Science Minister Loses Vote of Confidence

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran's parliament Wednesday voted to sack the science minister for wanting to recruit people accused of involvement in the 2009 post-election sedition.

Date: 20 August 2014 - 21:41

News ID: ۴۱۱۰

Reza Faraji Dana, whose responsibilities included Iran's universities, was sacked after a censure motion went against him.
The motion was backed by 145 of the 270 lawmakers present, out of a total of 290, while 110 supported Faraji Dana. The other 15 abstained.
President Hassan Rouhani defended his minister and urged MPs to have greater confidence in him.
"I really wish I could be there in parliament, next to the polite and knowledgeable minister ... and support this serving scientist," Rouhani said in a speech ahead of the vote on a provincial tour in northwestern Iran.
Reformers and moderates had tried in the past few days to defend Faraji Dana's record in office, accusing critics of wanting to weaken the government.
Lawmakers say he nominated as senior department officials people who took part in the seditious movement that challenged the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 and plunged the country into worst riots since the Islamic Revolution.
Faraji Dana was also accused of allowing students to return to university after having been expelled "for moral and political reasons" and tolerating student publications that question Islamic teachings.
He is the first minister in the current government to be the subject of a censure motion.
He was Rouhani's third choice as minister for science, research and technology after parliament rejected the first two nominees.
MP Ali Reza Zakani told the house that Dana brought back "incompetent elements to universities and gave permission to student publications that promote separatism, sedition and riots".
He also accused Dana of re-hiring a professor dismissed over an incident in which three female students committed suicide over the professor's alleged sexual advances.
Lawmaker Hussein Naqavi Husseini said universities were "pregnant with sedition" and on the verge of new riots because Dana allowed in pro-Western and extremist reformists. He accused Dana of "defending criminals" who claimed fraud in the 2009 election.
Dana failed to cool his critics, even after promising he would "correct" some of his "mistakes". "I am ready to use the lawmakers' friendly advice ... This is the path to reformation," he told the house.
After the vote, Rouhani immediately appointed Dana as adviser on science and education and named a close associate, Muhammad Ali Najafi, as caretaker science minister.
The president has three months to name a new minister and submit his nomination to parliament for approval