Rafsanjani Office Calls Request for Mehdi Hashemi's Pardon a 'Clear Lie'

The office of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani described the Fars News Agency report about Mehdi Hashemi's request for pardon from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic as a 'clear lie' and 'fabrication' aimed at 'neutralizing the effects' of Mr. Rafsanjani's previous statements regarding his meeting with his son. According to ILNA, the office of the head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council stated in a statement on Thursday, July 23, that Mr. Rafsanjani's previous remarks are 'completely clear and documented by the presence of individuals and eyewitnesses.' The office also emphasized that the meeting between Mr. Rafsanjani and the Supreme Leader and their conversation during this meeting 'is not a simple matter that these news agencies can deny with fabricated news and quotes from unknown sources.' This statement reiterated Mr. Rafsanjani's previous comments and implicitly referred to Fars and Tasnim news agencies, stating that 'media affiliated with specific institutions, due to the weight of these matters for them, have resorted to fabricating news and insinuations, distorting events and news, quoting unknown informed sources to neutralize the effects of it.' Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani mentioned on Tuesday, July 14, that during his visit with Mehdi Hashemi in Evin Prison, interrogators asked his son to either request a pardon from the Supreme Leader or continue his lengthy and multi-thousand-page case. He also stated that he told the Supreme Leader in a meeting that he was not satisfied with his son requesting a pardon, and the Supreme Leader accepted his reasoning. Following the publication of these remarks, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on July 21, reported a different narrative from an 'informed source' that was republished by Tasnim, another news agency linked to the IRGC. According to Fars News Agency's report from this 'informed source,' Mehdi Hashemi requested a meeting with his father one month after his arrest and the discovery of 'new documents from the Inspection Organization' that made his crime 'very serious.' In this report, Mehdi Hashemi asked his father to request a pardon from the Supreme Leader, but after a few days, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani informed him that Ayatollah Khamenei had rejected his request for pardon. According to this 'informed source,' Mehdi Hashemi became 'upset and burst into tears' after hearing this news. Mehdi Hashemi was charged upon his return to Iran on September 24, 2012, at the airport and was arrested after presenting himself to the prosecutor's office. He was released on bail on December 17, 2012, after nearly three months in custody. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the first deputy of the judiciary, announced on June 11 that Mehdi Hashemi's sentence had been confirmed and 'the highest punishment, which is ten years in prison, will be executed against him.' His case has been controversial in Iranian media in recent months, and Mr. Ejei indirectly referred to this case in his Friday prayer sermon on July 27, stating that a 'powerful individual' is threatening the judiciary.