Advisor to Velayati: International Pressure Led to His Letter in the Ajamian Case

Ali Akbar Velayati's advisor responded to criticisms regarding his intervention in halting and changing the death sentence of Dr. Hamid Ghareh Hassanlou, stating that "repeated messages from international medical circles regarding the intensification of sanctions in the medical field and frequent contacts from medical associations with Velayati" prompted him to "request further review" in a letter to a high-ranking official in the system. Saleh Eskandari emphasized that the request of 102 heads of medical systems across the country and a petition of over 6,000 doctors asserting Ghareh Hassanlou's innocence also influenced this action. According to Eskandari, Velayati has "reached certainty in this report, and certainty is the basis of legal justification," but he stressed that "there has been no correspondence with the judiciary on this matter." Velayati's advisor deemed the statements of Rouhollah Ajamian's father as stemming from "incorrect information" provided by "malicious individuals" and described some reactions as "a form of political reckoning with Mr. Velayati." On Wednesday night, November 1, Rouhollah Ajamian's father attacked Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Ali Khamenei, during a live television program, accusing him of being responsible for the non-execution of more individuals due to his son's death. He claimed without evidence that "80 individuals were accused in the case, of which only 8 are in custody, and if Velayati turns his head, these 8 will also be released." According to Iranian media, the father of the Basij member called for more executions and, in response to the host's attempt to "manage the program," stated that he had been told several times during his appearances on state television "not to say anything about Velayati, and that you are afraid of him." Based on images released from this program, the father of the slain Basij member stood up, declaring "Velayati is my child's killer," and left the studio in a huff. The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Alborz Province sentenced Hamid Ghareh Hassanlou, the accused physician in the case of the slain Basij member Rouhollah Ajamian, to 15 years in prison in a new ruling in Farvardin of this year. Hamid Ghareh Hassanlou, along with his wife, Farzaneh, was arrested after a raid by security forces on their home following the fortieth-day memorial of Hadith Najafi, one of the casualties of the nationwide protests in Karaj. Hamid Ghareh Hassanlou, a 53-year-old physician, was one of five individuals initially sentenced to death for the accusation of "killing a Basij member," but this sentence was later overturned. The criticism from Rouhollah Ajamian's father towards Ali Akbar Velayati and his departure from the television program elicited a response from Dr. Ghareh Hassanlou's lawyer regarding Ajamian's claims about Velayati's intervention in the case: "The state television should allow for a defense." The judiciary of Alborz Province confirmed that Hamid Ghareh Hassanlou's sentence is 15 years in prison.