Billion-Dollar Land Grabbing in 'Gerdneh Heyran'; Former Ministers and Representatives Accused

In the latest meeting of the Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters, a case of billion-dollar land grabbing in 'Gerdneh Heyran' in Gilan province was discussed, with the names of several former parliament representatives and ministers from the previous government appearing as suspects. Regarding the details of this case, Safar Naeimi-Raz, the representative of Astara in the Islamic Consultative Assembly and a member of the National Security Commission, stated in an interview published on Thursday, August 22, in the 'Aftab Yazd' newspaper: 'Most of these land grabs started during the term of one of the parliament representatives, and afterwards, former government officials (from the ninth and tenth administrations) were brought into the issue by this representative.' According to Mr. Naeimi-Raz, 'a former parliament representative was the factor that allowed officials from the previous government to enter the land grabbing discussion in this area.' This current parliament representative announced the value of the seized lands, stating: 'Currently, these lands are worth over 500,000 tomans per square meter, and the amount of land illegally seized by the offenders is in hectares; it can be said to be over 30 hectares.' He continued to mention that 'many lands in this area were seized by the mentioned representative,' adding: 'Before this period, this area was pristine and untouched, and everyone thought that the lands of Heyran belonged to natural resources, but with the presence of this former representative, this spell was broken, and with arrangements made with the then Natural Resources Organization, any official who wished could build villas in that area.' The member of the National Security Commission also announced that 'the government officials involved in the issues related to Gerdneh Heyran were from the ninth and tenth administrations,' stating: 'In this process, even the involvement of directors and ministers from the former government was revealed, and some of these ministers even have villas in this location.' According to Mr. Naeimi-Raz, 'while the residents of the area could not cultivate their agricultural lands, land grabbers were allowed to create private cable cars.' This parliament representative emphasized at the end of his remarks that 'some responsible individuals in this area might themselves be land grabbers, but they have registered the lands under different names, such as their children, spouses, or relatives.' Regarding this case, in the margins of the Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters meeting held on Tuesday, August 18, Ezzatollah Youssefian-Malla, a representative from Amol and a member of this headquarters, told the Fars news agency: 'A team went to investigate the status of the Gerdneh Heyran case, and this report has been submitted to the headquarters, and it is scheduled to be read in the next meeting of the Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters, where decisions regarding the case will be made.' The parliamentary observer in the Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters also expressed regret over the continuation of some land grabbing in Iran, stating: 'In this case, the names of some former representatives and also senior government officials are seen, which is regrettable; in the Gerdneh Heyran land grabbing, national lands were first seized, and then billion-dollar constructions were carried out on them.' Mr. Youssefian-Malla also announced that 'some officials identify the pleasant climate regions of the country and take action to seize them, saying: 'In certain periods, the focus was on Kelardasht, but today it seems that everyone is heading towards Gerdneh Heyran.' 'Heyran' is the name of a summer village in the Astara County located in Gilan province. This village is situated 30 kilometers from Astara. Heyran consists of three villages: Heyran Sofla, Heyran Vosati, and Heyran Aliya, and its pass is one of the most important tourist attractions of this village, located on the communication route between Astara and Ardabil.