Tehran Mayor's Order to Address Real Estate Violators

The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz quoted Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Mayor of Tehran, stating that "the 2200 billion tomans violation does not exist at all" while simultaneously reporting on the Mayor's "order" to deal with real estate violators. The newspaper published an "apology" from the Mayor in the first paragraph of its report, where Qalibaf said, "I apologize to the people for being upset until the prosecutor's report was announced, but the people of Tehran should know that no crime or violation has occurred." Newspapers close to reformists or government supporters welcomed the vote of confidence given by the Islamic Consultative Assembly to three proposed ministers by Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday. The newspaper Shahrvand, while publishing a photo of the remarks by Gholamali Jafarzadeh Eymani Abadi, a supporter of the proposed ministers in the Assembly, referred to the tenth Assembly as the "Moderation Assembly" and wrote: "The three ministers who were rejected in the ninth Assembly received the confidence of the tenth Assembly." The newspaper reported on the results of the confidence vote for the three proposed ministers by Hassan Rouhani, stating: "Fakhruddin Danesh Ashteyani was elected as Minister of Education with 157 votes in favor," "Reza Salehi Amiri was elected as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance with 180 votes in favor," and "Masoud Soltani Far was elected as Minister of Sports and Youth with 193 votes in favor." The newspaper Shahrvand also noted in its editorial titled "The Expectation that was Fulfilled" that "this vote showed that changes in the Assembly have been effective through the votes cast by the people in Esfand 1394" as "all three had previously been introduced by the President for certain ministries and were rejected by the Assembly, but this time all three were approved, which is a good criterion for measuring the changes that have occurred in the Assembly." The newspaper Etemad, with the headline "This was the Meaning of the People's Vote," welcomed the Assembly's confidence vote for the proposed ministers, stating: "The tenth Assembly voted in favor of three individuals who had faced rejection in the ninth Assembly." Elias Hazrati, a representative from Tehran and owner of the Etemad newspaper, wrote in a note that "the confidence vote for the three ministers of the elected government was a successful test that demonstrated the rational cooperation of political factions in the Assembly and discouraged the opponents of the government and public votes from using the Assembly as a tool for obstructing the people's demands and national interests." The writer emphasized that "the most important message of the confidence vote for the three individuals who were previously denied ministerial positions without significant reasons is that the Assembly has changed, and this Assembly is no longer one that succumbs to unfounded claims, organized uproars, and the directives of a small group." The newspaper Hamdeli also headlined "The Reading of Sedition Did Not Work," stating: "On Tuesday, Reza Salehi Amiri, the proposed Minister of Culture, Masoud Soltani Far, the proposed Minister of Sports, and Fakhruddin Ahmad Danesh Ashteyani, who went to the triangular-shaped Baharestan building for their qualifications, were accused by some principlists of being involved in the sedition, but the final confidence vote of the Assembly showed that the parliament does not agree with such rhetoric." This newspaper reminded that "sedition" was the keyword of the Assembly's discussions on Tuesday, and while "this term was added to the political vocabulary after the 2009 elections," it remains on the lips of some representatives as the second presidential election approaches after the 2009 elections. The newspaper Hamdeli noted that during the confidence vote, some principlist representatives or representatives close to the Stability Front accused the proposed ministers, especially Fakhruddin Danesh Ashteyani and Reza Salehi Amiri, of participating in the 2009 protests or of using their own rhetoric in the "sedition," but "the results of the representatives' votes showed that the parliament no longer pays attention to the rhetoric of sedition," as "Fakhruddin Danesh Ashteyani, who faced the most criticism, managed to secure 157 votes in favor, with 111 against and 6 abstentions." Fazlollah Yari, in the editorial of the Hamdeli newspaper, assessed the Assembly's confidence vote for the three proposed ministers by Hassan Rouhani as a sign of the "extinction of the extremist generation," reviewing some actions and statements of the previous Assembly's representatives: at one time in the ninth Assembly, "while the public atmosphere was heavily influenced by the events following the June 2009 elections, and the country's well-wishers were trying to pour water on the fire of unrest, a group of representatives of that day set aside their legislative robes and bizarrely marched among the green chairs of the parliament, shouting slogans and demanding nothing less than execution while the judiciary was busy with its work." The editorial writer stated, however, that now "the movement that began in Khordad 92 and was emphasized in Esfand 94, alongside its interactions, will pursue one issue: the extinction of the extremists who see their existence in radicalism, violence, fabricating cases, and of course, creating a bipolar society, and this raging river will not stop, and anyone who stands in its way will be swept away, leaving a clean bed free of mud. It does not matter whether it is Hamid Rasai and Mehdi Koochakzadeh or Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami." The