Conservative Tehran City Council Member: The Sister of the Whistleblower on Municipal Property Transfers Should Be Held by ISIS for a Week

Following the remarks of Abolfazl Ghanavati, a conservative member of the Tehran City Council, stating that the sister of Yashar Soltani, who exposed the issue of the transfer of municipal properties in Tehran, "should be held by ISIS for a week," and Ghanavati's denial of these statements, the Khabar Online website published an audio file of his comments. Several Iranian news sites, including Iran Khabar, reported that Ghanavati, in a city council meeting, referred to the transfer of a municipal property to Masoumeh Abad, another council member, saying: "They have accused a freedom fighter and a legend... Whoever published these words should have their sister in the hands of ISIS for a week to understand." According to the report, Ghanavati stated: "They have given him nothing; if they have given anything, it was to a legend and a freedom fighter." These remarks quickly gained significant attention on social media, and hours later, Ghanavati claimed he did not mention Yashar Soltani by name and that websites had "distorted" his words. According to Tasnim News Agency, he also said: "In that session (on October 6)... the gist of my words was that Ms. Abad, who has been subjected to so many accusations and slanders... has endured about six years of captivity; they have not given this dear freedom fighter a house, and if they had, she would not have gone far." He added: "I continued my speech by asking if we would be satisfied to have our own sister in the hands of ISIS and the enemy?" Meanwhile, Khabar Online published the audio file of Ghanavati's remarks. Based on this audio file, Reza Taghipour, another member of the Tehran City Council, protested the statements made about council members needing to withdraw their complaints against those who published reports on the municipal property transfers. At the same time, Ghanavati interjected during Taghipour's speech, saying: "It is the week of Sacred Defense; instead of supporting the warriors and veterans and Ms. Abad, who has been free... those who say these things should have their sister in the hands of ISIS for a week. They have given nothing to her; if they have given anything, it was to a legend and a freedom fighter." Yashar Soltani, the editor-in-chief of "Memari News," the website that exposed the municipal property transfers, was arrested on September 18 after visiting the prosecutor's office and remains in custody. The Memari News website had also been filtered before Soltani's arrest. On October 10, 40 student organizations from various universities in Iran issued a statement demanding the "unconditional" release of Yashar Soltani and "transparency in the cases of those who have squandered public assets" regarding the municipal property transfers. Prior to this, several members of parliament, including Mahmoud Sadeghi and Masoud Pezeshkian, had criticized the "violent" actions of the municipality against critical media. According to an image published from a letter by the General Inspection Organization of the country on the Memari News website and some other media, the Tehran municipality illegally sold 200 properties belonging to the municipality at "unrealistic" and "very low" prices, along with a "50 percent" discount and in "60-month" installments to some managers of this institution and other individuals connected to or close to the mayor of Tehran. The Memari News website had named several members of the Tehran City Council, including Mohsen Pirhadi, Elaheh Rashtgoo, Masoumeh Abad, Hadi Saei, and Abolfazl Ghanavati, who had received properties in northern Tehran with discounts. These five members of the Tehran City Council have filed complaints against 14 news websites and Telegram channels, including ILNA news agency, and Masoud Heydari, the CEO of this news agency, was informed of the charges on October 3 at the "Culture and Media" prosecutor's office. The judiciary also blocked two news agencies, Moj and Borna, and several news websites, including Pouyesh, 9 Sobhe, and Persian Khodro, due to "complaints in judicial authorities" on September 5. The Borna news agency was unblocked on September 20, but the other websites remain blocked. In this context, the arrest of the editor-in-chief of the critical website after "failure to secure bail" has led to confrontations in the city council over the whistleblower of "corruption" in the Tehran municipality. A "new security charge" has been raised in the case of the manager of the blocked Memari News website. Jahangiri stated that the Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters is pursuing the case of astronomical properties. The CEO of ILNA was informed of the charges following a complaint from five members of the City Council. 40 student organizations demanded the release of Yashar Soltani and an investigation into the municipality.