In an interview with the Financial Times of London, Fatemeh Hashemi said the public doesn’t trust the government now like it once did because of serious mismanagement under Ahmadi-nejad.
She said the gap between the people and the Islamic regime had put the country in “the worst situation” since the 1979 revolution – even worse than during the war with Iraq.
“The sooner the mistakes are stopped, the better, whether through changing Mr. Ahmadi-nejad or by reforming [the policies of] Mr. Ahmadi-nejad,” she said.
Early presidential elections could be one option, she argued, noting that it depended on the Majlis.
“Sanctions have created problems for us, but mismanagement has fueled these problems,” she said.
Fatemeh runs the Charity Foundation for Special Diseases and has played no political role. But her statements are likely to be seen by many as an expression of former President Rafsanjani’s positions.
Fatemeh said that during the war with Iraq in 1980s, people trusted the government, with families encouraging their children to fight voluntarily, and women donating their jewelry. The regime in turn consistently provided them with cheap, basic commodities.
But now, “There are more difficulties and people blame the government,” she said, adding that other institutions—including the Majlis—were also responsible for today’s difficulties.
Fatemeh’s younger sister, Faezeh, is now serving a six-month jail sentence. But Fatemeh says her sister is busy studying and translating in the Evin prison political ward, where she is housed with 30 other women prisoners.
Fatemeh said she had less information about her brother Mehdi’s condition. He faces corruption accusations on top of political charges, and is kept in solitary confinement, being allowed only brief conversations with his family.
Fatemeh said she is worried her brother might not face a fair trial. If he did, she said, it would become clear that no member of the family stole state money. “Be confident that if the Hashemi family were corrupt it would have been disclosed long ago,” she said.
Former President Rafsan-jani, now 78, has five children, two daughters and three sons: Mohsen, 54, Fatemeh, 53, Faezeh, 51, Yasser, 49, and Mehdi, 47.