The ban imposed last October on Sepanta Niknam from participating in the City Council of Yazd was lifted this July with Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council upholding the rights of members of recognized religious minorities to run for city councils, it was announced in news reports by Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press. The ruling allows Niknam, the first Zoroastrian and only non-Muslim to have served as a councilor in Yazd, to rejoin the body to which he was re-elected in 2017.
The Administrative Court of Justice in Iran had temporarily suspended 32-year-old Niknam last year on the premise that elected representatives from one of the recognized religious minorities cannot serve the town councils where the majority of the population is Muslim (see "Stand on suspension,” Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, December 7, 2017). This decision had led to a widespread public outcry. Among the leaders and organizations that had supported Niknam were Dr Esfandiar Ekhtiyari, the Zoroastrian member on the Iranian Parliament, the Parliament Speaker Dr Ali Larijani, President of Iran Dr Hassan Rouhani, the head of the Yazd City Council Gholamali Sefid, and the Center for Human Rights in Iran. They held that removing Niknam from his elected seat because he is not a Muslim is illegal.
Even Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament believed the verdict last year had been issued "only based on the opinion of hard-line cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati who heads the Guardians Council,” it was reported on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "The Guardians Council which oversees presidential and parliamentary elections in Iran and preapproves candidates, does not have any direct role in city council elections,” stated the news report. An appeal was made to the Expediency Discernment Council that is tasked with resolving conflicts between Parliament and the Guardians Council.
According to the constitution of Iran, five of the 290 seats in Parliament are "reserved for recognized religious minorities — Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians,” reminded the news report.