Stand on suspension

Religious minorities should not have a representative on the town councils where the majority of the population is Muslim, ruled the Administrative Court of Justice in Iran on October 9, 2017, temporarily suspending 32-year-old independent candidate Sepanta Niknam who was reelected to the City Council of Yazd in May 2017. The first Zoroastrian to have served as a councilor in Yazd since his election in 2013, Niknam, who is an economist, is "the only non-Muslim in the city councils of Iran,” according to Wikipedia.
"If this unlawful precedent is allowed to stand, it could impact all future elections,” Dr Esfandiar Ekhtiari, the Zoroastrian member on the Iranian Parliament, was quoted in a report by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). Reassured that "our MP has taken up the matter at the Parliamentary (Majlis) level and has obtained true backing from the liberals,” Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary responded to Parsiana’s queries stating that Niknam "was asked to attend the Council until a final decision is arrived over the suspension. However, he has avoided doing so as the announcement has not been a formal decree… Besides being elected by the cosmopolitan citizens of Yazd for a second term at the Council he has also been elected by the Zartoshtis of Yazd to lead their local Zartoshti Anjuman.”
Fortunately the liberals are supported by the Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani who confirmed that removing Niknam from his elected seat because he is not a Muslim is illegal. "If this matter is not resolved, we have no choice but to refer it to the Expediency Discernment Council for a final resolution,” Larijani was quoted on Amordadnews.com
"In my mind and in my religion, I know this ruling is not consistent with religion, freedom or logic,” the head of the Yazd City Council Gholamali Sefid told CHRI. He believed Niknam "has not done anything against religion or Islamic law during the years that he has worked as a member of this Council. How can you suddenly change the rules?” In the Radio Farda news report of October 9, Sefid mentioned, "We will try to make sure this verdict does not become finalized and even if this happens, we will take other measures… If a suspension verdict is issued, it will be a big shock to the people and the Council. It will have domestic and international political consequences and will harm the harmony between Yazd’s Muslim majority and the Zoroastrian minority.”

Top: Sepanta Niknam, only non-Muslim councilor in Yazd (above)

"You cannot do everything you like in the name of religion. The people’s votes are sacred,” said Mohammad Taghi Fazel Meybodi, a member of the Assembly of the Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers and a professor of theology at the Mofid University in Tehran, when speaking to CHRI. He further added, "The people have put their trust in a Zoroastrian to be their representative in the City Council. No one can say they can’t do that. This would be against Islam. People’s rights should be respected. They voted for Niknam. That’s the meaning of democracy.”
The issue had apparently arisen a month before the elections in 2017 when Ahmad Jannati, the ultraconservative chairman of the Guardian Council, the clerical body that vets elections for conformity with Islamic principles, declared that religious minorities could not stand as candidates in Muslim majority constituencies. However, as mentioned in the CHRI report, "Article 26 of the Law on the Formation, Duties and Election of National Islamic Councils allows candidates from any of the religions recognized in Articles 12 and 13 of the constitution — Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism.”
Disregarding Jannati’s verdict Larijani permitted all election monitoring boards to resume registering all candidates in accordance with the law. He was supported by the Deputy Speaker Ali Motahari who noted that Jannati’s ruling was not legally binding because the full Council did not issue it.
As compared to 20,189 votes in 2013, Niknam won 21,717 in 2017, it was reported on Wikipedia. Candidate Ali Asghar Bagheri, a Muslim who lost the elections, filed a lawsuit to disqualify Niknam. The verdict in Bagheri’s favor cited the opinion of religious scholars on the Guardian Council who felt that religious minorities should be prohibited. According to Radio Farda, "The Guardian Council which is in charge of overlooking presidential and parliamentary elections in Iran and pre-approving candidates does not have any direct role in City Council elections. City Council candidates should be approved by the Parliament prior to election.”
Believing that Niknam’s candidature should never have been disputed, reformist columnist Masoumeh Asghari reasoned, "What people care about is whether someone is with them or not… Niknam has been decisively elected by both Zoroastrian and non-Zoroastrian citizens of Yazd.”