Rasa News Agency - In an exclusive interview with Rasa News Agency, Ayatollah Sayyed Ahmad Khatami, a senior member of the Assembly of Experts, spoke about the upcoming Assembly of Experts elections.
The Assembly of Experts is a deliberative body of Islamic theologians that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities. Members of the assembly are elected from lists of candidates by direct public vote for eight-year terms. The current chairman of the Assembly is Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi-Kani, who was elected in March 2011.
Ayatollah Khatami said that according to the medical team treating Ayatollah Mahdavi-Kani, the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, is recovering well from a heart attack he suffered in June and is conscious. He discussed the controversy over the 83-year scholars’ age and health and whether his position should be replaced before the September elections.
The Friday prayer leader of Tehran stated that the upcoming fourth session of the Assembly of Experts will held from the second to the forth of September, and it is there where the candidacy of Ayatollah Mahdavi-Kani will be decided.
“We pray that God Almighty gives Ayatollah Mahdavi-Kani a quite recovery and we should not speak of holding an election [to replace him] as the chairman of the Assembly of Experts. Coinciding with the meeting of the Assembly of Experts, we will introduce the candidates as planned on September 2nd,” Ayatollah Khatami warned.
His Eminence noted that consultations in this regard do not mean an administration will be formed. “While some are trying to take their seats in the Assembly of Experts, the problem is not new and democracy and republicanism requires it. But you should know that the dignity of the Assembly of Experts is far higher than the lobby groups,” he warned.
In response to a question whether the age requirement for the president of the Assembly of Experts is a concern or not, Ayatollah Khatami said: “I have heard of this problem and the case has not been made by the Guardian Council, but it is only reasonable that the conditions of the elected person should based on knowledge and whether they are a worthy scholar and have reached the status of ijtihad [independent reasoning].
“Of course, I am not referring to my own age, but rather health is a concern. God Almighty has blessed Ayatollah Nouri-Hamadani with a long life – he is currently 90 years of age, but he has the abilities of a 30-year old! Thus, I do not take age to be a requirement,” said the 54-year old Ayatollah.
Abol-Hasan Navvab, a member of the Combatant Clergy Association [a political party], had previously said that the efforts of some politicians to raise the age requirement for President of the Assembly of Experts is false, irrational, an incorrect. He explained that if age was a condition, than most of the current members of the Assembly of Experts would not be eligible, including Ayatollahs Jannati, Khazali, and Yazdi.
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