Revelation of Major Land Grabbing in Damavand and Collusion of Two Governments and the Judiciary

Yashar Soltani, a journalist, revealed a major land grab in the 'pleasant climate' region of Damavand involving the governments of Hassan Rouhani and Ebrahim Raisi and the judiciary under Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei. In his report, this journalist residing in Iran published documents and evidence stating: 'Construction with a tourism approach has a history on this particular land since before the revolution. When a tourism plan and the construction of tourist villas in this area were proposed and several villas were built on this land, it faced opposition from Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi due to the potential destruction of the pristine environment of Damavand, and the plan was left unfinished.' Yashar Soltani mentions a person he refers to as 'Reza Dezhagah' and a company named 'Lotus,' which, according to him, acquired over 313,000 square meters of land in the 'Cheshmeh A'la' area of Damavand in 2019 during Rouhani's presidency at a price approximately 26 times lower than the actual value. According to Yashar Soltani, these lands were reclaimed by the judiciary after a few years, but during Raisi's presidency, the same judiciary returned the land to this company. In the continuation of his report, he noted: 'The more than 313,000 square meters of land allocated to Lotus Company in the best area of Damavand, also known as the roof of Damavand, was calculated in 2019 at about 260,000 tomans per square meter, totaling 82 billion tomans, while the average land price in this area that year was approximately 7 million tomans per square meter and is now priced up to 40 million tomans per square meter.' Yashar Soltani concluded his report by stating that corruption and favoritism in the Islamic Republic find their way in every government, regardless of which faction is in power. In this context, only public interests are sacrificed, and the best lands of a city that could become a recreational area for the public are turned into land for the personal profit of a few individuals due to the collusion of governments and the preference of personal interests over public good. Yashar Soltani had previously reported on the financial corruption of Kazem Sediqi, the temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran, and the financial misconduct of the Khomeini seminary in the Azgol area of Tehran, which is under Sediqi's management. A journalist residing in Iran also reported in Azar this year about the daily smuggling of 20 million liters of fuel from Iran to neighboring countries, stating that this is while the country's power plants are out of fuel. Other reports include a 33 million euro misconduct and the import of counterfeit rice by a state-owned company, the arrest of two Iranian journalists for executing 'judicial sentences'; Yashar Soltani and Saba Azarpeyk were transferred to prison, continued criticisms regarding the construction of a mosque in Qeytarieh Park; Tehran Municipality ignores opponents, new dimensions of land grabbing by Tehran's Friday prayer leader; Sediqi registered the Ozgol garden at 150 times below the regional price in his name, and conflicts over Miankaleh; Ghalibaf secretly supports the construction of a petrochemical complex.