Rouhani's Reaction to Judiciary Spokesman's Remarks on Clothing Shipment

One day after the remarks of Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson of the judiciary, in a press conference on Sunday regarding the discovery of a clothing shipment at the home of the Minister of Education's daughter, Hassan Rouhani stated that he would not allow a house that should be described as a "house of justice" to become a "house of accusation and lies." According to ISNA news agency, Rouhani, speaking in Hamadan, also raised the question, "What has happened that the spokesperson of an institution has learned to portray the government negatively in these two or three weeks?" A day before the Iranian president's remarks, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei provided more details about the discovery of the clothing shipment at the home of the Minister of Education's daughter during a press conference on Sunday, May 7. He expressed surprise that the government-affiliated Organization of Trade Violations ruled within less than 48 hours that the discovered goods were not smuggled and exonerated the minister's family. He stated that the company "Amitis, Taravat Koodaki" has been owned by Fakhruddin Ahmadi Ashtiani and his family since its registration in 2014, and "since that time, the Minister of Education has been the chairman of the board (of this company), and his daughter has been the CEO." According to the judiciary spokesperson, another violation of this company was that it imported the clothing shipment using the commercial card of another company. The news of the discovery of the smuggled shipment at the home of one of the ministers in Rouhani's government has been highly newsworthy in the past week and has made its way into the televised debates of the candidates. In this context, Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice president of Iran, emphasized the "legality" of the import of this shipment during the debate on Friday, May 5, calling the issue raised at this level a "victimization of the government." Meanwhile, according to ISNA, Rouhani, in part of his speech in Hamadan, stated that the people in the elections on May 29 "will once again announce that they do not accept those who have only known executions and prisons for 38 years." These remarks could be a veiled reference to the role of Ebrahim Raisi, one of the conservative candidates in the presidential election, in the executions of 1988. He had previously been heavily criticized in this regard in an audio file by Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. Rouhani's criticism comes at a time when he has not had a critical stance regarding the issuance of death sentences or imprisonment. In July 1999, when he was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, he stated about student protests: "Fortunately, all branches of the system, officials of all powers, agree without any difference of opinion on a decisive and revolutionary response to these opportunistic elements, and the judiciary will perform its legal, religious, national, and revolutionary duties well in the coming days." According to ISNA, the Iranian president addressed his opponents, saying, "What did you do for the Iranian people when you had 750 billion oil money in your hands?" Over the past four years, Rouhani and his officials and supporters have repeatedly raised questions and ambiguities about the fate of hundreds of billions of dollars of oil revenue during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency and have questioned his government's performance. Rouhani further stated in his speech in Hamadan that he has come to put an end to "immorality," adding: "We have come to tell the violent and extremists that your time is over. You have been in this country for eight years, and the people have seen what you did in this country." The criticisms of the Iranian president against his opponents and rivals in the presidential election on May 29 come at a time when they have also questioned his government's performance and stated that his administration has not been successful in controlling recession and reducing unemployment rates. According to some reports, some individuals disrupted the speech venue, to which Rouhani responded: "We are seeking freedom, and we even allow the immoral to enter our speech hall. This is a day to decide for the future. Your logic is prohibition, and you have nothing else. Your logic is noise-making, and you have nothing else." In his speech, Rouhani urged his supporters not to go to the ballot boxes alone, adding: "Each person should go to the ballot box with 11 others, meaning you should go to the polling station in groups of 12." He also promised "progress and employment for women and youth," stating regarding the youth: "If you young people sit at home, know that there will be walls on our sidewalks too. You do not know them; I know them. They once decided in a meeting to build walls on the sidewalks in Tehran. They wanted to create gender-segregated sidewalks, just as they implemented gender segregation in their workplace." He did not provide further explanation about the meeting he referred to. Earlier, according to ISNA, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran, had stated in July 2014 regarding the discussions about gender segregation in the municipality: "We have religious pride; our point is that we should not allow a woman to socialize more with non-mahrams than with her mahrams, husband, and children, because this issue negatively affects the family unit." The house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, leaders of the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, as well as the ban on interviews and images of former President Mohammad Khatami, were also mentioned in Rouhani's speech without naming them. He said: "Why do you house arrest our dear ones and esteemed figures who served the nation and brought dialogue between nations and showed the true face of Iran to the world? By what law?" According to ISNA, in this context, Rouhani promised: "We will go to the ballot box on May 29 to bring our elders back to society." He had previously promised during the 2013 presidential election to work towards ending the house arrest of Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard but was unable to do so. In this regard, several political figures, including Ali Motahari, have continuously emphasized the illegality of the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, although Ali Motahari, who has discussed the issue of lifting the house arrest with the Supreme Leader, believes that the main opponent of lifting the house arrest is Ayatollah Khamenei. Meanwhile, 101 university professors recently stated in a letter that issuing an order to lift the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi by Ayatollah Khamenei "to avoid political blockage and increase social cohesion" would be "very appropriate and effective" for the people. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, who protested the results of the 2009 presidential election, have been under house arrest without trial since February 2011, and the ban on publishing images and news of Mohammad Khatami has also been in place since winter 2014. Mohammad Taghi Karroubi, the son of Mehdi Karroubi, stated on June 17 last year that there had been no response from Hassan Rouhani and his government to his father's letter to the Iranian president regarding efforts to hold his public trial.