Ahmad Jannati, the head of Iran’s Guardian Council and an influential hardliner, warned a gathering of Guardian Council overseers on Sunday that some groups are planning to infiltrate the Assembly of Experts.
He defended the actions of the Guardian Council in the controversial election of 2009, which was marred by allegations of vote fraud. The council’s responsibilities include approving election candidates and results.
He said that those who alleged vote fraud in the 2009 election were not executed so that they would have a chance to repent.
MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the reformist candidates in the 2009 election, challenged the vote count that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared winner, and they have been under house arrest since February of 2011.
Ahmad Jannati also said that the Assembly of Experts is the only body that can discharge or limit the power of the Supreme Leader; therefore, some groups are trying “to infiltrate it and conquer this bastion, which makes the Guardian Council’s responsibilities for oversight even more critical.”
