Sepanta Niknam ( fa, سپنتا نیکنام) is an Iranian politician who serves as a councillor in
Yazd
Yazd ( fa, یزد ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Isfahan. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,138,533. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a Wor ...
since 2013. He is the first and only
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
to have served as councillor in the city, and the only non-Muslim in the
city councils of Iran.
Career
Suspension
On 18 April 2017,
Ahmad Jannati
Ahmad Jannati ( fa, احمد جنتی, born 23 February 1927) is an Iranian conservative politician. He was born in Ladan, Isfahan. Jannati is known for his anti-LGBT rhetoric and opposition to secularism. He is also a founding member of the Ha ...
, chairman of the
Guardian Council tried to prevent Niknam's reelection in
2017 local election, issuing a directive to disqualify all non-Muslim candidates.
Following Niknam's reelection, rival candidate Ali Asghar Bagheri filed a lawsuit against Niknam, based on the Guardian Council's decree. On 9 October 2017, Administrative Court of Justice ruled to suspend him, on the grounds that religious minorities should not have a representative in towns where the majority of the population was Muslim. On November 26, 2017, Iranian lawmakers approved, as a consequence of his suspension, the urgency of a bill that would give the right for members of the religious minorities to nominate candidates for the city and village councils elections. The bill secured 154 yes votes, 23 no and 10 abstention. A total of 204 lawmakers were present at the parliament session.
Views
Niknam is self-described politically independent. He endorsed
Hassan Rouhani in the
2017 presidential election.
Electoral history
References
Living people
1985 births
Iranian Zoroastrians
People from Yazd
Iranian city councillors
{{Iran-politician-stub