Cleric Calls for More Censorship

An influential cleric has called for increased censorship, bans on concerts and greater solidarity among hardliners.

Iran’s cultural environment was currently in “chaos,” Mohammadali Movahedi Kermani announced to an audience at the closing ceremony for the Islamic Student Association conference at Mash-had Ferdosi University in mid-February. He urged Ministry of Culture officials to practice restraint when granting permits for publications and complained that there were not enough “useful” books presented at fairs and conferences.

 “Under the present conditions, authorities should initiate a jihadist movement,” he said, according to Rasanews. He emphasized the need for censorship and called for “obscene concerts” to be banned. Authorities, he said, must take steps to “prevent the spread of perversion in society.” If measures for combating unIslamic behavior were not working, new strategies needed to be put in place, he said, pointing to the example of “bad hejab,” when women fail to observe strict rules regarding wearing the Islamic headscarf. Authorities must “use another method” if the current approach was not working, he said.

Kermani is one of Tehran’s Friday Imams and a member of the Assembly of Experts. He is also the former representative for the Supreme Leader to the Revolutionary Guards.

His comments were the latest in a series of attacks on the Rouhani administration’s cultural policies. “It is the duty of both government and its people to prevent sins,” Kermani told the audience, and “inappropriate” people should not be put in charge of cultural affairs. “The government should give strict orders,” and not pander to those going against Islamic values, Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported Kermani as saying. “We should react to every single sin and eradicate obscene films and dangerous concerts.”

Kermani called for unity among hardliners. He said that, instead of doing everything they could to ensure Islamic values were upheld, many people were attending to other, less important matters. This, he said, put the moral and virtuous citizens of Iran in danger of isolation. “Principlists should solve their difference of opinions, unify and guide people with knowledge and insight,” he said.

This was particularly important in the run up to the forthcoming Assembly of Experts elections in 2016, reported Rasanews. Hardliners could not afford to be indifferent, he said, because the assembly is responsible for appointing the Supreme Leader. Ali Khamenei was “bravely protecting the Islamic Revolution.” But the question of Experts was important, Kermani said. “People should actively participate in the election and vote for the most appropriate candidates.”

The 83-year-old Kermani has been the representative of Kerman Province in the Assembly of Experts since the birth of the Islamic Republic. Under Imam Khomeini’s leadership, he was appointed as the Friday Imam of the city of Kermanshah. He was the MP for Kerman throughout the first five sessions of parliament. Following this, he was an MP for Tehran. He was also the Supreme Leader’s representative for the Revolutionary Guards for 14 years, holding the position during the 2005 presidential election.

The Leader appointed him as Tehran’s temporary Friday Imam in 2012. Following the death of Mohammadreza Mahdavi Kani in December 2014, he became the General Secretary of the Association of Combatant Clerics, which is one of the leading hardliner organizations in the country.

During his speech, Kermani also took the opportunity to remind his audience about the important practice of zakat, or donating to and supporting the poor. “The government should maintain a strong link with the poor,” he said. “It should see to their economic problems and solve them.”

Read the original article in Persian