Exclusive | Disclosure of Document on IRGC Interference in the Murder Case of a Lawyer; The Accused is a 'Red Line' for Taeb

Documents obtained by the hacker group 'Justice Ali' and provided to Voice of America indicate that the IRGC's intelligence organization is obstructing the investigation into the murder of a lawyer linked to an economic corruption case, with judicial officials being told that 'the accused is a red line for Mr. Taeb.' According to a detailed report written by Mohammad Shahriari, Deputy Prosecutor and Head of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of District 27 Tehran, which is dedicated to 'special homicide crimes,' to Ali Alghasi Mehr, the Prosecutor General of Tehran Province on June 21, 2020, the IRGC's intelligence organization 'threateningly' informed the judicial authority that 'the accused is a red line for Mr. [Hossein] Taeb and you cannot summon him' because 'he currently has an important responsibility with Mr. Taeb.' The documents related to this case, which pertains to the murder of Hamid Hajian, a 'powerful lawyer in the judicial system' in May 2019, indicate that the victim had 'connections' with 'some heads of judicial complexes and judges' that 'facilitated the grounds for economic corruption.' Hamid Hajian was shot multiple times in the parking lot of his home in Kamranieh, Tehran, and another person identified as his 'temporary wife' was injured in the attack. According to documents provided to Voice of America, following investigations of several close relatives of the victim, including his brother, official wife, and several lawyers who worked in his office, along with economic defendants Mohsen Hedayati and Mohammad Emami, several of them were arrested, but the heirs of the victim filed a complaint against 'a person identified as Pasdar Sadeghi, who was the officer in charge of the economic case of the late Hajian during his lifetime.' Shahriari states in this report that Hajian was supposed to be arrested on May 7, 2019, but 'was killed two days before the arrest in his office by multiple gunshots.' He noted that based on 'camera reviews,' the killer was 'a completely trained individual' who 'shot with both hands' and 'went to the scene wearing a chador,' and 'activated the bank alarm at the corner to cover the sound of the shots,' leaving no trace behind. Available documents suggest that the 'physical elimination' of Hamid Hajian was the 'strongest hypothesis' in this case to 'prevent his arrest and subsequent exposure of corruption,' and the heirs provided evidence including a 'handwritten note' from the victim that mentioned 'Pasdar Sadeghi' along with 'a modem' that was supposed to be delivered to this Pasdar, and they also presented a photo that 'matches the image from the scene's cameras showing a person in a chador leaving.' However, the Deputy Prosecutor emphasized in this report: 'Unfortunately, the IRGC organization took no action in this regard and made promises such as we will present him on a certain day, which they did not fulfill, or in a threatening tone stated that the accused is a red line for Mr. Taeb and we cannot summon him, and currently, he has an important responsibility with Mr. Taeb; if you summon him, you will deal with Mr. Raisi, the esteemed head of the judiciary or the Tehran prosecutor.' According to this senior judicial official, an individual identified as 'Ali Bayat, known as Ali Rasouli, from the IRGC's intelligence protection staff was responsible for psychological warfare in this regard' and repeatedly 'appeared in this prosecutor's office' and 'stated the above issues,' and also 'appeared several times in the police intelligence department and announced that 'we will arrest the murder suspect within two weeks and hand him over to you,' which he stated in the presence of 'Lotfi, the head of the police intelligence.' Shahriari also added: 'An individual identified as Abbas Razavi, who introduced himself as part of the IRGC intelligence protection, also carried out the same actions and threatened the intelligence department by phone to complain to the prosecutor and so on.' Based on the documents obtained from the hacking of the judicial system by the 'Justice Ali' hacker group, ultimately, 'the IRGC's intelligence protection organization stated in a letter that documents should be provided to present him.' After 'the IRGC intelligence organization failed to cooperate,' Pasdar Sadeghi was arrested by Tehran police intelligence officers in front of his home, but 'was released upon the IRGC's intervention.' Mohammad Shahriari emphasized that 'the IRGC's intelligence and protection organization has been negligent in executing judicial orders, which is a crime,' and also 'the IRGC facilitated the murder of lawyer Hajian by negligence and leaking information regarding the date of the victim's arrest.' He stated that the IRGC's intelligence organization provided a 'false report' about this issue and 'intends to divert the case and intimidate the judicial system.' This judicial official also stated in this report: 'The IRGC should not dictate the course of the murder investigation and announce whether the investigations have been diverted or not,' and 'currently, despite sending a letter to the IRGC for criminal compliance, no action has been taken so far,' and 'this is the status of special agents!!!!' Shahriari, accusing the IRGC's intelligence organization of 'creating a narrative' against judicial officials, added: 'They have merely made threats and approached high judicial authorities as their main approach, and currently, they have submitted a false and entirely deceitful report to the esteemed head of the judiciary.' According to a previous report in 2019, Mohammad Shahriari quoted some 'individuals and colleagues' of Hajian stating that he was 'the lawyer in a series of economic corruption cases.' Additionally, Hossein Hedayati, one of the economic defendants in the Bank Sarmayeh case, during his trial stated: 'Go after Hamid Hajian, who is an influential lawyer and has taken and stolen 50 billion tomans of my money. Hajian told me that if I mention his name in court, he will sue me.'