Iranians Vote for ‘Inconsequential’ Parliament

Iranian women cast their votes at a polling center in southern Tehran on Friday (AFP)
Iranian women cast their votes at a polling center in southern Tehran on Friday (AFP)
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Iranians Vote for ‘Inconsequential’ Parliament

Iranian women cast their votes at a polling center in southern Tehran on Friday (AFP)
Iranian women cast their votes at a polling center in southern Tehran on Friday (AFP)

Iranians headed to polls on Friday to choose a new parliament, but the outcome isn’t expected to change foreign policy or ease tensions with the West over the nation’s nuclear program.

These elections are seen as a test of the religious establishment’s popularity in Iran, following protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody a year and a half ago.

According to the semi-official news agency in Iran associated with the Revolutionary Guard, polling stations opened Friday morning for the twelfth parliamentary elections, alongside the selection of the Assembly of Experts, which oversees Iran’s Supreme Leader.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling voting a “religious duty,” was among the first to cast their ballot. Government officials echoed his message, urging Iranians to vote.

“Vote as soon as possible... Make our friends happy and disappoint our enemies,” said Khamenei.

On his part, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i remarked: “Voting brings joy to people and sadness to the enemy.”

Meanwhile, Mohammad Reza Aref, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, thanked God for making enemies “foolish.”

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi voted at the Interior Ministry’s polling station, calling the elections a “national celebration” symbolizing “unity and solidarity.”

“In our elections, both candidates and voters act out of duty,” said Raisi.

Esmail Qaani, who commands the Revolutionary Guard’s foreign arm, affirmed that enthusiastic participation ensures security, likening it to “fighting a battle against enemies trying to weaken morale.”

Turnout in the 2022 parliamentary elections dropped to 42.5%, a significant decline from around 62% in 2016.

Over 15,000 candidates are vying for the 290 parliamentary seats, with the term set to begin in April for four years.

It goes without saying that it is difficult to confirm the actual voter turnout without independent monitoring. Media relies on official Iranian sources for information.

Polling stations were supposed to close at 6 p.m. local time on Friday (15:00 GMT), but authorities extended the voting time, which could suggest lower turnout.



Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladeshi police detectives on Friday forced the discharge from hospital of three student protest leaders blamed for deadly unrest, taking them to an unknown location, staff told AFP.

Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder are all members of Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing this month's street rallies against civil service hiring rules.

At least 195 people were killed in the ensuing police crackdown and clashes, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, in some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure.

All three were patients at a hospital in the capital Dhaka, and at least two of them said their injuries were caused by torture in earlier police custody.

"They took them from us," Gonoshasthaya hospital supervisor Anwara Begum Lucky told AFP. "The men were from the Detective Branch."

She added that she had not wanted to discharge the student leaders but police had pressured the hospital chief to do so.

Islam's elder sister Fatema Tasnim told AFP from the hospital that six plainclothes detectives had taken all three men.

The trio's student group had suspended fresh protests at the start of this week, saying they had wanted the reform of government job quotas but not "at the expense of so much blood".

The pause was due to expire earlier on Friday but the group had given no indication of its future course of action.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location.

Islam added that he had come to his senses the following morning on a roadside in Dhaka.

Mahmud earlier told AFP that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Three senior police officers in Dhaka all denied that the trio had been taken from the hospital and into custody on Friday.

- Garment tycoon arrested -

Police told AFP on Thursday that they had arrested at least 4,000 people since the unrest began last week, including 2,500 in Dhaka.

On Friday police said they had arrested David Hasanat, the founder and chief executive of one of Bangladesh's biggest garment factory enterprises.

His Viyellatex Group employs more than 15,000 people according to its website, and its annual turnover was estimated at $400 million by the Daily Star newspaper last year.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police inspector Abu Sayed Miah said Hasanat and several others were suspected of financing the "anarchy, arson and vandalism" of last week.

Bangladesh makes around $50 billion in annual export earnings from the textile trade, which services leading global brands including H&M, Gap and others.

Student protests began this month after the reintroduction in June of a scheme reserving more than half of government jobs for certain candidates.

With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina's Awami League.

- 'Call to the nation' -

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on Sunday but fell short of protesters' demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Hasina continued a tour of government buildings that had been ransacked by protesters, on Friday visiting state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which was partly set ablaze last week.

"Find those who were involved in this," she said, according to state news agency BSS.

"Cooperate with us to ensure their punishment. I am making this call to the nation."