New governor for restive Iran province to be sworn in on Wed

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jan. 03 – The new governor for Iran’s restive province of Kurdistan will be sworn in on Wednesday, several Persian-language websites reported on Tuesday. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 03 – The new governor for Iran’s restive province of Kurdistan will be sworn in on Wednesday, several Persian-language websites reported on Tuesday.

Ismaeil Najjar will be sworn in as provincial governor in a ceremony attended by Iran’s Interior Minister Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi.

Najjar will take over from Assadollah Razani.

Since taking office, Ahmadinejad has dismissed more than a dozen of Iran’s provincial governors and in many cases installed Revolutionary Guards veterans in their places.

The western province of Kurdistan has been a hotbed of anti-government protests and over the past year Kurdish youths have repeatedly clashed with security forces. A number of demonstrators were killed by agents of the State Security Forces who were attempting to prevent an escalation of dissent.