Pourmokhtar: There is no will to fight land grabbing

The head of the Iranian Parliament's Article 90 Commission, Mohammad Ali Pourmokhtar, pointed out that there is a lack of will to combat land grabbing, citing "oppositions and confrontations" faced by the committee formed to address this issue. Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Free Zones announced that 154 land grabbing contracts in Kish, established during the previous government, have been canceled under President Hassan Rouhani. According to Mehr News Agency, Pourmokhtar stated on Monday, September 2, that the committee formed two years ago has encountered "difficulties and oppositions" in its activities. He emphasized that the first condition for fighting land grabbing is that those involved in the fight should not have any personal interests in land grabbing cases. He advised individuals linked to land grabbing cases to refrain from engaging in this matter, as they would not be effective fighters. Pourmokhtar criticized the oversight of land grabbing as "weak" and claimed that "executive" officials are not performing their duties effectively. He mentioned that land grabbing has recently been "expanding" in a "virgin" area near Tehran, but measures have been taken to stop it. His remarks come amid recent mutual accusations between Zero Naeimi Rez, a representative from Astara, and Kamal al-Din Pir-Mo’een, a representative from Ardabil, regarding land grabbing in the Gerdneh Heyran area. In recent months, land grabbing cases in the Qeshm Free Zone have also emerged, with reports indicating that Reza Mousavi and Esfandiar Heydari-Pour, two former CEOs of the region, have been arrested in connection with this issue. Additionally, Akbar Turkan, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Free Zones, reported that 154 land transfer contracts for construction projects in the Kish Free Zone, which had seen "no action," have been canceled over the past two years. Turkan stated that these land transfer contracts "lacked real substance." Iranian government and judiciary officials have repeatedly emphasized the fight against "land grabbing," with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, having strongly criticized "land grabbing and mountain grabbing" in Iran in March 2015, despite some of the institutions under his supervision being implicated in this phenomenon. In September 2014, Pourmokhtar had stated that the "Endowment and Charity Affairs Organization has turned into a major land grabber." Izatollah Khan Mohammadi, the governor of Shemiranat, also stated on June 10 that 814 hectares of land have been seized by armed forces, surrounded by barbed wire. The ongoing land grabbing controversy in Heyran has led to a representative revealing the names of 65 land grabbers, and a special inspector has been assigned by the presidency to investigate the land grabbing case. Allegations of billion-dollar land grabbing in Heyran involve former ministers and representatives.