Tehran Municipality: The property allocated to the charity linked to the mayor's wife was transferred at the current market rate

Tehran Municipality confirmed reports about the transfer of approximately 50,000 square meters of land to a charity of which the mayor's wife is a board member, stating that the land was allocated "at the current expert rate." Rahmatollah Hafezi, a member of Tehran City Council, recently reported that 49,608 square meters of land in Region 22 of Tehran was transferred to a charity at a price of 149,000 tomans per square meter, with Zahra Sadat Moshir, the wife of Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, being one of the board members. In advertisements for land sales in Region 22 of Tehran, each square meter that can be used for residential construction is sold for over three million tomans. However, Tehran Municipality announced on Saturday, November 1, that the Imam Reza charity purchased this land "at the current expert rate" from the municipality. According to Tehran Municipality, this land was originally intended for charitable medical activities and is set to host a medical center supervised by Majid Samii, a renowned Iranian-German neurosurgeon, which is "in the final stages of construction." According to the announcement, Zahra Sadat Moshir, the mayor's wife, is one of the nine members of the charity's board, and the assets of this institution belong to no individual or legal entity and are "completely publicly endowed." The publication of reports regarding the transfer of this land comes amid ongoing controversies surrounding the allocation of municipal properties in Tehran in recent months. According to an image released from a letter by the General Inspection Organization of Iran on the Architecture News website and other media, Tehran Municipality sold 200 properties belonging to the municipality "at unrealistically low prices" with "50%" discounts and in "60-month" installments to some managers of this institution and others affiliated or close to the Tehran mayor. Following the publication of these reports, Yashar Soltani, the editor-in-chief of Architecture News, the website that exposed the municipal property transfers, was arrested on September 18 after visiting the prosecutor's office and remains in custody. Architecture News had been filtered prior to Soltani's arrest. In this context, a conservative member of Tehran City Council stated that the sister of the whistleblower on the municipal property transfers should be held for a week by ISIS. Jahangiri: The Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters is pursuing the case of astronomical properties. Confrontation in the City Council over the whistleblower of "corruption" in Tehran Municipality. The arrest of the editor-in-chief of the critical website after "bail not being provided." Another official in the Iranian judiciary warned the media. Amoli Larijani criticized the media regarding the municipality issue.