wounds [...]
‘Moderate’ Fatah Names Children’s Summer Camp After Murderer
April 12, 2018
Khalil al-Wazir and Yasser Arafat, Abbas' predecessor Fatah, the movement that dominates the West Bank-ruling Palestinian Authority (PA), has named a children’s summer camp after a terrorist. Major media outlets routinely describe both Fatah and [...]
Top Palestinian Official: Hamas is Using Human Shields in Gaza for Media Coverage
April 9, 2018
Mahmoud al-Habbash. Image courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch A high-ranking Palestinian Authority (PA) official, Mahmoud al-Habbash, has said that Hamas is sending civilians to die in violent demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border in order to [...]
Where’s the Coverage? Syria Violates Demilitarized Buffer Zone with Israel
April 8, 2018
Bashar al-Assad The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad has placed tanks and heavy artillery inside a demilitarized border zone with Israel. Although Assad’s move violates a “decades-old agreement,” it was widely ignored by major U.S. [...]