New Indictment Issued Against Hamid Baghaei Following His Release from Prison

The Tehran prosecutor has described the recent statements made by Hamid Baghaei and his supporters regarding the charges against him and his detention status as "boastful" and "unprecedented," announcing that a 30-page indictment has been issued against the former deputy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with five charges. According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi stated on Tuesday, July 31, that Baghaei's case is "on the verge of being sent to court." He labeled Baghaei's behavior and that of his supporters after his release from prison as "unprecedented," adding, "If the prosecutor's office is exercising restraint in the face of claims and boastfulness from some defendants, it is because it wants to remain within the bounds of the law." The Tehran prosecutor emphasized that "the defense of the accused must be presented in court against the evidence brought against them, not through boastfulness towards the judiciary." He also warned, "Take this cotton out of your ears, wake up from your deep sleep; criminal actions such as insults and spreading falsehoods are subject to legal prosecution." On July 31, the Tehran prosecutor had also announced that Baghaei's case would soon be sent to court. He denied Baghaei's claims after his release, including that he had been held in solitary confinement, and reported that a new case had been opened against him due to these statements. Shortly after his release on bail of 20 billion tomans, Hamid Baghaei called the statements of the judiciary spokesperson, claiming he had not agreed to be transferred to a general cell, "a lie," asserting that "Mr. Ejei is lying just as he did when he was in the Ministry of Intelligence." At that time, the executive deputy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government also stressed, "I did nothing to go to prison. I participated in the elections and wrote someone else's name. We know where your pain lies and we know you will soon be overthrown." Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the judiciary spokesperson, stated that the judge ordered Baghaei's transfer to a general ward, but he claimed, "I am very comfortable in this suite, and it is better for me to stay here." Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, two days after Baghaei's arrest, described his detention as "illegal" and "a great injustice," calling for his immediate release. In response, the Tehran prosecutor warned on July 13 against "any unprofessional and uninformed comments" regarding Baghaei's case. The judiciary spokesperson also deemed Ahmadinejad's statements as "prosecutable." In reaction to these comments, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chief of staff during his presidency, said, "You are playing with the lion's tail; you are facing the people. You are foolish to think you can do this; your entire credibility is based on a piece of paper." Ahmadinejad also stated on August 1, without naming anyone, that Baghaei's arrest was "the first act of a scenario" by what he called "power and wealth gangs" against some of the managers of his self-proclaimed government. He considered the "illegal statements of the head of the Court of Audit and the entirely false accusations" as "the second act of this scenario." Fayyaz Shajai, the head of the Court of Audit, stated in an interview published on Sunday, August 6, that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has seven definitive and enforceable rulings against him in this court, five of which are related to oil. Mr. Shajai listed the cases of oil sales by the police, the case of purchasing gasoline in exchange for crude oil sales, the Babak Zanjani case, the case of transferring 16 billion tomans to the Iranian University, and the 15 billion tomans case of the Red Crescent Organization as among the cases against Ahmadinejad and his government in this court. Hamid Baghaei was previously arrested in June 2015 on charges of "embezzlement" and was released in December of the same year.