In Iran, Hashemi Shahroudi's Kidney Was 'Mistakenly' Removed

A member of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council announced that Iranian doctors 'mistakenly' removed the kidney of Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of this council, and he subsequently traveled to Germany for treatment. Mohammad Reza Bahonar, in an interview with the Saturday, February 3 edition of the Law newspaper, stated that a 'tumor' had 'enveloped' Mr. Hashemi Shahroudi's kidney, and this tumor was supposed to be removed during surgery. According to Mr. Bahonar, the doctors in the operating room had to make a 'momentary decision' and 'mistakenly removed' the kidney, and later when 'pathologized', it was found that the kidney was healthy and that only the tumor could have been removed. This is the first time an official has reported the removal of the kidney of the head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council. Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi is speculated to be a potential candidate for the future leadership of the Islamic Republic. His presence in a hospital in Hanover, Germany, led to protests outside the hospital, where demonstrators demanded the arrest and trial of this former judicial official for human rights violations in Iran. Subsequently, the German prosecutor's office confirmed that they had received complaints against Mr. Shahroudi, and it was reported that his early return to Iran was due to 'fear of legal prosecution'. While some websites had reported that the reason for the head of the Expediency Discernment Council's hospitalization was 'cancer', Mohammad Sadegh Fazeli, Mr. Hashemi Shahroudi's doctor, stated that he underwent surgery due to a 'relatively common gastrointestinal disease'. The head of the Expediency Discernment Council also stated that after returning from Germany, without mentioning details, he had undergone surgery three times in Iran, but German doctors deemed the third surgery unnecessary. Mr. Hashemi Shahroudi noted that German doctors discovered a new infection during the treatment that had not been diagnosed in Iran before. However, Iraj Harirchi, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health, rejected the issue of 'medical negligence' in the treatment process of the head of the Expediency Discernment Council on Thursday, January 18, calling reports in this regard 'irresponsible and false'. Mr. Bahonar, in another part of this interview, said that after the removal of Mr. Hashemi Shahroudi's kidney, several doctors 'insisted' that he be treated abroad, but no decision had been made in this regard by the office of the Supreme Leader, the Expediency Discernment Council, and the Guardian Council. He added: 'I also believed that if this had not happened, it would have been more appropriate, but decision-making in this atmosphere is not simple.' In addition to several Iranians residing in Germany, Volker Beck, a German politician, also called on judicial authorities to prosecute the former head of the Iranian judiciary for human rights violations. Protesters claimed that Mr. Shahroudi had direct responsibility for endorsing the execution of hundreds of people in Iran, including several individuals who were under 18 at the time of their arrest. Besides being the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, Shahroudi is also the appointed head of the Supreme Council for Resolving Conflicts and Regulating Relations among the three branches of government, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of Experts, and a member of the Guardian Council's jurists. Mr. Hashemi Shahroudi, who served as the head of the judiciary from 1999 to 2009, is the founder of the Supreme Islamic Revolution Council of Iraq, one of the major Shia groups in that country. He was born in Najaf, Iraq, and doubts regarding his Iraqi nationality had led to objections from some representatives of the sixth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly regarding his presidency of the judiciary in 1999.