Hardline cleric puts his faith in force



The diminutive and scrawny octogenarian is little known in the West, which he holds in contempt, but Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati wields considerable influence in Iran, where he is braying for the execution of pro-democracy protesters. A long-time bête noire of the reformist movement, the white-bearded cleric is the veteran head of Iran's powerful Guardian Council, which screens candidates for national elections and has, notoriously, banned thousands in recent years for being too "liberal". Bills passed by parliament also have to be cleared by the hardline body of 12 jurists and clerics.

Ayatollah Jannati is in the limelight now as the leading radical voice who insists that Iran's post-election crisis can be controlled through brutal force. More pragmatic conservatives, however, see the need for compromise with the opposition as the best hope of dragging the regime out of its worst, self-inflicted crisis. But, proclaimed Ayatollah Jannati last week: If rioters are not dealt with firmly and strongly, the situation will become more serious in the future - "There is no space for tolerance." He cited the Quran and Islamic teachings to justify the execution of protesters.

The opposition's main leaders have made conciliatory statements in recent weeks. Despite their rejection of the presidential vote, they insist that they remain staunchly loyal to the Islamic Republic, but want an end to authoritarianism and force. For the disenchanted and angry electorate to accept any deal, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would probably have to make a major concession, such as forcing the president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to step down, analysts say. The president is anyway deeply unpopular with many pragmatic conservatives.

In turn, opposition leaders have made clear that they will strive to rein in their more radical supporters. "We do not want to make another revolution and do not seek the overthrow of the regime," Mehdi Karroubi, a candidate in June's elections and one of the opposition's most outspoken leaders, said in an interview with the Financial Times last week. He also criticised chants by some protesters who have called for an end to the Islamist government and who have lambasted the supreme leader.

Meanwhile, in an interview posted on a reformist website last Thursday, Mr Karrubi, a former parliamentary speaker, appeared to be transferring responsibility for the brutal post-election actions away from Ayatollah Khamenei to Ayatollah Jannati. "He [Jannati] says that claims of fraud are totally false and calls it a crime against the nation, but who does not know that he has committed crimes against the revolution, the blood of the martyrs, the imam and the dear people of Iran," Mr Karrubi said.

By targeting Ayatollah Jannati, Mr Karroubi may be hoping to give Ayatollah Khamenei the opportunity to reclaim his position as a neutral arbiter between the opposition and the regime's hardliners, some analysts say. The supreme leader, however, has given no signal that he is willing to compromise, while Ayatollah Jannati, who is close to both him and Mr Ahmadinejad, insists concessions will be seen as signs of weakness.

"Any time we show laxness we will suffer blows," he told Friday prayer worshippers last week in a typically fiery sermon. "When it comes to suppressing the enemy, divine compassion and leniency have no meaning." He went on to praise Iran's judiciary chief for the swift execution last week of two alleged members of a banned monarchist group and urged him "to execute others if they do not give up such protests".

The two men, who were hanged at dawn last Thursday, were convicted of being enemies of God and plotting to topple the Islamist regime. But Iran's opposition, which condemned the executions, said the men had been arrested months before the June vote and were not involved in the post-election street protests. Nine other people have been sentenced to death over the unrest, the judiciary said. The executions, the first of alleged activists since the June vote, were seen as an attempt to deter people from attending huge protest rallies on the February 11 anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iran's political crisis now appears set to deepen. On Saturday, the judiciary put another 16 alleged protesters on trial while Mr Karrubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister and the man millions of Iranians believe was the true winner of June's elections, defiantly called on demonstrators to take to the streets on February 11. The Revolutionary Guard warned that anyone not involved in official rallies would be "firmly confronted".

Mr Karroubi and Mr Mousavi have also rounded on Ayatollah Jannati over his lurid calls for the harsh treatment of protesters. "It is regrettable to see the Friday prayers tribune has turned into a venue for inciting violence and encouraging more executions," the two opposition leaders were quoted as saying. The remark came in an account of a recent meeting between the two reformist leaders that was posted on Mr Mousavi's Facebook page and on Mr Karroubi's news website.

Aside from the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Jannati, who speaks Arabic as well as his native Farsi, holds political office in two other important bodies. He is on the Assembly of Experts, which selects and advises the supreme leader and which technically has the power to remove him. And he is a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, which serves to resolve disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council.

He was also one of the founders of the Haqqani seminary, which teaches that Islam and democracy are incompatible. The Ahmadinejad government has endowed the seminary - one of Qom's most prestigious theological schools - with generous subsidies. Many of its former students occupy senior positions in Iran's security and judicial establishment. By some accounts, Ayatollah Jannati also created the feared Ansar Hizbollah vigilante militia, which over the years has attacked reformist students and served as motorcycle-riding shock troops used to crush street protests.

Farideh Farhi, a leading Iran expert at the University of Hawaii, said in an interview: "Jannati represents the most extremist thought in Iran, always calling for a forceful and non-accommodating approach to any form of dissent in the Islamic Republic." Diatribes against the West also frequently pepper his Friday prayer sermons. He once branded Bill Clinton, the former US president, as a "sexual sadist" and accused him of "moral decadence". On another occasion, Ayatollah Jannati said: "The British are the worst con men, the most devious people and they are foxier than everyone else."

mtheodoulou@thenational.ae

The Beach Bum

Director: Harmony Korine

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg

Two stars

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

England's Ashes squad

Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes. 

Trippier bio

Date of birth September 19, 1990

Place of birth Bury, United Kingdom

Age 26

Height 1.74 metres

Nationality England

Position Right-back

Foot Right

History's medical milestones

1799 - First small pox vaccine administered

1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery

1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases

1895 - Discovery of x-rays

1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time

1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1953 - Structure of DNA discovered

1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place 

1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill

1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.

1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out

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7.30pm Dubai City Of Gold Group 2 $350,000 (T) 2,410m

The National selections:

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5.10pm Space Blues

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6.20pm Barney Roy

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7.30pm Defoe

Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

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Expert advice

“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”

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Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5

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The biog

Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents

Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University

As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families

Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too

Russia's Muslim Heartlands

Dominic Rubin, Oxford

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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion

The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".

The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.

He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.

"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.

As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.

What is the FNC?

The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning. 
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval. 
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
 

Abu Dhabi Card

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 1,400m

National selection: AF Mohanak

5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 90,000 1,400m

National selection: Jayide Al Boraq

6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 100,000 1,400m

National selection: Rocket Power

6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship Listed (PA) Dh 180,000 1,600m

National selection: Ihtesham

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 1,600m

National selection: Noof KB

7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 2.200m

National selection: EL Faust