Mr. Hashemi’s Family
Hashemi’s Children and Politics
According to Iran Gate, Mr. Hashemi’s family, without a doubt, the children of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani are a significant part of his political life because many of the criticisms and attacks directed at Hashemi by his critics were focused on his children.
Faezeh Hashemi
Faezeh, who is sixty years old, was a representative of Tehran in the fifth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. She is the second daughter of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Politically, Hashemi leans towards reformism and is considered one of the founding members of the Executives of Construction Party. She is a member of the board of directors of the Office for the Publication of the Revolution’s Teachings, which publishes the works and memoirs of Hashemi Rafsanjani.
She holds a Ph.D. in Human Rights from Azad University and two bachelor’s degrees in Management from Alzahra University and Political Science from Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch. After failing in the sixth parliamentary elections, she went to England to continue her studies and received a master’s degree in Human Rights from the University of Birmingham, but after two years of doctoral studies at this university, she transferred her studies back to Iran. Until 2018, she taught law at the Islamic Azad University, Pardis Branch, but was dismissed due to misconduct in her employment at this university. According to herself, she is now working in Rafsanjan.
Faezeh Hashemi says about her activities in the fifth parliament: My activities in the parliament had three dimensions: current societal issues, especially political matters, women’s issues, and sports-related issues.
Press Activities
In 1998, she published the first newspaper related to women in the Islamic Republic, called ‘Zan’ newspaper, and was its chief editor. The newspaper was initially suspended in February 1999 for two weeks and then permanently on April 6, 1999, due to publishing political news, criticizing Islamic hijab, supporting feminism, printing a cartoon by Arvin about women’s blood money, and reporting on Farah Pahlavi.
In an interview with Ensaf News on January 7, 2021, on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of her father’s death, Faezeh Hashemi faced many reactions. In part of that conversation, she stated she preferred Trump for Iran because parts and individuals more dangerous than Trump, in terms of bullying and lack of adherence to principles, rules, and regulations, have driven the country towards inefficiencies, mismanagements, incompetencies, dogmatism, and sometimes even to the brink of collapse with their wrong policies and actions. They not only ignore public demands but also compete to silence them.
Political Prisoner Like Her Father
However, the controversies surrounding Faezeh Hashemi are not limited to the suspension of her newspapers and media or the ban on her university activities. Ultimately, her strong and critical statements and interviews led to her being sentenced on January 3, 2012, by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Salavati, to six months of imprisonment and a five-year ban from political, cultural, and press activities for propaganda against the regime.
On September 27, 2022, during the ‘Ma’ protest movement, she was arrested by a security agency. Before the protests, she had said that the government calls the protests riots to suppress them and described the content of the Islamic Republic as a fabricated and dictatorial system to preserve its survival.
The Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, announced the reason for her arrest as inciting protesters to street protests in the eastern region of Tehran. Her mother, Effat Marashi, sent a letter to Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, asking to avoid mistreatment of prisoners. After a month, on November 6, her family was able to meet her in Evin.
On November 30, in the first court session, Hashemi was accused of assembly and collusion against national security, propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and disturbing public order and peace through participation in illegal gatherings. According to her lawyer, Hashemi was sentenced to six months of imprisonment and, as a complementary punishment, to a five-year ban from membership and activity in parties, groups, associations, cyberspace, and media and press activities. She was sentenced to five years in prison by the court presided over by Judge Salavati, which was later confirmed by her lawyer.
Among Ayatollah Hashemi’s children, Faezeh can be considered the most different because she has always been in the news with her sharp and controversial criticisms, both during her father’s lifetime and after. While her father, one of the founders and most influential figures in the 1979 revolution, was repeatedly imprisoned by the Pahlavi regime for revolutionary struggles, and incidentally, Evin was the last prison where Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was held.
Today, his daughter is imprisoned in the same prison, but under the supervision and enforcement of a government that her father was one of the founders of. It seems that only the jailer in our country changes; otherwise, imprisonment, pressure, and intimidation for outspoken and critical voices remain.
This article is published in several parts. Other parts are available through the links below.
- Mr. Hashemi’s Family Part Three
- Mr. Hashemi’s Family Part One