Akabar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council, said that the imprisonment of “concerned critics” of the government will lead to people’s awareness and stressed that “silence” about political issues is unacceptable. Kaleme website reports that in a meeting with reformist youth, Rafsanjani said that the imprisonment of prominent figures who have criticized the policies of the establishment leads to the “awareness” of the public and can therefore have a positive effect on the protest movement. He stressed that the arrests have made a significant number of people “more persistent” in their objectives and “we must not doubt that the imprisonments have a constructive effect.”
“Do not lose heart!” the Chairman of the Assembly of Experts told his audience. “When you enter political activism, you should not think that the equations are simple and the matters will be resolved with a few demonstrations.” He called on reformist youth to make every effort in spreading awareness amongst the strata of the society.
He spoke out against “indifference” toward political matters and emphasized: “Silence and indifference of the public is not acceptable.” Yesterday Ayatollah Rafsanjani also told a meeting of Iranian governors that “today’s government looks for ways to satisfy public opinion and the era of oppression and force is over.”
Last July, at the Mass Friday Prayers in Tehran, Hashemi Rafsanjani spoke out against the government crackdown on election protesters and called for release of all political prisoners as well as compensation for all victims of government retaliation against peaceful protesters. Since that speech, Ayatollah Rafsanjani has become the target of conservative attacks and the Supreme Leader has also criticized him implicitly for his alignment with protesters.