Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 21 april 2017
Iran approves 6 to run for president, but Ahmadinejad is out

approve all laws passed President Hamid Baghaei,
by parliament. It has never who also failed to receive
allowed a woman to run approval to run.
for president and routinely “He was an unwanted
rejects political dissidents guest in the election,” Teh-
and others calling for dra- ran-based political analyst
matic reform. Soroush Farhadi said of Ah-
Other presidential candi- madinejad’s disqualifica-
dates who made the cut, tion. He predicted the for-
according to an Interior mer president would none-
Ministry statement carried theless remain politically
by state TV, include mod- active during the cam-
erate Senior Vice President paign to create a “quasi-
Eshaq Jahangiri, former opposition face for himself”
conservative culture min- for the future.
ister Mostafa Mirsalim, and Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a
former pro-reform vice close ally of Ahmadinejad,
president Mostafa Hash- downplayed the two can-
emitaba. didates’ exclusion, saying
Ahmadinejad, who re- on social media that Ah-
mains a deeply polarizing madinejad and Baghaei
figure even among Iranian had only registered out of
hard-liners, had shocked “national, religious and rev-
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani smiles as he attends at the Interior Ministry to register his can- the country by register- olutionary duty.”
didacy for the May 19 presidential elections, in Tehran, Iran. Over 1,600 people registered to run.
Under Iranian law, there’s no fee for registering. Hopefuls only must believe in Iran’s form of gov- ing last week. Khamenei “Thank god, the Guardian
ernment and be Shiite Muslims. had previously urged him Council removed the duty
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) not to run. Ahmadinejad from their shoulders,” he
NASSER KARIMI President Mahmoud Ah- includes two prominent was president from 2005 to wrote.
ADAM SCHRECK madinejad from running in hard-liners: Ebrahim Raisi, 2013, and was best known More than 1,600 people
Associated Press next month’s presidential who is considered close to abroad for his incendiary registered to run for the
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An election, state television re- Supreme Leader Ayatollah rhetoric toward Israel, his May 19 election.
Iranian panel charged ported Thursday. Ali Khamenei, and Tehran questioning of the scale of Under Iran’s clerically over-
with vetting candidates The decision by the Guard- Mayor Mohammad Bagher the Holocaust and his ef- seen system, the president
approved the country’s ian Council means that Qalibaf. forts to ramp up Iran’s nu- is subordinate to Khame-
incumbent president and President Hassan Rouhani, The Guardian Council, a clear program. nei, who is Iran’s top de-
five challengers but dis- a relative moderate, will cleric-dominated body, He said upon registering cision-maker and has the
qualified former hard-line face off against a field that controls elections and must that he was doing so to final say on all matters of
support his former Vice state. q

Kremlin: No reason to believe

gays are abused in Chechnya

MOSCOW (AP) — Vladi- tin should not believe the
mir Putin’s spokesman says “provocative” reports.
the Russian president has The reports, however, have
no reason to doubt the been taken seriously by the
Chechen leader’s assur- U.N. High Commissioner for
ances that there’s no per- Human Rights and promi-
secution of gays in his re- nent international organi-
public, despite reports by zations, which have urged
a respected Russian news- the Russian government
paper of a roundup of gay to investigate. Elaborating
men there. on Wednesday’s Kremlin
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov meeting, Peskov said the
also told journalists Thurs- Chechen leader told Putin
day that investigators have the reports were “slander-
found no evidence to back ous” and had angered
up reports by the Novaya many Chechens, but that
Gazeta newspaper this journalists should not feel
month that police in the threatened. Novaya Gaze-
predominantly Muslim re- ta has said it fears for the
public in southern Russia safety of its journalists after
rounded up more than 100 threats were made dur-
men suspected of homo- ing a large gathering of
sexuality and that at least elders and Islamic leaders
three of them were killed. in Chechnya. “Kadyrov’s
Putin met late Wednes- confirmation that every-
day with Chechen leader thing will be done within
Ramzan Kadyrov, who in a legal framework was of
the televised portion of course approved by the
the meeting suggested Pu- president,” Peskov said.q