The 'Black Box of Land Grabbing' in Iran; Test for Raisi or Revenge Against Larijani?

Following a formal request from the 'Justice-Seeking Student Movement' to Ebrahim Raisi, the head of the judiciary, for an investigation into the 'possible violations' of Sadegh Larijani, the former head of the judiciary, and Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, the former head of the Leader's Office Inspection, regarding the 'land grabbing case' in Lavasan, this case has entered a new phase. This case, referred to by the Farhikhtegan newspaper as the 'black box of land grabbing in Iran,' has recently gained attention due to a tweet by Yashar Soltani, a journalist, about 'construction activities by certain individuals and relatives of high-ranking officials' in the Lavasan area, as well as investigations and the production and release of a documentary by Milad Ghodrzi, an activist from Hezbollah and justice-seeker, in the media and social networks. Mr. Ghodrzi, who is referred to as the editor of the internet television network 'Avant,' discussed his documentary titled 'Kalak' on the program 'Tehran 20' broadcasted by the Islamic Republic of Iran's Tehran TV, stating that despite 'the explicit opposition of Ali Khamenei' and the Supreme Council of Urban Planning, two residential complexes, 'Kalak' and 'Basti Hills,' are being constructed and completed in an area outside the urban limits of Lavasan. Alongside the 'Kalak' complex, the 'Basti' or 'Basti Hills' complex, named after the 'Beverly Hills' area in the western suburbs of Los Angeles, California, is also under construction in Lavasan. In Mr. Ghodrzi's documentary, the voice of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic can be heard opposing these projects due to their proximity to the source of drinking water for Tehran, namely the Latian Dam. The Justice-Seeking Student Movement has also written to Ebrahim Raisi, stating that if 'violations are proven' by these two individuals, their actions would be 'playing with the reputation of the Islamic Republic' and 'circumventing the explicit prohibition of the leader,' thus calling for 'the harshest punishment' for them. According to this documentary, which includes interviews with former officials of the Lavasan City Council, the construction of these two complexes, surrounded by 'high walls' and where, according to guards, 'no one is allowed to enter without an invitation from the residents,' began after the Lavasan municipality agreed to change the usage of one million square meters of agricultural land in Lavasan to residential, on the condition that 50% of it would be donated for free to the municipality by the owners. These two projects, as mentioned in the documentary, continued despite the opposition of the Supreme Council of Urban Planning, 'the office of Mr. Khamenei and even himself,' due to the 'approval' and 'influence' of Nategh Nouri and Sadegh Larijani. However, in recent days, news has emerged about the arrest of the head of the Lavasan Endowment and the head of the Shahr-e Rey Endowment due to what has been described as 'forming a financial corruption gang,' 'the allocation of endowment lands,' and 'land grabbing,' along with the dismissal of the head of the Lavasan County Intelligence Department in connection with this matter. Previously, Saeed Lavasani, the Friday prayer leader of Lavasan, had announced on his Twitter page that the Ministry of Intelligence was dealing with 'corrupt individuals' in this county and added that 'more details of these actions' would soon be publicized. The website 'Asr-e Shahrovand' referred to Lavasan as 'the capital of land grabbing in the capital and the center of the fight against corruption in the province,' and several Lavasan citizens, in a statement published by the ILNA news agency, demanded an explanation from the Friday prayer leader of Lavasan regarding his silence about these violations during his four years in office. This case, which has many details and documents published by 'Hezbollah activists' in Ghodrzi's documentary and social networks, has sparked a new wave of criticism against Sadegh Larijani on Persian Twitter. Many Hezbollah activists, including supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who were summoned, interrogated, and convicted on various charges during Larijani's presidency over the judiciary, and thus forced into silence, have directed significant criticism at him following his departure and the publication of documents regarding the Lavasan land grabbing case, calling for the abandonment of 'expediency' in this matter. Some other Hezbollah activists have also accused Milad Ghodrzi of 'creating distractions' and have explicitly stated that they do not accept his method. A user named 'Amin-al-Ra'aya,' who is considered a supporter of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, harshly criticized Larijani and addressed Raisi, saying, 'In the name of God... this is the ball and this is the field...' Raisi's invitation to address this case and enter this field to test his statements about combating corruption and their support for Ahmadinejad's criticisms of Larijani is the prevailing spirit on the Twitter pages of Hezbollah activists. 'Mohammad Maleki' used the hashtag '#Kalak' to write: 'As far as I remember, with every corruption case that was addressed or not, this kind of view was there: say nothing lest the system be weakened! His father has served the system a lot, now his son has done something! Come on, he has served so much, don't ruin his reputation! And this is how we reached this point where we call him Rostam and dare not call him out!' 'Sadra Mohaghegh,' a journalist, tweeted that 'the subject of this case relates to the 150-hectare land grabbing in Kalak Lavasan, in the prohibited area of the Latian Dam (30% of Tehran's drinking water). In these lands, despite the explicit opposition of the environment, the Land Affairs Organization, the Ministry of Energy, and the Supreme Council of Urban Planning and Architecture, villas have been built with the support of Mr. Larijani.' Vahid Ishtari, by resharing news about the Ministry of Interior's entry with the formation of a special inspection group into the Lavasan violations, stated that the 'main demand' in this regard is 'the public trial of Mr. Nategh Nouri and Sheikh Sadegh Amoli Larijani to investigate the influence in the Kalak case.' A cleric named 'Vahid Haroabadi' also expressed hope that if 'the violation' of Sadegh Larijani in this case is proven, he will be tried and removed from all his positions. 'Saleh' also expressed hope that 'some of the Hezbollah friends will be so angry about the violation of the leader's words by Amoli Larijani and Nategh Nouri that they will shout against them instead of starting unnecessary expediency that the leader said not to mention these two because one of them was appointed by the leader and is.' 'Alireza Mehri' also wrote: 'A case where one side is Vahid Haqaniyan and the other side is Amoli Larijani and Nategh Nouri is not a simple case' and 'Mohammad Yazdi' also noted that he did not think 'the voice of God's punishment would come so soon...' However, 'Javad Sheikh Al-Islami Kandelusi' accused Milad Ghodrzi of 'seeking comfort' and 'Kariman' also asked Ghodrzi to 'clearly answer about the Kalak case so that his justice-seeking actions do not appear governmental and commissioned: Did you know about this issue during Amoli Larijani's presidency and did not publicize it, or did you become aware after his presidency ended?' Zahra Tabakhi, a Hezbollah activist in social media, also evaluated the criticisms against Sadegh Larijani as 'defamation' of him and 'creating distractions' for Raisi. Although this tweet by Ms. Tabakhi has faced reactions from several of her like-minded individuals, she defended it, stating that 'almost no official has remained who has not been assassinated. Now, regardless of whether they are from our party or not, the assassination of the elites of a system can even be a precursor to the collapse of a system.' This Hezbollah activist warned that the publication of this number of embezzlement news in two months could lead to 'public unrest.' In this context, the request for legal action against Sadegh Larijani and Nategh Nouri in the Lavasan 'land grabbing' case is another financial corruption case in Iran with '14 trillion tomans' of debt going to court.