Pezeshkian Campaign Sparks Outrage with Green Movement Symbols

Iranwire – Shiroudi Stadium in Tehran resonated with chants of “Ya Hossein Mir Hossein” with posters of Mir Hossein Mousavi. The individuals were attending a rally for Masoud Pezeshkian’s election campaign.

During the upcoming presidential election campaigns, the reformist faction decided to leverage symbols from past social movements to regain influence.

Masoud Pezeshkian’s campaign extensively used symbols from the Green Movement.

One prominent slogan from Mir Hossein Mousavi’s past campaign, “Every person is a campaign,” was also adopted.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was a presidential candidate in 2009, has been under house arrest since 2011.

The strategy led to repeated protests from Mousavi’s family.

Mohammed Fazelikia, the husband of Narges Mousavi and son-in-law of Mir Hossein Mousavi, expressed his disapproval following the Shiroudi Stadium event.

Fazelikia took to the social network X to condemn what he called the “instrumental use” of Mousavi’s name, stating that “morality and fairness dictate that the instrumental use of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s name be stopped.”

Earlier, Masoud Pezeshkian’s supporters spread rumors about Mir Hossein Mousavi’s support. In response, Narges, Mousavi’s daughter, denounced these claims on Instagram, sharing a poster reading “No Lies” and stating, “Lies are also forbidden.”

The Kalameh website, associated with the Green Movement, issued a statement emphasizing that any official position from Zahra Rahnavard and Mir Hossein Mousavi regarding the elections would only be valid if published through their platform.

As of now, Masoud Pezeshkian’s campaign has not responded to these protests.

Campaign of Masoud Pezeshkian Faces Backlash for Appropriating Protest Symbols

From the earliest days of establishing Masoud Pezeshkian’s campaign centers, his team used the slogans and songs of the Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

The main slogan, “For a normal life…” was prominently displayed on his posters, and the campaign frequently played the song “For…” by Shervin Hajipour.

Hajipour composed the protest song “For…” in October 2023 after the death of Mahsa Amini in custody, drawing from protest tweets in Persian.

The song quickly went viral, amassing nearly 40 million views on Instagram within three days despite filtering restrictions, and became a symbol of the nationwide protests.

Hajipour received the Grammy Award for Best Song for Social Change for this work. However, he was arrested and sentenced to prison for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and “inciting people to riots.”

The use of Hajipour’s song by Pezeshkian’s campaign has incited public anger.

Shervin Hajipour’s lawyer, Majid Kaveh, expressed surprise in a letter to the head of the Judiciary that the same song deemed propaganda in 2022 was now being used to encourage voter turnout.

Kaveh also requested the annulment of Hajipour’s sentence, highlighting the inconsistency in its application and noting the ongoing appeal.

Pezeshkian’s campaign, despite using the symbols of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, does not support its key demands, such as the right to freely choose one’s clothing.

In a debate, Pezeshkian suggested that educating girls from a young age was a solution to societal problems, a statement that angered public opinion.

Reports also indicated that women were required to wear hijabs to enter Shiroudi Stadium for his campaign events, highlighting the campaign’s contradictory stance.

Pezeshkian Campaign Criticized for Exploiting Ukrainian Plane Victims

On Saturday, Masoud Pezeshkian’s campaign team visited the graves of Arvin Morabat and Aida Farzaneh, victims of the Ukrainian plane downing, in Sanandaj of Kurdistan province.

Earlier, Pezeshkian had visited Isfahan with Mohammad Javad Zarif to pay respects at the graves of other victims from the same flight in Isfahan cemetery.

The flight was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on January 8, 2020, shortly after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing all 176 aboard.

The Islamic Republic has attributed the incident to human error but has not addressed the numerous questions and concerns of the victims’ families and the countries whose citizens were aboard.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former Foreign Minister, was previously recorded expressing willingness to “remediate” the missile firing incident.

His and Pezeshkian’s presence at the victims’ graves sparked outrage.

Armin Morabat, the brother of victim Arvin Morabat, protested on social media, accusing Pezeshkian of exploiting their loss for political gain.

Alborz Sadeghi, another victim’s family member, also condemned the visit, asserting that the public sees through such political maneuvers