Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Denies Allegations Against His Son Mehdi

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in an interview with Shargh newspaper, rejected all allegations against his son, Mehdi Hashemi, stating that he would 'protest' any potential conviction but would not 'fight' it. The head of the Expediency Discernment Council emphasized that 'a large number of accusations' against Mehdi Hashemi were fabricated without any evidence, and the court has yet to find any evidence of his guilt. Regarding his response to a possible conviction, he said, 'I will protest, I will not fight. If the judge reaches a verdict, I have nothing to say, as it is the law, and if the judge does not reach a conclusion and gives orders, naturally anyone would protest.' Rafsanjani stressed, 'I do not want to interfere. I have always told the leadership and the head of the judiciary... My message to all of them is not to give orders from above, and if you do, it is contrary to judicial and religious principles.' According to Rafsanjani, Mehdi Hashemi's defense is 'close to two thousand pages and very readable, and it could later become a book.' Hadi Sadeqi, the cultural deputy of the judiciary, referred to Mehdi Hashemi's case as a 'heavy' one with '12 charges.' However, Rafsanjani stated, 'The information I have received is that they fabricated many accusations without any evidence.' He also referred to the Statoil case, mentioning that groups had previously investigated it, including the brother of Ayatollah Khamenei, and returned saying, 'We saw nothing... This has happened three times. The Ministry of Intelligence at that time declared Mehdi innocent in a report.' Rafsanjani added, 'But they included this in the case. The rest were just like this. They had nothing. So far, the court has not found any evidence of Mehdi's guilt. Of course, it has not yet issued a verdict.' Rafsanjani's mention of Khamenei's brother being part of the Statoil investigation group could refer to Hassan Khamenei, who has reportedly been the head of the Ministry of Oil's inspection in various governments. Some principlist figures accuse Mehdi Hashemi of financial corruption, including Ahmad Tavakoli, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, who stated that Mehdi Hashemi received over $5 million in bribes in the Statoil case. The Statoil case was opened ten years ago in the U.S., involving allegations of bribery by the Norwegian company to a company headed by Abbas Yazdanpanah. He has not personally been accused in this matter in the UK. In his interview with Shargh, Rafsanjani also discussed the impact of his candidacy for the Assembly of Experts leadership on Mehdi Hashemi's trial, saying, 'Suppose I went and became president; they would still do their work. If I do not become president, they will still do their work... The point is that a group with destructive goals says whatever they want.' He added, 'These pressures greatly affect the judge. Members of parliament speak in such a way... In this situation, the judge must be very brave to vote in this atmosphere.' Hamid Rasai, a representative from Tehran, also reported on the same day as Mehdi Hashemi's fourteenth trial that he delivered a letter from 110 parliament members to the judge of the case, stating that a committee is responsible for 'monitoring and observing' the actions of agencies regarding this case. Regarding the leadership being a council, Rafsanjani stated, 'If one day we are to elect the leadership again, we will discuss whether it should be an individual or a council. We have no problem with that.' He mentioned that he and Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, have supported a council leadership and added, 'My opinion remains the same. Presumably, Ayatollah Khamenei's opinion is the same.' This former member of the Assembly of Experts leadership referred to the decision of the Assembly's leadership after Ayatollah Khomeini's death, stating, 'We, as part of the Assembly's leadership... believed that it should be a council and considered a three-member council that included Ayatollah Khamenei, Ayatollah Moshkini, and Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili.' He emphasized, 'The individual received 45 votes, and the council received 35 votes... This is based on the votes of the Experts, and if it is felt that an individual does not have those qualifications and is not ready, we can turn it into a council.' Rafsanjani also mentioned that in the absence of a suitable individual, leadership could be council-based. 'Ahmadinejad sent a message that if you want, I will step aside.' This presidential candidate from 2005 discussed this election, saying, 'There were a group of candidates that most of them were not acceptable to me. I tried hard, talked to the leadership and them. I found one or two of them suitable and said that if one of them were to be, I would not come and would support them. One of these candidates was Dr. Velayati. But until the last moment, no agreement was reached.' Rafsanjani added, 'The last meeting we had with the leadership was close to the election, and we agreed that we would try this week to reach one person... We tried for a week, but it did not happen. Naturally, I saw that we cannot hand over the country to people of that kind.' The former president of Iran stated, 'Of course, Ahmadinejad also sent me a message when I became a candidate, saying that if you want, I will step aside, to which I said no, now that I have become a candidate, whoever wants can be.' He also commented on his previous remarks about the 'worriers' in Iran being 'in sync' with the Israeli Prime Minister, saying, 'In this regard, I said that their actions have become a historical joke. The gentlemen who say these words certainly do not have less enmity with Israel, but in this matter, they have united; that is, now Netanyahu is worried, and so are they and the neighboring Arabs.' Rafsanjani stated on Tuesday, March 12, that the group known as the 'worriers' in Iran has become 'in sync' with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel. The term 'worriers' in Iranian media emerged after a conference titled 'We Are Worried' held on May 3 for critics of Iran's nuclear negotiations with the 1+5 group, most of whom are close to the Steadfast Front.