Mohammad Reza Rahimi Released from Prison After Serving Three Years

The director general of prisons in Tehran province announced that Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the first vice president of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second government, has been released after serving three years of his five-year sentence due to approval of his request for conditional release. Mostafa Mohibi stated in an interview with ISNA on Sunday, April 21, that Mr. Rahimi was released from prison on March 18, 2018, after accepting conditional release. Mr. Rahimi had been imprisoned since February 15, 2015. The first vice president of the tenth government was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison, repayment of 2.85 billion tomans, and a 1 billion toman fine by Branch 76 of the Tehran Criminal Court. Ultimately, he was sentenced to five years and 91 days in prison, repayment of 2.85 billion tomans, and a 1 billion toman fine by Branch 11 of the Supreme Court. The director general of prisons did not mention whether the specified amounts for repayment and fines had been paid. Mohammad Reza Rahimi received a first-class service medal from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2013 and was in charge of the Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters. However, Ahmadinejad's office denied any connection between Rahimi's 'charges' and the ninth government, stating that the charges, 'if true,' were related to his presidency over the Court of Audit, which is affiliated with the Islamic Consultative Assembly. About two months later, in response to a letter from Ahmadinejad's office denying any connection between his charges and the ninth government, Rahimi wrote to him that 'the condemned Rahimi today is suffering from your stubbornness and occasional embarrassment.' Mohammad Reza Rahimi was one of the main defendants in the embezzlement case from Iran Insurance Company. In a letter to Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, he denied his charges, emphasizing that these charges were related to 'elections' and that he had provided documents regarding contributions to candidates in the eighth parliamentary elections to the court. Jaber Abdali, one of the defendants in the Iran Insurance embezzlement case, stated in June 2012 that he had 'given his signed checkbook' to Mr. Rahimi on the eve of the eighth parliamentary elections. Rahimi also stated that Abdali had paid a total of 1.2 billion tomans 'to about 170 candidates in the eighth parliament,' and that documents and copies of issued checks 'are recorded in the case.' In 2015, Shargh newspaper reported the death of Davood Sarkhosh, one of the convicted individuals in the Iran Insurance financial corruption case, in prison due to a heart attack. After Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, opposed the appointment of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as first vice president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed Mohammad Reza Rahimi as his first vice president in 2009. He is the highest-ranking official in the Islamic Republic to be formally tried and sentenced to prison for financial corruption since the 1979 revolution. Hamid Baghaei, Ahmadinejad's executive assistant, has also been sentenced to 15 years in prison for 'embezzlement' and 'misappropriation of state property' and has been in prison since March 13, 2018. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff during his presidency, was arrested two days after burning Baghaei's sentence in front of the British embassy in Tehran. Ahmadinejad has described Baghaei's sentence as 'political' and 'pre-determined' and has repeatedly called for the dismissal of the head of the judiciary and structural reforms in this institution, emphasizing that this institution 'has deviated from the path of justice.' Before the imprisonment of Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Hamid Baghaei, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the former mayor of Tehran, was sentenced to three years in prison and a ten-year ban from public service and restitution of property in 1998 for 'financial abuse.' At that time, some of Mr. Khatami's supporters considered his arrest and trial to be political, pointing to Karbaschi's role in supporting Mohammad Khatami in the presidential elections.