Dissident Ahmadreza Haeri has written a letter from prison, urging Iranians to boycott the upcoming presidential election, arguing that participation legitimizes those who have stripped the Iranian people of their freedom.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Iran International, the political prisoner asserts that Iranians now recognize the ruling power in the Islamic Republic seeks votes "only as a decoration for its authoritarian religious regime," with the president serving merely as a "facilitator for implementing orders."
Haeri is currently jailed in Ghezel Hesar Prison in the city of Karaj, serving a three-year, eight-month sentence. He received an additional prison sentence of about three months last July for his human rights activities during imprisonment.
A special election will be held on June 28 to replace former President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May. Six candidates, who have been handpicked by the Islamic Republic's Guardian Council, are vying to replace Raisi.
In his letter, Haeri pointed to the decline in electoral legitimacy and public support for the current regime, referring to the record-low voter turnout in the recent parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections. According to the state news outlet IRNA, about 25 million of Iran's 61 million eligible voters cast their ballots.
"The grandeur of this massive non-violent struggle for the right to self-determination has permanently changed the political landscape of the country," Haeri wrote.
Haeri emphasized that from 1997 to 2017, the “oppressed people of Iran” went to the polls out of fear and desperation to bring about change, but their participation yielded no lasting benefits.
According to a new survey, conducted by the Netherlands-based Gamaan Institute, 22% of respondents in Iran confirmed they would definitely vote, while 12% remain undecided.
The survey highlighted deep-seated dissatisfaction with the current political system, with roughly 68% of respondents citing "opposition to the overall system of the Islamic Republic" as their primary reason for not voting. Other notable reasons included "the limited power of the president".
Voter participation has been on a steady decline in Iran, with over 50% of eligible voters staying home for the election of now-deceased President Raisi in 2021. That election saw about 3.7 million invalid ballots cast, that were likely to have been mostly blank or protest votes.
Meanwhile, hundreds of teachers, union activists, and prominent cultural figures in Iran have publicly announced their decision to abstain from voting in the upcoming presidential elections. They assert that participation is futile and risks legitimizing the government while intensifying the suppression of dissent.
Haeri was released from Greater Tehran Prison in October 2020 after serving a previous sentence and receiving 74 lashes. In December last year, he was handed arbitrary new charges for writing letters against the death penalty, sham elections, and violations of fair trial rights for prisoners, and spent time in solitary confinement in June.
Other prisoners who have spoken out against participation in the upcoming elections include Nobel-laureate Narges Mohammadi and Golrokh Iraee.
Mohammadi wrote from Tehran’s Evin Prison that she would not participate in the "illegal elections of the oppressive and illegitimate government." Iraee criticized the factions of the so-called reformists for encouraging participation, calling it a betrayal, writing that "Reformists should know that we, the people of Iran, remember their betrayal from the beginning and will not forget."
