Hamid Baghaei Sent to Prison After Summons to Prosecutor's Office

The media advisor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Hamid Baghaei was arrested in front of his house by the order of his former case investigator and was imprisoned after a bail of 50 billion tomans was set but not provided. According to ILNA news agency, Ali Akbar Javanfekr stated that Hamid Baghaei, the former deputy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was disqualified alongside him in the elections, was arrested on Sunday, July 9, and transferred to the prosecutor's office. Mr. Javanfekr mentioned that the reason for Baghaei's arrest was a summons and his failure to appear at the prosecutor's office, although Baghaei claimed he had not received any summons. The report indicated that the investigator issued a bail of 50 billion tomans, claiming that Baghaei might not appear again after being summoned, and due to the failure to provide this bail, Baghaei was imprisoned. Hamid Baghaei, Ahmadinejad's executive deputy during his presidency, was arrested in June 2015 on charges of embezzlement and was released in December of the same year. Baghaei had run for president alongside Ahmadinejad but both were disqualified. After his disqualification, Ahmadinejad stated in a video with Baghaei that he would not support any candidates, and Baghaei voted for Ahmadinejad on election day. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, stated in April that Baghaei's case remains open. Meanwhile, Javanfekr considered the lack of resolution in Baghaei's case over more than two years as a sign of the judiciary's weakness. He also described Baghaei's re-arrest as 'inexplicable,' 'very strange,' and 'astonishing,' stating that 'it is expected that senior judicial officials intervene to end this illegal process.' Baghaei's summons and arrest occurred about two months after the imprisonment of Abdolreza Davari, Ahmadinejad's advisor. Reports indicate that Davari was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for three comments made by 'unknown individuals' on a Facebook page attributed to him, which were deemed insulting to the leadership of the Islamic Republic, a sentence that was reduced to two years on appeal. Ahmadinejad's case has also remained open in the Tehran Criminal Court for several years, with the newspaper 'Shargh' previously reporting on the existence of '23 complaints' against him, including complaints from the parliament. Shortly after Hassan Rouhani's victory in the 2013 presidential election, Ahmadinejad was summoned to court, but the judiciary spokesperson called his summons 'bad taste' and stated that judicial officials were unaware of it. With Rouhani's government coming to power, several managers from the ninth and tenth governments, including Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Ahmadinejad's first deputy, were sentenced to prison for economic corruption. Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and his close associates supported Ahmadinejad during the first four years of his presidency and after the protests against the 2009 presidential election. However, after the appointment of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as the first vice president in 2009 and the dismissal of Heydar Moslehi, the Minister of Intelligence, and the well-known 11-day house arrest of Ahmadinejad, the relationship between Khamenei's associates and Ahmadinejad soured.