Baghaei's Request for Trial of Tehran Prosecutor Due to 'Violations' in His Case

Hamid Baghaei, in a letter to the judge of his case, has called for the trial of the Tehran prosecutor and his interrogators from the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards, citing what he considers 'violations by judicial and security officials.' The former executive assistant to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his presidency described the handling of his case as indicative of a prior political and hostile decision to condemn Ahmadinejad's government. He also stated that during his detention, interrogators asked him to confess to 'spying for Israel and England,' 'security crimes,' 'connections with jinn and fairies,' and 'moral crimes.' According to Baghaei, in late August 2015, Hossein Taeb, head of the Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Organization, met with him in prison and said, 'If you say things against Ahmadinejad and Mashaei, you will be released.' He also claimed that interrogators wanted him to confess that Ahmadinejad was also a 'spy.' Baghaei mentioned that an interrogator from the Ministry of Intelligence asked him to confess that a government member had 'illicit relations' with an '80-year-old woman.' He added, 'If I had succumbed to their unjust demands, what would have been the fate of me and the innocent members of the government? Would we not have faced a fate similar to the serial killings in 1998?' Among the accusations against Baghaei are 'requesting a total of 300 million tomans in bonuses for 16 government members,' 'assisting the Iranian International University,' 'supporting the Iranian House Organization,' 'aiding the state newspaper Iran,' and 'colluding in contracts and transactions of five companies.' However, Baghaei has denied these accusations, stating that they and the evidence in his case are 'illegal.' The former aide to Ahmadinejad also claimed that the Revolutionary Guards accused him of 'sending large amounts of currency to Tajikistan,' and the Ministry of Intelligence had arrested Ali-Asghar Shirdoust, the then Iranian ambassador to Tajikistan, in this regard. Some of the allegations against Baghaei were previously raised by officials of Hassan Rouhani's government and members of parliament. For instance, Akbar Turkan, head of the Free Zones High Council of Iran, accused Baghaei on May 29, 2014, of 'renting three government buildings at a very low rate to an institute under his supervision.' Turkan had also stated that '16 billion tomans were deposited into the account of the Iranian University belonging to Ahmadinejad on the day of Hassan Rouhani's inauguration.' Following this accusation, Baghaei announced that the 16 billion tomans had been returned to the government, stating that 'the return of the 16 billion tomans was voluntary, and Turkan should not think he is a police commissioner.' 'Is the judiciary the paternal property of Mr. Sadegh Larijani?' In this letter, Baghaei also stated that agents, during his arrest, confiscated not only his belongings but also his 'two-year-old daughter's bracelet,' 'toys of a ten-year-old child,' and 'his teenage student's computer,' and sealed several rooms in his house for 'three months.' The former aide to Ahmadinejad also wrote that the Tehran prosecutor, in his correspondence, referred to him as 'the second person of the deviationist current' instead of using his name. 'Deviationist current' is a term used by some conservatives to refer to Ahmadinejad's close associates, particularly Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. Baghaei also wrote in this letter, 'Mr. Ahmadinejad and I are politically opposed to Mr. Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, and his brothers. Should we be punished for this?' He added, 'If we speak, we will be summoned or arrested the next morning for insulting the esteemed Mr. Sadegh Larijani! Is the judiciary the paternal property of Mr. Sadegh Larijani?' Previously, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had linked the arrests of his associates, including Hamid Baghaei, and his own case to the upcoming presidential elections and what he called 'Ali Larijani's candidacy' in these elections. On October 21, Baghaei described his trial as 'political' and sarcastically stated, 'I have neither 63 personal accounts, nor is my daughter a spy for England, nor is my brother corrupt.' This was a reference to the issue of 'personal accounts' of the head of the judiciary and an unconfirmed report by the Amad News website about 'Zahra Larijani,' the daughter of the head of the judiciary, being a spy. The issue of the head of the judiciary's spying was denied by Sadegh Larijani, judiciary officials, and the Minister of Intelligence, and a day after Baghaei's remarks, the head of the judiciary criticized the labeling of some cases as 'political' and threatened to deal with 'slander and defamation against this institution to put an end to this situation.' Following this, Hamid Baghaei and Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's media advisor, were summoned to the prosecutor's office. In his recent letter, Baghaei has asked the judge of the case to 'fight against oppression based on justice and right' and 'compensate for a part of the oppression inflicted on him by issuing an acquittal.' He emphasized that the Tehran prosecutor, the investigator, and the interrogators from the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Intelligence should be 'tried and punished for 'fabricating a case' against him, 'widespread violations of Sharia and law, and having malicious intent' so that the path for violations, abuse, and misuse of power is closed. The verbal confrontation between Hamidreza Baghaei and judiciary officials is not unprecedented, and among other things, Baghaei, during his release from prison this summer, severely attacked the judiciary, calling Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson of the judiciary, a 'liar' and told judiciary officials that they would soon be 'overthrown.' These remarks led to the formation of another case against him. Hamid Baghaei was arrested in 2015 on charges of 'embezzlement,' and after that, Ahmadinejad's associates reported that he had been released by the order of the Supreme Leader. He was also arrested in July of this year and released on a bail of 20 billion tomans. Baghaei, along with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had registered to run for the presidential elections in 2017, but the Guardian Council disqualified both of them.