Ejei: Hashemi Rafsanjani Raised the Issue of Election Fraud in 2009

In a continued attack on the leaders and protesters of the Green Movement over the past week, coinciding with the anniversary of December 30, some officials close to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic have sharply criticized Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, accusing him of initiating the 'fraud discussion.' The head of Iran's judiciary considered Hashemi Rafsanjani's warning letter to the Supreme Leader in 2009 as a sign of his lack of 'insight,' while the first deputy of this judiciary stated that Rafsanjani was the first to raise the possibility of fraud in the 10th presidential election. According to Fars News Agency, Sadeq Larijani, the head of the judiciary, said in a speech on Thursday evening, December 30, that 'a responsible person who sends a letter without greeting to the leader of the revolution does not understand insight.' He added, 'The great sin of the rioters is creating costs for the system.' Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in June 2009, just days before the presidential election, sent an open letter to the Supreme Leader, starting without a greeting, protesting the accusations made against him and his family by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and asked Ayatollah Khamenei to ensure the integrity of the elections. The Supreme Leader never officially responded to this letter. However, some of his close associates consider this letter as one of the grounds for the protests against the 2009 presidential election and have labeled Rafsanjani as the 'head of the sedition.' Meanwhile, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters of the judiciary, on Thursday, referred to Rafsanjani's positions in 2009 and stated that due to 'Rafsanjani's divergent positions with the Supreme Leader,' we should distance ourselves from him. On the same day, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the first deputy of the judiciary, announced in a speech that Rafsanjani was the first to raise the discussion of possible fraud in the elections several months before the elections from an official podium. Rafsanjani had stated on April 23, 2009, 'Officials must guarantee the integrity of the elections for society so that people can comfortably attend the ballot boxes, and this assurance is a necessity.' Some close associates of the Supreme Leader have accused Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his children, Mehdi and Faezah, of planning the protests against the 2009 election results. Meanwhile, Mostafa Tajzadeh, a political prisoner from the Participation Front, reported in a letter on August 27, 2014, about 'being beaten by interrogators' to 'confess against' Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Mohammad Khatami, stating that the interrogators asked him to confess that Rafsanjani was seeking to realize a velvet revolution. Meanwhile, Mehdi Hashemi, the son of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has been in Evin Prison since August 9, serving a ten-year sentence. Faezah Hashemi was also imprisoned for six months after the 2009 elections. The statements of the Iranian judiciary officials were made on the occasion of the government rally on December 30. While Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, leaders of the Green Movement, are under house arrest, their supporters are also unable to hold speeches or gatherings, and government institutions annually attack them severely on the occasion of the December 30 rally and other occasions. Reaction to the letter to the U.S. President The head of the Iranian judiciary, in another part of his speech, said: 'Today, yesterday's hypocrites, along with a group of counter-revolutionaries, are writing a letter to the U.S. President to impose sanctions on this nation again; this means the malice of internal traitors has combined with the enmity of external enemies.' According to Mizan News Agency, Sadeq Larijani emphasized that 'today the Islamic Republic of Iran is more powerful in the region than ever, and the Muslims who are under oppression find refuge in the Islamic Republic.' A group of Iranian political and civil activists abroad, on Sunday, January 25, wrote a letter to Donald Trump, the elected U.S. President, calling the Vienna nuclear agreement a 'disastrous agreement' and demanded that the new U.S. government 'expand existing sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the financial empire of Ayatollah Khamenei.' This letter received significant attention, and some social media users interpreted this action as 'encouraging war' against Iran, while some authors of this letter stated that it was written to prevent war. Meanwhile, 317 political and civil activists also described this action as 'certainly a national and shameful act.' In response, Ahmad Batabi, one of the signatories of the thirty-person letter, reacted to the statement of these 317 individuals, stating that the letter to Mr. Trump is not a letter to one person but a letter to the U.S. presidency. He emphasized that in the letter to the U.S. President, 'there is no mention of canceling the JCPOA, attacking Iran, or blanket sanctions against the nation, similar to what was imposed on the Iranian people during the Obama era.'