Arrest of Abadan City Council Member at Workplace Confirmed

The Revolutionary Prosecutor of Abadan confirmed reports regarding the arrest of a member of the city council during an official council meeting. Although the arrest of council members in cities and villages in Iran is not a new issue, an arrest during an official session and at the workplace is rare. According to Nasser Gholami, the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Abadan, this member of the Islamic Council of Abadan, whose identity has not been disclosed, has been sent to prison on charges of 'bribery with a temporary arrest warrant.' Gholami added that the arrest was made based on a report from the Abadan Intelligence Department to the prosecutor's office regarding 'the occurrence of a series of violations and crimes, mainly financial, by identifiable individuals in collaboration with one of the members of the Islamic Council of Abadan.' The prosecutor stated that 'this group, through one of the members of the Islamic Council of Abadan, had entered into contracting agreements with the municipality and had obtained amounts from the municipality's accounts.' Gholami estimated that the amount withdrawn by these individuals from the municipality's accounts was 'more than 27 billion rials.' According to the report, these individuals 'paid varying amounts to the mentioned member' of the Abadan city council after each contract. In addition to announcing the arrest of the council member, the prosecutor also reported the issuance of judicial orders for the arrest of other members of this group on charges of 'forgery, use of forged documents, and fraud.' This judicial official confirmed reports regarding the arrest of the council member during an official meeting and stated: 'The arrest took place at the workplace, but not in the manner described on social media and some news agencies.' Gholami also temporarily denied reports linking this individual’s arrest to 'land grabbing.' Abdullah Kabi, the head of the nine-member city council of Abadan, stated on Tuesday, November 7, to the IRNA news agency that 'unidentified individuals took one of the members of this council out of the meeting while he was present at a public session (questioning the mayor of Abadan).' He expressed ignorance regarding the identity of these individuals. The IRIB news agency also reported the reason for the arrest of this council member as 'violations' in the fourth council and cited an informed source claiming 'land grabbing and financial violations.' This is not the first time the arrest of a city or village council member has been reported by Iranian media. A significant number of elected members of the fifth term of the Islamic councils of cities and villages, which began their activities in September 2017, have faced financial, ethical, political, and social accusations and have been arrested. Although there is no precise information regarding the arrest and trial of these individuals, Salman Samani, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, announced the removal of 283 members of city and village councils following the scandal involving five members of the Babolsar city council in Mazandaran province. In the past year, more than 30 council members have lost their positions for various reasons, and in some cases, judicial sentences have been issued against some of them. Financial and economic issues are the main reasons for the arrest of the remaining members of the fifth councils in various cities and villages in Iran.