Tehran Prosecutor's Threat: Sadeqi Must Introduce Himself, Otherwise He Will Be Arrested

Hours after Mahmoud Sadeqi, the representative of Tehran, explained that his arrest warrant had been canceled, the Tehran prosecutor announced that the warrant for this parliament member "remains in effect" and if he does not introduce himself to judicial authorities, officers will arrest him. According to a report by Mizan, the official news agency of the judiciary, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi stated on the evening of Monday, December 8, that "the resistance of this parliament member against the officers and inciting individuals to gather in front of his house will add to his previous charges." Mr. Jafari Dolatabadi announced that the arrest order issued by the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office was in accordance with "legal standards and remains valid." The Tehran prosecutor urged Mr. Sadeqi to introduce himself to the judicial authorities and threatened that "otherwise, the officers are obliged to arrest the accused and present him to the prosecutor's office." He stated that in Mr. Sadeqi's case, there are "eight private complaints and three public accusations" and that a "summons has been sent to him through the parliament and the administrative office of Tarbiat Modares University." According to Mr. Jafari Dolatabadi, the matter of summoning Mahmoud Sadeqi was communicated to Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, via phone, and "in several instances," negotiations with Mohammad Ali Vakili, a member of the parliamentary board, were requested for Mr. Sadeqi to appear at the prosecutor's office, but due to his refusal, the prosecutor issued an arrest order for this parliament member. Hours before the Tehran prosecutor's statements, Mahmoud Sadeqi announced on his Twitter page that with the follow-up of relevant officials, his "illegal arrest" had been canceled. Mr. Sadeqi, who has faced difficulties due to his comments regarding personal accounts in the judiciary, also wrote that the issue of dealing with him would be pursued "according to the law, with notification to the parliament, based on the opinion of the Supervisory Board on the Conduct of Representatives." Mahmoud Sadeqi, a member of the Hope faction in the parliament, reported on Sunday, December 7, that officers had come to arrest him "in violation of the law on the supervision of parliament members" when he was returning home. As Mr. Sadeqi stated, he "resisted" and managed to get inside his house, but officers were waiting outside. Meanwhile, after news of the officers' attempt to arrest Mahmoud Sadeqi was published, several political and student activists, as well as supporters of this parliament member, gathered in front of his house to prevent his arrest. According to some news agencies, the protesters left the area after the news of the officers' withdrawal from arresting this member of the parliamentary board was announced. In recent days, Mr. Sadeqi had referred to the issue of personal accounts in the judiciary in his pre-speech remarks, and after the head of the judiciary objected to raising this issue in parliament, he reiterated his questions about the accounts attributed to the head of the judiciary in a letter. One day after this letter, this parliament member reported that the Tehran prosecutor's office had sent him a summons through the board, but this summons was related to the case of Yashar Soltani. Nonetheless, the Fars news agency claimed early on Monday that "the arrest warrant issued for Mr. Sadeqi is due to private complaints from several students who have been complaining against him for months for spreading falsehoods." The Tehran prosecutor also commented on the immunity of representatives, referencing Article 86 of the Constitution, stating that the Guardian Council in 2001, in an interpretation of this article, announced that "immunity does not have an Islamic root and all people are equal before divine law and rights." According to Article 86 of the Constitution, parliament members cannot be prosecuted or detained for "opinions expressed in parliament or votes cast in the performance of their representative duties," yet the judiciary has never formally recognized this article. The Guardian Council in 2001, at the request of Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the then head of the judiciary, stated that this article pertains to "the expression of opinion and votes of representatives in parliament and in the performance of their representative duties" and "does not imply the commission of criminal acts and titles." However, in 2012, this council approved the law on the supervision of the conduct of parliament members, which states that parliament members are "completely free in their opinions and votes in the performance of their representative duties and cannot be prosecuted or detained for opinions expressed in parliament or votes cast in the performance of their representative duties." Citing sections of this law, Mahmoud Sadeqi deemed the Tehran prosecutor's action for his arrest as illegal. According to the first clause of this section, the determination of "instances of the subject of Article 86 of the Constitution and Article 75 of the Internal Regulations of the Parliament" is the responsibility of the Supervisory Board on the Conduct of Representatives. According to the second clause of this article, "violating the provisions of this article by judicial authorities may result in disciplinary penalties ranging from grade five to seven." According to Article 10 of the law on the supervision of the conduct of parliament members, "the judiciary is obliged to establish a special branch to address the issues sent under this law and to process them out of turn and ultimately announce a final ruling to the Supervisory Board on the Conduct of Representatives within three months." The "Supervisory Board on the Conduct of Representatives" is formed in each parliamentary term, and its members include one of the vice-speakers of the parliament, one selected by the Committee on Article 90, one selected by the Legal and Judicial Committee, and four selected by parliament members through voting.