Deputy of 'Imam Ali' Battalions Arrested on Charges of Extortion in Mashhad

The deputy of the 'Imam Ali' battalions, the military branch of the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) in Iraq, known as Abu Har and a close friend of Abu Azrael, has been arrested in Mashhad on charges of 'fraud', 'forgery', and 'extortion'. Abu Har, who was previously recognized in media and Hezbollah circles as a 'fighter of the resistance front', has been accused of fraud and extortion in the past 24 hours. The Khorasan newspaper, published in Mashhad, reported on Tuesday, August 9, citing Hassan Heydari, the deputy prosecutor of Mashhad, about his arrest along with three others. This judicial official announced that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) agents identified a website that was registering individuals for deployment to Syria and Iraq in the name of this military force and successfully identified and arrested its operators. According to Mr. Heydari, 'the forgers of this site were committing fraud and extortion by obtaining complete personal information from individuals and misusing this information.' He stated, 'These individuals, by wearing clothing similar to that of the defenders of the shrine and telling false stories about war scenes in neighboring countries, tried to gain the trust of young people.' This judicial official also reported the discovery of 'fake documents and orders from the IRGC' from some of the detainees, which 'verification from the IRGC confirmed that these individuals had not been sent across the border as military advisors at all.' However, the deputy prosecutor of Mashhad mentioned the misuse of the 'defenders of the shrine' clothing by these individuals, while numerous images and videos of the main accused in this case, known as 'Abu Har', had previously been published in IRGC-affiliated media. The main accused, referred to as 'Abu Har', was recently given this title by Ayoub Faleh al-Rubaie, known as 'Abu Azrael', a well-known fighter from the 'Popular Mobilization Forces' battles in Iraq and Syria. In this context, the conservative website Bulletin News published a video in November 2015 showing Abu Azrael granting the title 'Abu Har' or 'Kian Iranian' to the arrested individual. Young Journalists Club also published a video of 'Abu Har' on April 3 of this year, which appears to have been recorded in Iraq and introduces him as the deputy of the 'Imam Ali' battalions. This website, affiliated with state media, also published an image of 'Abu Azrael of Iraq' and 'Abu Har of Iran' on April 5 of this year, introducing them as 'two close friends' who 'have stolen sleep from the eyes of ISIS.' On May 6 of this year, images of Abu Azrael in Mashhad were published, showing that 'Abu Har' had accompanied him on his visit to this religious city. The images and videos published on conservative websites indicate that 'Abu Har' had a very close relationship with Shiite militias in Iraq and had traveled to this country several times. Other images of 'Abu Har' were published at the 'Memorial of the Defenders of the Shrine Martyrs' titled 'From the Shrine to Paradise,' which was held in May of this year at Hakim Sabzevari University. The official website of this university also referred to 'Abu Har' as 'one of the renowned fighters of the defenders of the shrine' who spoke at this event.