Mehdi Hashemi's Lawyer: The Main Subject of the Case is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

The lawyer of Mehdi Hashemi, son of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, predicted that he would ultimately be acquitted and stated that the "main subject" of his client's case is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani himself, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, not Mehdi Hashemi. According to the state news agency IRNA, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai on Wednesday, November 28, before the start of the eighteenth session of his client's court, deemed the subject of Mehdi Hashemi's case as "political." He emphasized: "In fact, the main subject of the case is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, not Mehdi, and I am sure that my client will be acquitted." This statement by Mehdi Hashemi's lawyer recalls a letter from Mostafa Tajzadeh, a jailed member of the Participation Front, who wrote to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on September 4, referring to Mehdi Hashemi's trial, stating that "the problem of the gentlemen is more than and before Mr. Mehdi Hashemi, it is you." In this letter, he mentioned that interrogators were "beating him to confess that Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani intended a velvet revolution." Fatemeh Hashemi, another child of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, also stated on Monday, August 27, that "in Mehdi's case, they are taking revenge on the son for the father. The revenge for my father standing with the people and defending their rights." Concurrently with the eighteenth session of Mehdi Hashemi's court, IRNA reported that Saeed Qasemi, a commander of the IRGC and one of the opponents of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was present at the Revolutionary Court. However, according to this news agency, Mr. Qasemi refrained from answering reporters' questions about the reason for his presence at the Revolutionary Court. On the morning of Saturday, November 10, coinciding with the fourteenth court session of Mehdi Hashemi, Hamid Rasai, a conservative representative from Tehran, announced his presence at the Revolutionary Court and reported the delivery of a letter from 110 members of parliament to the judge of the case "for holding a public trial" and stated that a committee is tasked with "monitoring and observing" the actions of the authorities regarding this case. Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, Mehdi Hashemi's lawyer, also predicted in his remarks on Wednesday that his client's trial would continue for at least another ten to fifteen sessions. Vahid Abou-Maali, another lawyer for Mehdi Hashemi, stated after the seventeenth session of his client's court that "the court session is still ongoing, and we are both presenting our defense and the prosecutor is presenting his arguments." Mehdi Hashemi was arrested at the airport after returning to Iran on October 24, 2012, after being informed of the charges and presenting himself to the prosecutor's office. He was released on bail on December 26, 2012, after nearly three months in custody. The first session of the trial of the son of the head of the Expediency Discernment Council was held on Saturday, August 2, in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Mogheiseh.