Judiciary's Protection and Information Center Denies Letters Regarding 'Espionage' of Larijani's Daughter

Following a strong attack from the IRGC intelligence, Friday prayer leaders, and also from Sadegh Larijani himself against the publishers of a report about the 'espionage' of his daughter, the Protection and Information Center of the Judiciary strongly condemned the report's publishers and denied the letters attributed to this body regarding the news. According to Fars News Agency, this center issued a statement on Saturday, October 7, attributing the publication of this report to Western intelligence services without providing evidence or documentation. The Protection and Information Center of the Judiciary also described the published letters attributed to this center as 'one hundred percent false and baseless' and stated that they were 'clumsily forged' and 'the signs of their falsity are evident from the very appearance of the letters.' The website 'Amadnews' published two letters in recent days, claiming that these letters belong to the Protection and Information Center of the Judiciary. Based on the content of these letters, an individual with the surname 'Sedaqat' and the position of 'Director General of the Discovery of the Protection and Information Center of the Judiciary' issued orders regarding the 'tracking' of Zahra Larijani, the daughter of the head of the Judiciary. In one of these letters, the agents of this center were also asked to identify all individuals who had 'established contact' with Zahra Larijani. On October 1, 'Amadnews' claimed that following the exposure of the 'espionage' case of Zahra Larijani for the British Embassy in Tehran, she was arrested by the direct order of Vahid Haqaniyan, an official from the office of the Supreme Leader, and by the forces of the IRGC intelligence. Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence in Hassan Rouhani's government, denied this report on October 3, stating that the ministry had 'not observed any evidence of actions that even raised suspicion of espionage regarding any of the family members of Ayatollah Amoli Larijani, the head of the Judiciary.' The next day, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the Iranian Judiciary, stated in a speech that recent rumors about his family 'are not worth responding to' while he severely attacked the publishers of this report. On the same day, the head of the IRGC intelligence organization claimed that the publication of this report was carried out by Western intelligence organizations and their allies in the region. On June 4, the Friday prayer leader of Tehran and several other Friday prayer leaders in other cities attributed the publication of reports about the espionage of the head of the Judiciary's daughter to Western intelligence organizations and the Bahá'ís. The Protection and Information Center of the Judiciary also strongly attacked the publishers of this report on Saturday without naming them, calling the publication 'the flailing of fleeing anti-revolutionaries and desperate seditionists.' Media affiliated with the IRGC report that the website 'Amadnews' is run by Rouhollah Zam, the son of Mohammad Ali Zam, the deputy of the Free Zones Organization and a figure close to the children of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. However, Rouhollah Zam has stated that he no longer plays a role in managing this website and its Telegram channel. Reporters Without Borders reported on September 6 that Mohammad Milad Zam, Rouhollah Zam's brother, had been arrested since September 4. According to this report, previously two sisters and the wife of one of Mr. Zam's sisters had been arrested and imprisoned for a while.