The End of Imam's Line; Where Representatives Were Arrested

Mahdi Karroubi, the head of the Sixth Parliament, described the arrest of Hossein Laghmanian, the then representative of Hamadan, as "an invasion of the judiciary into the legislative branch." Based on this interpretation by Mahdi Karroubi, the judiciary and security forces have repeatedly "invaded" the sanctity of the parliament since the first parliament, arresting representatives for their speeches and political positions. The threat of arrest and summons has been applied to representatives from various factions, although the share of representatives from parliaments known for their right-wing or principlist majority in terms of summons and arrests is less than that of representatives known for their leftist and reformist views or those outside these two political orientations. Although according to Article 86 of the Constitution, representatives cannot be prosecuted or detained for "opinions expressed in parliament or votes cast in the performance of their representative duties," the judiciary has effectively never recognized this principle. In some parliaments, even the president and some representatives have defended the summons or arrests of their colleagues by the judiciary. Apart from political issues, in various parliaments, several representatives have also been arrested due to complaints from individuals, economic corruption, or "illicit connections," including Majid Naderi, representative of Bouin Zahra in the Fourth Parliament, Mohammad Hassan Jamshidi, representative of Behshahr in the Seventh Parliament, Salman Khodadadi, representative of Malekan in the Seventh Parliament, and Hassan Seyedabadi, representative of Sabzevar in the Seventh Parliament. "The End of Imam's Line" and the death of Ayatollah in detention. "The End of Imam's Line"; this phrase was said by Sargun Bit Oushana, the representative of Assyrian Christians and head of the Health Commission of the First Parliament, when he was asked in Evin Prison if he knew where he was. Before he ended up in prison, he stated in parliament that "I am Hezbollah and I am of Imam's line" and during the intense clashes in those days of parliament, he separated the parties with his large stature and said to send blessings. As Serge Barsaghian wrote in Iranian history, Fakhr al-Din Hejazi referred to this Assyrian representative as "the head of the Islamic Association of Parliament." At a banquet in Madrid, he jokingly asked the head of the Iranian embassy in Spain, "Is this meat we are consuming slaughtered according to Islamic law?! A question that Imam Kashi, Nategh Nouri, Mousavi Tabrizi, and Seyed Mahmoud Daei, who were sitting at the table, did not ask either!" However, these definitions of the Imam's line representatives did not help Sargun Bit Oushana, and despite being the head of the Health Commission of Parliament, he was arrested on charges such as membership in the Tudeh Party and forced to make televised confessions about espionage. Ultimately, in a meeting attended by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ali Khamenei, and judicial and security officials, it was decided that Sargun Bit Oushana would be released on bail. Ali Mohimi, elected from Kahnouj in the First Parliament, however, did not even get the chance to attend the parliament and was arrested during the review of his credentials. In the first stage when his credentials were to be reviewed, it became clear that the governor had not signed the original credentials, and for this reason, his credentials were returned to the Ministry of Interior. In the second stage when representatives intended to review the credentials of the elected Kahnouj, he had been arrested. In the third stage, when he had been released, he did not attend the session to review his credentials, and the representatives rejected the credentials of this elected Kahnouj on charges such as "collaborating" with the Shah's regime and "his daughter's participation in the Miss Year election ceremony." The prosecutor of Kahnouj, who was supported by several elected representatives of the First Parliament, also sent a high-level report to the representatives of the parliament, but the judiciary did not wait for the credentials to be reviewed and arrested this elected Kahnouj himself. The fate of Ayatollah Hassan Lahouti Ashkouri, however, may be the most bitter fate of the arrested representatives of the parliament, although he was not only known for his parliamentary representation. This prominent cleric and representative of the First Parliament was arrested by the order of Assadollah Lajevardi, the then revolutionary prosecutor, and suspiciously died in prison less than a few hours later. Twenty-five years after this incident, Faezah and Fatemeh Hashemi, daughters of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his daughters-in-law, announced in an interview with the weekly Shahrvand that he did not die of natural causes, and forensic medicine found traces of strychnine in his stomach. The arrest of the son of Ayatollah and close associates of Mahdi Hashemi. The arrest of representatives was not limited to those known for the left faction, and Ahmad Kashani, representative of Natanz in the Second Parliament and son of the last Abolqasem Kashani, a cleric whom forces loyal to Ayatollah Khomeini try to introduce as a counter to Mohammad Mossadegh, the leader of the nationalization of the oil industry, was arrested during his term. