Will Ahmadinejad be flogged?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces public flogging or six months in prison. As the British The Telegraph writes, similar punishment is provided for violations during the registration of presidential candidates.

The investigation was conducted by the Guardian Council of the Iranian Constitution, which received a complaint against the president: Ahmadinejad publicly accompanied his adviser Esfandiyar Rahim Mashaei, who was registering as a presidential candidate, which is prohibited by Iranian law. Footage of Ahmadinejad and Mashaei smiling was broadcast on state television on Saturday. When the Iranian president was asked what he was doing next to the presidential candidate, he joked: “Today is a day off.” Now this joke could cost Ahmadinejad 74 lashes.

Photo: IRNA

Flogging as a judicial punishment is common in modern Iran, where justice is based on Sharia law. It affects both petty offenders—alcohol lovers and hooligans—and dangerous criminals. Often, for the edification of others, flogging is carried out in public. Even those sentenced to death are flogged - usually the right to flog a criminal directly on the scaffold is given to the relatives of the victim. The number of strikes varies depending on the severity of the crime. Thieves in Iran have their hands cut off. Until the early 80s, the hand was cut off with a sharpened saber and without anesthesia; now the procedure is accompanied by a doctor, and instead of a saber, a power saw or guillotine is used. ( Read more about corporal punishment in the modern world in the special PublicPost article ) .

Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham denied information about the possible flogging of the president. According to IRNA , Ahmadinejad was present at the registration of Mashai as a private citizen, and not as president. According to the government press secretary, the election campaign will officially begin only after the list of candidates is approved. The current president of Iran is not participating in the elections - he has been in office for two consecutive terms. He is connected with Mashai not only by friendly, but also by family ties - Ahmadinejad’s son is married to Mashai’s daughter.

686 people have already registered to participate in the elections. The final list of candidates will be announced on May 22-23, after it is approved by the Guardian Council of the Constitution. This supervisory board may disqualify any candidate without giving any reason. The elections themselves will take place on June 14.

According to experts, four candidates will be the favorites in the presidential race. This is Ali Akbar Velayati, Advisor to Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei on International Affairs. He served as head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry for 16 years during the presidency of Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and was considered a liberal by Iranian standards.

The conservative wing is represented in the elections by Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. The former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ghalibaf already took part in the presidential elections in 2005, but lost to the incumbent president.

Another contender is former Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Hassan Rouhani, who represented Iran in negotiations with the IAEA. Rouhani is considered a close ally of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Rafsanjani himself registered to vote in the last minutes of applications. The 78-year-old former president said he did it “to serve the people of Iran.” Rafsanjani was the President of Iran from 1989 to 1997. He now heads Iran's Political Expediency Council.