Ejei: The Cases of Some 'Aghazadehs' Are Under Judicial Review

The spokesperson of Iran's judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, implicitly identified the case of Mehdi Hashemi, son of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, as the most significant judicial case of the past year "in terms of time consumption and pressure" on the judiciary. Without providing details, he mentioned that the cases of some other 'Aghazadehs' are also in the stage of "judicial review." In an interview with Mehr News Agency published on Tuesday, April 9, Ejei stated that the case of "some Aghazadehs currently in prison" was the most important judicial case of the past year "in terms of time consumption and pressure" on the judiciary. Ejei added, "The volume of the Aghazadeh case and its amount may be less than Babak Zanjani's, but the media pressure and private meetings should not be overlooked." He emphasized that in this case, "the hype and the 'look at this and look at that' created many side issues." Ejei had previously accused Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council, of putting "extraordinary pressure" on the judiciary regarding his children's cases, stating that Mehdi Hashemi "always had a copy of the judiciary and the General Inspection Organization's documents" related to his case. Sadegh Larijani, head of Iran's judiciary, also stated on Tuesday, March 14, 2016, without mentioning details, that the judiciary has firmly stood in dealing with "large cases and favored individuals" despite what he called "incorrect attacks" and is "not subject to the pressure of influential individuals." Mehdi Hashemi has been serving a 10-year sentence in Evin Prison since August 9 of the previous year and has repeatedly called for the "complete and unembellished" broadcast of all his trial sessions by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Additionally, last year, Fatemeh Hashemi, another child of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was involved in a judicial case, and in the final days of last year, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, her lawyer, announced that his client had been summoned on charges of "insulting" a prosecutor in her previous case, which was formed after her letter to the Speaker of Parliament. Ali Mohammad Bozorgvari, a representative from Kohgiluyeh in Parliament, called Mehdi Hashemi a "thief" during a confidence vote for the ministers of Hassan Rouhani's government. Fatemeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, in a letter to the Speaker of Parliament on August 21, 2013, protested against the statements made against her brother, referring to Ali Larijani's reaction to the broadcast of a video of Fazel Larijani and Saeed Mortazavi during the impeachment of the Minister of Labor in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, stating: "The Parliament and the judiciary are obliged to respect the rights of the people. It is not that when accusations are made against Mr. Ali Larijani's brother, he creates that political earthquake in the country and takes a normal reaction for others." After the publication of this letter, Fatemeh Hashemi's case was formed in late August 2013 in Branch 12 of the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office, and the first branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced her to six months in prison, which was suspended for two years. In another part of his remarks, the judiciary spokesperson also mentioned that the cases of "some Aghazadehs" are in the stage of "judicial review." According to Ejei, some of these individuals "have private complainants," and the cases of some of them have also been "sent to the judiciary from official sources." The term "Aghazadeh" in Iranian media and political discourse usually refers to the children of officials who engage in economic activities using their parents' political power or benefit from special privileges. In this context, Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Air Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also emphasized on Tuesday that this force is not worried about a potential military attack on Iran, adding: "Our concern is from within and inside, from Aghazadehs and nephews and nieces, from those who influence decision-makers and policymakers." The issue of Babak Zanjani's case was also another part of the judiciary spokesperson's conversation with Mehr News Agency, where Ejei rejected the claim that Zanjani's death sentence was issued to "scare" him, stating that if Zanjani pays his debts, "it will certainly not be without effect on his sentence." The judiciary spokesperson also quoted "case officials" stating that Zanjani "has not cooperated sufficiently." Previously, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Iran's Minister of Justice, stated on March 8, 2016, that "Zanjani's cooperation is influential in his sentence." Babak Zanjani and two other defendants in this case have been sentenced to death, repayment of debts to the National Iranian Oil Company, and monetary fines. Zanjani has been accused in his indictment of having received "one million barrels of oil worth 300 million euros" from the Iranian oil company and having paid "160 million euros" out of the 2.7 billion euros he was supposed to pay, spending the remainder on personal matters. In the early days of April, Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish businessman reportedly linked to Babak Zanjani, was arrested in Florida, USA, on charges of directing hundreds of millions of dollars to help circumvent US sanctions against the Iranian government and other individuals and entities.