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wrote in his memoirs on November 5, 1986, that Mohammad Mohammadi Rishahri, the Minister of Intelligence, informed him that Ahmad Kashani was arrested "for participating in an underground group of military personnel that issued statements aimed at dividing the army and the IRGC, and the eighth issue of that statement was ready for distribution in his home." However, Hashemi Rafsanjani had written about two months before he accused Ahmad Kashani of distributing night letters, which could be the main reason for the arrest of this representative of the Second Parliament. The then Speaker of Parliament wrote on September 20, 1986, in his memoirs that the Minister of Intelligence brought him a tape of the statements of the representative of Natanz, which he made in response to Ayatollah Khomeini's statements "in support of the government and criticizing the Resalat newspaper." Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani wrote in his memoirs that in his meeting, Ahmad Khomeini and the Minister of Intelligence agreed that the subject of the tape of Ahmad Kashani's statements would be raised in the meeting of the heads of the three branches. With the mediation of representatives from the right faction, Ahmad Kashani was released. Hashemi Rafsanjani, when he became president in 1991, participated in the dam filling ceremony of Jiroft and there he encountered Ahmad Kashani again, who had set aside politics after his release and had become the head of the workshop of this dam. At the end of the Second Parliament, the arrest of Mahdi Hashemi, the brother of Hadi Hashemi, son-in-law of Ayatollah Montazeri, also affected some representatives of the Second Parliament and former representatives of Isfahan province, including Eidi Mohammad Mirzaei, representative of Falavarjan, which is the birthplace of Mahdi Hashemi, who was arrested for a while. Most of the representatives of the Second Parliament or former representatives who were accused of being connected to the Mahdi Hashemi case were removed from the official political arena in Iran and did not have the opportunity to return to the parliament. The arrest of representatives of the left faction. The leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei in the middle of the Third Parliament and the clashes of representatives of the faction known as the left with him, as well as the opposition of some representatives to the actions of the Ministry of Intelligence and the government of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani led to several representatives of the Third Parliament being arrested immediately after the end of this parliament. Ebrahim Asgarzadeh and Ali Salehabadi were two representatives who were arrested within 24 hours after the end of the Third Parliament and, according to Ebrahim Asgarzadeh, were transferred to the solitary confinement of the Towhid prison, which was the joint anti-sabotage committee before the revolution. Years later, Ebrahim Asgarzadeh referred to issues such as his speech against Ali Fallahian, the proposed Minister of Intelligence in Hashemi Rafsanjani's government, and opposition to government policies, stating that the reason for his arrest was his political positions and speeches. One of the issues that led to the arrest of Asgarzadeh and Ali Salehabadi was the insistence on pursuing the issue of the visit of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the then ruler of Romania, to Iran. Ali Salehabadi, along with Sadegh Khalghali, made a speech regarding this matter, and 84 representatives of parliament raised a question to Ali Akbar Velayati, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, regarding the failure to predict the possibility of a rebellion against Ceaușescu's government and its overthrow during his visit to Iran. However, Ayatollah Khamenei, the newly established leader of the Islamic Republic, severely criticized the "attack" on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 6, 1989, stating that "a few irresponsible people raised their voices when they saw this deficiency, unaware that we are at war and the front-line soldier should not be attacked. Why do some people not understand this!?" According to Hashemi Rafsanjani's memoirs, the leader of the Islamic Republic sent a message to the parliament on January 2, 1989, after the clashes in Romania, that nothing should be said about this matter in the public session. Despite these remarks and messages from the leader of the Islamic Republic, on January 12, 1989, the question of 84 representatives of parliament was raised with Ali Akbar Velayati, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Abdulvahed Mousavi Lari, who spoke on behalf of the questioners, requested that this question be referred for further examination to the commission. Ebrahim Asgarzadeh and Ali Salehabadi were disqualified in subsequent parliamentary elections due to their arrest that year but remained politically active. Abdolmajid Shar'pasand, representative of Karaj in parliament, who resigned after Ayatollah Khamenei's leadership on July 2, 1989, in a brief speech protesting the political conditions of the country and issues such as "the lack of grounds and security for performing legal representation duties" and "serious concern for the political