Mohammad-Reza Khatami Summoned by IRGC Intelligence Due to 'December 16 Speech'

Following reports of the 'summoning' of Hossein Marashi, spokesperson for the Executives of Construction Party, and the arrest of Faraj Kamijani, a member of the Reformists' Policy Council, Mohammad-Reza Khatami, former Secretary-General of the Participation Front, announced that he was 'summoned' by the IRGC Intelligence on December 29 due to his speech at the December 16 ceremony. In an interview on January 9 with the Jamaran website, affiliated with the Institute for the Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works, Mr. Khatami stated that he was summoned on Sunday, December 29, and that his case is being 'completed' for 'submission to the prosecutor's office.' The former Secretary-General and brother of former President Mohammad Khatami added, 'This is not strange and is not new news; we are summoned almost every few weeks.' On December 16, Mr. Khatami spoke at the Student Day ceremony at Shahid Beheshti University alongside Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran in Parliament, where he criticized the performance of some institutions under the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, including state television, and defended a letter from the sixth parliament representatives to the Supreme Leader regarding Iran's nuclear file. On September 10, Mohammad-Reza Khatami had also reported that he was banned from leaving the country due to a complaint from the IRGC. Mr. Khatami stated in his remarks on Wednesday that his summoning is not related to his membership in the Reformists' Electoral Policy Council. He also expressed ignorance about the cases of Hossein Marashi and Faraj Kamijani. The Kaleme website, close to Mir-Hossein Mousavi, reported on Wednesday, December 23, that Faraj Kamijani, the head of the central region of the Reformists' Policy Council, was arrested by 'security police' agents under a warrant from the prosecutor's office of Evin Prison. Meanwhile, according to the Jamaran website, Hossein Marashi, spokesperson for the Executives of Construction Party and a member of the Reformists' Policy Council, has also been summoned by 'security agencies.' The summoning and arrest of these members of the Reformists' Policy Council come as the reformists have announced that they will participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections with the 'leadership' of Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran. However, some conservatives and appointees of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, are calling for the prevention of the participation of reformists who protested the results of the 2009 presidential election and for their disqualification. In recent months, there have been attacks on speeches by several reformists, including speeches by Mohammad Ali Najafi and Mohsen Mehralizadeh at Allameh Tabatabai University, Abdul Vahid Mousavi Lari in Qarchak, and Azar Mansouri and Jahanbakhsh Khajani at Shahid Chamran University in Ahvaz, as well as Azar Mansouri at Yasouj Azad University. In response to these attacks, Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje'i, spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary, has asked university officials to prevent speeches that 'cause tension.'