Iranian Entrepreneur Accuses Government of Incompetence

An entrepreneur and industry activist in Iran's central Markazi province has been accused by security agencies of "confounding the public mind and encouraging citizens to fight and kill each other," IranWire reports. 

Hamidreza Najafi, who has been running a car design company since 2010, has been summoned to the prosecutor's office several times in recent months.

According to an informed source who spoke to IranWire, security agencies are targeting Najafi because of his critical videos on social media, in which he has criticized the government's economic and social policies.

In one video, Najafi spoke about the power outage crisis that has affected industrial centers in Iran. He said that the "government's lack of understanding of productivity has led to the crisis."

The source said that the interrogator in the case asked Najafi to commit to not using social media so that a new case would not be filed against him.

He has also been threatened with arrest by the security agencies but has continued to speak out.

Najafi is one of the friends of Mohammad Najafi, a human rights lawyer in Markazi province. Both men are facing charges of "confounding the public mind" and "encouraging citizens to fight and kill each other."

They were scheduled to appear in court on July 21.

Hamidreza Najafi has said that he is worried about the future of Iran and that the government's 44-year record has shown that it is not fit to rule the country.