Khomeini's Grandson Barred From Participating in Elections

 

February 06, 2008 Adnkronos International ­ AKI

Tehran -- Ali Eshraghi, a civil engineer and grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, one of the founding figures of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has been banned from running in upcoming parliamentary elections, Iranian daily Karghozaran reported.

"Probably my reformist ideas were not liked by members of the Council of Guardians," said Eshraghi.

The Council of Guardians is a conservative-controlled body which vets candidates for parliamentary and presidential elections, and will issue its final verdict on 5 March, only nine days before election day.

Parliamentary elections are slated to take place on 14 March and candidates are overwhelmingly drawn from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters.

Eshraghi is not the first of Khomeini's grandsons to be barred from running for office. In 2004, during the last parliamentary elections, Zahra, Ali Eshraghi's youngest sister was declared unfit to stand as a candidate on the list of the Mosharekat Eslami, or Islamic Cooperation.

Zahra is married to one of the brothers of Iran's former reformist president Mohammed Khatami. Islamic Cooperation was founded by her husband.