Iran Focus: Tehran, May 15 – From the Grapevine… Brig. Gen. Nematollah Hakim is a veteran commander of the Revolutionary Guard. He is also in the inner circle of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad loyalists.
Iran Focus
Tehran, May 15 – From the Grapevine…
Brig. Gen. Nematollah Hakim is a veteran commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He is also in the inner circle of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad loyalists and was in charge of Ahmadinejad’s Public Relations Office during the presidential elections last summer. He currently works in the Office of the President and participates in inauguration ceremonies for new provincial governors in his capacity as a statesman. In one instance, on 21 February 2010, he participated in the inauguration ceremony of Hamedan’s new governor, Karam-Reza Piriai, on behalf of the Presidential office.
There has been a wave of protests in Iran in condemnation of the hanging of five political activists last Sunday. The five were Shirin Alam-Houli, 29, a political prisoner from the city of Kurdish town of Maku, Farzad Kamangar, 35, a teacher with 12 years of experience and member of the Teachers’ Trade Association in Iranian Kurdistan, Ali Heydarian and Farhad Vakili, political activists from the city of Sanandaj, and Mehdi Eslamian.
Iran Focus has learnt that General Hakim this week privately expressed alarm about the prospect of a rising tide of protests in Kurdistan in the aftermath of the executions, linking the weakness of the regime in confronting the popular uprising to its political appointments in Kurdistan. “At Ahmadinejad’s office, I have on many occasions criticised the manner in which officials are appointed in Kurdistan. Esmail Mohammad-Najjar [the brother of Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar] was chosen as the governor there without having the competence and ability to govern,” Hakim complained.
He added: “Mohammad-Najjar does not seem to grasp the fact that the people of Kurdistan do not accept the Islamic Republic and provoking them would lead to certain losses. In such sensitive times, this governor has hoisted a flag [praising Shiite Imam Ali] beside a Sunni mosque. This is a provocative act. The day after, two Sunni youngsters tried to take the flag down and the armed forces at the base shot them both. This incident led to clashes. Why should a governor be appointed to run a sensitive province without having the required political aptitude?”
