Another Ahmadinejad Government Official's Case in Court

The head of Iran's Land Affairs Organization announced on Tuesday that the case of issuing "illegal permits" for land use change by Kamran Daneshjou, a former Minister of Science and a member of Ahmadinejad's government, has been sent to the judiciary. Qobad Afshar, the head of the Land Affairs Organization, reported that the organization has filed a complaint against "K-D," who, according to him, issued illegal permits during his tenure as governor of Tehran. He added, "We have sent his case along with multiple charges from some mayors of the previous government to the judiciary." Kamran Daneshjou served as the governor of Tehran during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first term and was appointed Minister of Science in his second term. Previously, in 2012, the issue of the illegal annexation of over 100 hectares of agricultural land to the city of Lavasan was raised in the indictment of the Iran Insurance corruption case, which was decided by the "Article 5 Commission" responsible for land use changes. Youssefali Doronparvar, the deputy governor of Tehran and one of the defendants in this case, stated that "the chairmanship of the relevant commission was with the governor (Mr. Kamran Daneshjou), not me who is being tried here." Meanwhile, the website Alef reported on February 9, 2015, that as a result of this decision, "200 plots of 2000 square meters" were added to the Lavasan city area near Tehran. According to Alef, the current price of the land for these 200 villas is "at least 2000 billion tomans," while with agricultural use, the price of this land was "about 200 billion tomans." The complaint from the Land Affairs Organization against Kamran Daneshjou comes as Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Ahmadinejad's first vice president and a defendant in the Iran Insurance corruption case, has been sentenced to five years in prison. Additionally, Hamid Bakai, Ahmadinejad's executive assistant, was arrested on June 8, and Ali Asghar Hosseini, one of Bakai's defense lawyers, stated that his client's charge is "embezzlement." The head of the Land Affairs Organization also announced that 177 violations by government agencies regarding unauthorized changes in agricultural land use have been sent to judicial authorities. Afshar mentioned that "IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) previously received a 20% permit for constructing a welfare center in Abbasabad, Mazandaran, which illegally expanded the construction area to 80% of the total land area, and the Land Affairs Organization has now expressed its opposition to this violation and referred it to the judiciary." Iranian government and judiciary officials have repeatedly emphasized the fight against "land grabbing," and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, also strongly criticized "land grabbing and mountain grabbing" in Iran in March 2015. Meanwhile, some of the institutions under his supervision are among the accused in this phenomenon. In September 2014, Mohammad Ali Pourmokhtar, the head of the Article 90 Commission of the Parliament, stated that "the Endowment and Charity Organization has become a major land grabber." Ezzatollah Khan Mohammadi, the governor of Shemiranat, also stated on June 1 that 814 hectares of land have been seized by armed forces and barbed wire has been placed around it.