future of the country due to some constitutional changes and political developments," was arrested for more than a month after this speech and widespread protests from supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei, and ultimately his resignation was approved by the representatives. The Sixth Parliament may be considered the record holder for the summons and arrest of representatives due to their political positions. Several representatives of this parliament, including Mohammad Dadfar, Fatemeh Haqiqatjou, and Hossein Laghmanian were summoned, and Fatemeh Haqiqatjou was briefly arrested and released. The arrest of Hossein Laghmanian for executing a sentence disrupted the parliament session, and representatives repeatedly warned about the judiciary's behavior towards the parliament in the public session. The reason for Laghmanian's arrest was a pre-scheduled speech in which he addressed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of the judiciary, saying, "You have made the ruin more ruined." Mahdi Karroubi, who was abroad at the time of Laghmanian's arrest, upon his return, in a strongly worded speech, described the judiciary's action as "an invasion" of the parliament and announced that he would not preside over public sessions of parliament until the representative from Hamadan was released. Ultimately, however, Hossein Laghmanian was freed. After the end of the Sixth Parliament, several representatives of this parliament were summoned. Among them, Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoeini, representative of Tehran in the Sixth Parliament, although arrested on June 11, 2006, in Haft Tir Square, Tehran, on charges of participating in a women's movement gathering, stated after his release that the questions from the interrogators were related to his behavior during his term, including asking a question from the leader of the Islamic Republic during a meeting with representatives and also following up on issues of prisoners and illegal detention centers. The committee for reviewing summonses in the Seventh principlist parliament did not end the summons of representatives to court due to their speeches and statements. Although in this parliament, the complainants against representatives were more government officials than security and judicial institutions, and the representatives did not end up in prison. Emad Afrough and Saeed Abotaleb were among the representatives who were summoned due to complaints from Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, the head of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization. Akbar Alami, representative of Tabriz, was also summoned in 2008 due to his remarks at a gathering of reformists in Zanjan, which was published in the media under the title "I criticize even Imam Hussein's government." After the Abbas Palizdar case, several representatives involved in the investigation of the judiciary, including Fatemeh Ajorlou, Hassan Kamran, and Mohammad Dehghan were summoned, and some of them were interrogated, and their homes were searched. In the Eighth Parliament, several representatives were summoned to the prosecutor's office due to complaints from institutions affiliated with the leader of the Islamic Republic and government officials, but these summons did not lead to their arrest and imprisonment. For instance, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps complained against Ali Motahari, and several government officials, including Mohammad Reza Rahimi, complained against representatives such as Elias Naderan, Ahmad Tavakoli, and Ali Zakani. After discussions about the involvement of some representatives of the Eighth Parliament in the three-thousand billion tomans corruption case, several representatives also complained against each other. For example, Aladdin Boroujerdi complained against Jawad Karimi Qodosi, representative of Mashhad, for accusing him of supporting the first accused in this case. Summons due to the Babak Zanjani case. In the Ninth Parliament, several significant corruption cases occurred, including the Babak Zanjani case. Several representatives were summoned to the prosecutor's office due to their remarks about these cases. For instance, Amir Abbas Soltani, a member of the committee investigating the Babak Zanjani case in parliament, was summoned to the prosecutor's office in 2014 after raising allegations of involvement of the ministers of oil, intelligence, economy, and the head of the central bank of Ahmadinejad's government in this case. The Tenth Parliament, the beginning of summons. However, the Tenth Parliament seems to have stepped into the shoes of the Sixth Parliament, and just a few months into its work, the summons of its representatives has begun. The summons of Mahmoud Sadeghi can be a warning from the judiciary that this branch does not recognize the parliamentary immunity of representatives, and speeches like those of this representative can lead to the arrest of representatives. However, Mahmoud Sadeghi has had the chance that efforts to arrest him have been made in a different atmosphere, and unlike many representatives arrested in previous parliaments, his arrest has not remained hidden from the media and the public. Although this representative from Tehran has currently escaped arrest, past experience has shown that the judiciary is waiting for an opportunity to, in the common phrase, pour its poison.