Hamdeli newspaper emphasized that "in a fair electoral atmosphere, the people of Iran will never choose extremism. This can be clearly understood by referring to the culture, civilization, ethics, and religion of the Iranian people." Newspapers close to the principlists, however, paid less attention to the Assembly's confidence vote for the three proposed ministers and instead heavily criticized Hassan Rouhani's remarks in the Assembly. For instance, the newspaper Kayhan headlined that the President of the eleventh government used "new words and phrases" in the Assembly and emphasized that "do not say embezzlement, say overdue." According to this newspaper, Hassan Rouhani stated in the Assembly: "When an entity has given a loan and that individual has defaulted on the loan and has become indebted, some media consider it corruption and embezzlement." The newspaper Javan, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, published a photo of Hassan Rouhani in the Assembly and with the headline "He Came, Called Critics Ignorant, and Left," wrote: "Rouhani received confirmation for the rejected ministers from the tenth Assembly." This newspaper also stated that "observers believe that due to being in the final months of the government, anyone other than these three would have received votes, and the sign of that is that the President, in introducing three cultural-social ministers, confidently delivered an economic speech." The newspaper Javan described the Assembly's confidence vote for the proposed ministers as a "Napoleonic vote for three ministers" and wrote: "It can be claimed that the gray votes or, in other words, the votes of independent representatives were significant and decisive in the process of confidence voting for the proposed ministers of the government." The newspaper Iran reported on Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf's presence in the City Council and wrote that the Mayor of Tehran explained for the first time about the issue of property transfer by the municipality, stating: "The responsibility for the significant discount to 19 individuals is mine." According to this newspaper, the Mayor of Tehran referred to the publication of a letter from "one of the employees of the Inspection Organization" and stated: "In this letter, which was for gathering information, it was written that wrongful actions were carried out based on Article 5 of the Law on Increasing Punishments for Economic Crimes, embezzlement, and misappropriation of funds, and 2200 billion tomans were embezzled," but "after the publication of this letter, the people became concerned, and the Attorney General clearly stated that no crime or corruption occurred in the transfer of cooperative lands." The newspaper Iran also reported that Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf accepted that there were instances of "formal violations" and said: "In 45 cases of individual transfers, formal and procedural violations occurred, which I have stopped and canceled, and the properties were not delivered, and the investigation into 19 other cases is ongoing." The newspaper also reported that Ahmad Donyamali, the former Deputy Mayor and a current member of the City Council, "in a full defense of the performance of the Mayor of Tehran," stated: "Qalibaf is guilty because he went to war in his youth and now has taken action for the city's development, and his wife, who is a member of a charity, wants to do good and build the most specialized hospital in Tehran." The newspaper Noavaran also reported with the headline "The Mayor's Silence Was Broken, but the Situation Was Not Clarified," stating that some members of the Tehran City Council, including Mohammad Haqani, "believe that many points are still unclear for them, and they speak of a time when judicial rulings have been issued." The newspaper Shargh reported on "the issuance of a ruling in the case of the attack on the Saudi embassy" and wrote: "Judge Hosseini, the head of the Government Employees Judicial Complex, announced the issuance of a ruling for 20 defendants in the case of the attack on the Saudi embassy and said: The ruling will be announced soon." This newspaper emphasized that this judicial official "did not mention details of the issued ruling." Shargh reminded that "on January 1, 2016, a number of individuals gathered in protest against the execution of Sheikh Nimr, a Shia cleric critical of Saudi Arabia, in front of the embassy of that country, and after several hours, this gathering turned violent. After the protesters attacked the embassy building and entered it, the Saudi government severed diplomatic relations with Iran." This newspaper, reviewing the court sessions and noting that the trial of 48 defendants in the case of the attack on the Saudi embassy was held in two sessions in Branch 1060 of the Government Employees Judicial Complex and that part of this case is being reviewed in the Special Clerical Court, quoted one of the defendants in the Saudi embassy case as saying: "My interrogator told me that we sit together at the mosque in Arak under the sermon of Haj Mansour. Whatever I say, write it down so I can help you. Our statements during the investigation were made under such conditions. We are aligned with the government and do not abandon the Supreme Leader. Now, due to the Leader's displeasure, I regret it and request the minimum punishment from the court." Shargh also wrote that on September 1, 2016, Shabani, the defense lawyer for one of the defendants in the attack on the Saudi embassy, stated: "The judge needs to consult with the head of the judiciary and the Attorney General to complete the case," and now that a ruling has been issued but details have not been announced, "we must wait for the details of the ruling to be published."