Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Ahmadinejad's First Vice President, Sent to Evin Prison

The Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office announced on Sunday that the prison sentence of Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the first vice president of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the tenth government, has been executed, and police officers have taken him to Evin Prison. The Tehran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's website stated: "Given the finality of the conviction of Mohammad Reza Rahimi, former first vice president, to serve 5 years in prison, the head of the execution of judgments of the Government Employees Prosecutor's Office issued an order for the execution of the prison sentence through the police. Accordingly, police officers on 26 Bahman 1393 (February 15, 2015) arrived at the residence of the convicted individual, summoned him, and after explaining the execution of the sentence, he was introduced to Evin Prison to serve his sentence." Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Ahmadinejad's first vice president, was sentenced by Branch 11 of the Supreme Court to five years and 91 days in prison, the repayment of 2 billion and 850 million tomans, and a fine of 1 billion tomans. Earlier, Iranian news agencies reported that the first vice president of the tenth government had previously been sentenced in Branch 76 of the Tehran Criminal Court to 15 years in prison, repayment of 2 billion and 850 million tomans, and a fine of 1 billion tomans. While Mohammad Reza Rahimi was transferred to Evin Prison by police officers on Sunday, he had received a first-class service medal from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the then President of Iran, in Khordad 1392 (June 2013) and was in charge of the Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters. Mohammad Reza Rahimi is one of the main defendants in the embezzlement case from Iran Insurance Company. On Tuesday, 17 Shahrivar (September 8), in a letter to Sadegh Amoli Larijani, the head of the judiciary, he denied his accusations, emphasizing that these accusations were related to "election management" and that he had presented documents regarding financial contributions to candidates for the eighth parliamentary elections to the court. Previously, some members of parliament, including Ahmad Tavakoli and Elias Naderan, had accused Mr. Rahimi of distributing money through Jaber Abdali, one of the defendants in the embezzlement case from Iran Insurance Company, among the candidates for the eighth parliamentary elections. Jaber Abdali stated in June 1391 (2012) in the Iran Insurance embezzlement trial that he had "given his signed checkbook" to Mr. Rahimi on the eve of the eighth parliamentary elections. On 5 Aban (October 27), Mohammad Reza Rahimi wrote in a letter to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Jaber Abdali, one of the defendants in the Iran Insurance embezzlement case, had paid a total of 1 billion and 200 million tomans "to nearly 170 candidates for the eighth parliament," with documents and copies of issued checks "registered and seized in the case file."