Government Official: The Deviant Group is Worse than the So-Called Sedition

Mohammad Reza Khabaz, a manager in the Parliamentary Affairs Department of the Iranian Presidency, stated that the issue of the deviant group is "worse than the so-called sedition." He mentioned that five lawsuits against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former President of Iran, were approved by the eighth parliament. In an interview with the newspaper Shargh on Thursday, March 21, he clarified: "If even two cases are addressed, not only will Mr. Ahmadinejad be revealed, but the true face of the deviant group will become clear to everyone." He added: "I believe the situation of the deviant group is much worse than the so-called sedition, but it has received less attention. The fact that a group in parliament constantly emphasizes sedition is an escape from the possibility of addressing the deviant current." Close associates of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and some conservatives in Iran refer to the protests over the results of the 2009 presidential election as "sedition" and the close allies of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, particularly Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, as the "deviant current." Khabaz also referred to the complaints of 12 reformist representatives from the eighth parliament regarding what he called Ahmadinejad's "illegal behaviors" to the Article 90 Commission of the parliament, stating that this complaint was "archived" in this commission. According to this representative of the eighth parliament, following the incident known as Ahmadinejad's house arrest, another complaint against him was sent to the judiciary by the parliament's vote. Reports indicate that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces nine complaints, some of which are related to the parliament's complaints about the "repeated violations" of the previous government in implementing laws, while others are from private complainants, including Fazel Larijani, brother of the heads of the legislative and judicial branches of Iran. On May 7, 2012, the Iranian parliament sent three cases of government violations regarding the "implementation of the targeted subsidy law," "illegal withdrawals from banks," and "incorrect implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution" to the judiciary. Earlier, in April 2011, the Iranian parliament had also complained against Ahmadinejad for not implementing the decision to establish the Ministry of Sports and Youth. The judiciary has not yet provided a report on the fate of the parliament's complaints against the previous government. Furthermore, there have been multiple reports of Ahmadinejad's court hearings, but these have not taken place. Last year, the 76th branch of the Tehran Criminal Court summoned Ahmadinejad, but he did not appear in court. Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje'i, the spokesman for the judiciary, on June 18, 2013, considered the summoning of the former president after the presidential election a form of "bad taste" and stated that senior judicial officials were not aware of this summoning. "Ahmadinejad has a severe form of narcissistic personality disorder," Khabaz said in another part of his remarks. He stated: "A group has come and imposed an un-Islamic and illogical thought on the country and the people with the force of money. The symbol of this group is Ahmadinejad's office. In my opinion, if the judiciary wants to investigate, it can do so through the files presented by the parliament." He added: "When someone does not accept the essence of the law and says from the television podium that he does not accept the law and considers himself a senior expert in all sciences, what expectation can we have from him to respect the law?" This manager of the Parliamentary Affairs Department of the Iranian Presidency emphasized: "It seems this is a kind of disease, not that they have a malicious intent. In my opinion, he has a severe form of narcissistic personality disorder that considers himself above the law." Iranian parliament representatives have repeatedly criticized what they call the "lawlessness" of Ahmadinejad's government, which even led to the summoning of the president to parliament on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. However, Ahmadinejad did not accept the criticisms of the representatives in this session and often responded to their questions in a mocking tone. 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