Ahmadinejad Accuses Judiciary of 'Suicides'

Following the prevention of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president, from attending the court session of his former deputy, Ahmadinejad harshly criticized the judiciary on Wednesday, describing it as 'against the nation.' He referred to the controversial issue of 'suicides' of government opponents and others in Iranian prisons in recent weeks, stating: 'They arrest individuals indiscriminately, deliver the corpses, and then claim they were addicts and committed suicide.' According to the 'Dolat Bahar' website, the fourth session of the appeals court for Hamid Baghaei, Ahmadinejad's former deputy, began on Wednesday, February 14, while Ahmadinejad and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei were prevented from entering the court. On Friday, February 10, Baghaei wrote on his Telegram channel that the IRGC's intelligence organization accused him of receiving 'large amounts of foreign currency to donate to the leaders of African countries without any documents or receipts' in 2013 and that he had 'embezzled' this amount. Ahmadinejad's support for Baghaei has been unwavering throughout this period, and he has strongly criticized the judiciary and its head, Sadegh Larijani, as well as the Larijani brothers. On Wednesday, Ahmadinejad once again delivered a strong speech on the steps in front of Baghaei's court, protesting that 'they said the court was public, we came to participate in a public court, and they say it is forbidden,' describing the judiciary as 'against the nation.' He continued: 'They arrest individuals indiscriminately, deliver the corpses, and then claim they were addicts and committed suicide.' Ahmadinejad's remarks referred to events in the past two months and several detentions during the nationwide protests in December, as well as the arrests of environmental activists, which have been accompanied by reports of 'suicides' during detention. Meanwhile, judiciary and IRGC officials have reported the existence of videos of the moments of suicide of at least two individuals in prison, which later turned out to show no evidence of the suicides, as confirmed by parliament representatives. One of these individuals was Kavous Seyed-Emami, a prominent university professor and citizen of Iran and Canada, whose family was informed of his suicide after two weeks of detention and lack of access to a lawyer, and he was buried on Tuesday. In his brief speech on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad lamented that 'the revolution was made so that people could speak freely and defend their rights freely'; however, he predicted that 'this situation will soon be corrected in favor of the nation.' Ahmadinejad's statements come at a time when during his presidency, the suppression of protesters was also accompanied by deaths in prison. Some of Ahmadinejad's critics question why he remained silent during his presidency regarding the judiciary's actions and the suppression of the 2009 protests. Nevertheless, he has told a group of students that 'we did not know about some issues. We really did not know and later became informed.'