Sadegh Larijani: The Judiciary is Not Subject to Influential Individuals' Pressure

The head of Iran's judiciary emphasized that this branch, despite what he called "incorrect attacks," stands firmly in handling "major cases and favored individuals" and is "not subject to the pressure of influential individuals." According to Mehr News Agency, Sadegh Larijani stated on Tuesday, March 14, that the judiciary has carried out its work in handling various cases "without considering political and media relationships and atmospheres, according to laws and regulations." Mr. Larijani did not specify the instances of his statements. Previously, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the first deputy of the judiciary, had accused Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, of exerting "extraordinary pressure" on the judiciary regarding the cases of his children, stating that Mehdi Hashemi "always had a copy of the judiciary and the General Inspection Organization's documents" related to his case. Mehdi Hashemi, the son of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has been serving a 10-year sentence in Evin Prison since August 9 of last year. While some members of the Iranian parliament and some conservative media have accused Mehdi Hashemi of involvement in economic corruption in the Statoil and Karsent contracts, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, the lawyer for Mehdi Hashemi and the children of Mr. Hashemi, has repeatedly emphasized that the "main issue" of this case is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani himself, not Mehdi Hashemi. Meanwhile, Faezah Hashemi had previously stated that her brother's prison sentence was issued to "reduce" Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's presence and influence in the Assembly of Experts and the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections. Mehdi Hashemi has repeatedly called for the "complete and unedited" broadcast of all his trial sessions by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. At the same time, Yaser Hashemi, in an interview with the Nowruz special edition of the Arman newspaper, stated that his brother "is still seeking to assert his rights regarding the transparency of his trial status." In recent days, reports have also emerged regarding the summons of Fatemeh Hashemi, another child of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to the prosecutor's office. Abbas Jafari Dolat Abadi, the Tehran prosecutor, announced that this summons was related to Ms. Hashemi's previous case. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, Fatemeh Hashemi's lawyer, stated that his client had a dispute with the prosecutor's representative in her previous case, which led to the representative filing a complaint for insult against the judge, and now, after two years, she has been summoned. Ali Mohammad Bozorgvari, a representative from Kohgiluyeh in the parliament, had referred to Mehdi Hashemi as a "thief" during a vote of confidence for the ministers of Hassan Rouhani's government. Fatemeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, in a letter to Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, protested against the statements made against her brother, referring to Larijani's reaction to the broadcast of a video of Fadhel Larijani and Saeed Mortazavi during the impeachment of the Minister of Labor in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, stating: "The parliament and the judiciary are obliged to respect the rights of the people. It is not that when accusations are made against Mr. Ali Larijani's brother, he creates that political earthquake in the country and takes a normal reaction for others." Following the publication of this letter, Fatemeh Hashemi's case was formed in late August 2013 in Branch 12 of the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office, and the first branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced her to six months in prison, which was suspended for two years. Faezah Hashemi, another daughter of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, was also arrested in 2012 after being sentenced to six months in prison and five years of prohibition from political, cultural, and press activities, serving six months in prison. "We also witnessed the issue of infiltration during the recent elections," the head of the judiciary said, referring to the Supreme Leader's remarks about "infiltration," stating that during the recent elections, "we witnessed some effects of infiltration." Sadegh Larijani emphasized that "the enemy is trying to achieve its goals by infiltrating the decision-making of politicians." Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, has repeatedly warned about what he calls America's attempts at "infiltration" in Iran following the Vienna nuclear agreement. On February 17, he claimed that "an English radio is instructing the people of Iran, the people of Tehran, to vote for this person and not for that person." Meanwhile, during the elections on February 26, many conservatives referred to the list supported by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, in the Assembly of Experts elections and the list supported by reformist groups in the parliamentary elections as the "English list." In contrast, Faezah Hashemi, in separate remarks, called terms like "infiltration" a "delusion" and attributed these attacks to concerns about the possibility of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani winning votes. At the same time, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani described the term "English list" as an "insult to the understanding and intellect of the Iranian people," and Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, described these accusations as a means of "diminishing" the Iranian nation.