The Teacher Who Became the Investigator of Saeed Toosi and His Student

With 'Sharia justification', he closed one Saeed's case and with the same 'Sharia justification', he set up another Saeed's case in such a way that a death sentence was issued against him. Reza Kianmanesh Rad has recently become known for the Saeed Toosi case, but he has also been an investigator in other significant cases, from Saeed Malekpour's case and several other internet activists to numerous journalists and bloggers. Among the prisoners in Ward 350 of Evin Prison, he was also known by another title: 'The teacher who became the investigator of his student'. In the late 1980s, at the non-profit school 'Meraat', three teachers were usually seen together, who, apart from their work and friendship at school, were also members of the Basij of the Tawhid Association. Hassan Zia Azari, Shahryar Zia Azari, two brothers, and Reza Kianmanesh Rad, their friend. Other friends at school, however, called Reza Kianmanesh Rad 'Ata' and Hassan Zia Azari 'Timur'. A few years later, some students from this school saw Hassan Zia Azari and Reza Kianmanesh Rad on television during a sports competition, alongside Mostafa Hashemi Taba, the head of the Physical Education Organization, and learned that they had gone to the security of this organization. They had previously had connections with athletes and were friends with some famous football players, including Mehdi Abtahi. Hassan Zia Azari remained in the Physical Education Organization and was for a time the head of Azadi Stadium. Shahryar Zia Azari, however, went to radio and after several positions at Quran Radio, became the director of Tehran Radio. The third friend, however, took a different path. Reza Kianmanesh Rad, who was a geography and educational teacher, studied law and found his way to the judiciary. Kianmanesh Rad developed good relations with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the early years of his career, and after the establishment of the Cyber Crimes Center of the IRGC in the early 2000s, he became the investigator of cases involving individuals like Saeed Malekpour, who were arrested by the IRGC in projects titled 'Gordab' and 'Muzdilin'. Kianmanesh Rad confirmed in a documentary on Iranian television titled 'Shock', which aired confessions of Saeed Malekpour and other detainees in this case, that the order for the arrest of Saeed Malekpour and other defendants in this case was issued by him and his colleagues. Apart from Saeed Malekpour, some other internet defendants that Kianmanesh Rad was the investigator for, including Hassan Sisa Khati, were sentenced to death, although this sentence was eventually revoked. Other internet activists such as Hossein Ronaghi Maleki and Abolfazl Abedini, for whom he was the investigator, received long prison sentences of over 10 years. Mojtaba (Madiar) Sami Nejad, a blogger, who was also investigated by Kianmanesh Rad, wrote on his website that he 'took charge of the case of detained bloggers in District 21 of Tehran's Prosecutor's Office at the request of Judge Mortazavi and Judge Moghadam, with the cooperation of a newly established section in the IRGC called the Internet Office'. Kianmanesh Rad was the investigator in the 2009 protests and was the investigator in the third branch of Evin Prison Prosecutor's Office, where many journalists and protesters against the 2009 presidential election, including Vahid Pourastad and Akbar Montaji, were being examined. That year, he also became the investigator of Mostafa Neyli's case, his former student, who was arrested during the protests against the 2009 presidential election. As later revealed by Mostafa Neyli's lawyer from the correspondence within the case, Kianmanesh Rad initially stated that he was not qualified to investigate this case because Mostafa Neyli had previously been his student. However, this reasoning was not accepted by higher authorities, who stated that the prohibition of investigating relatives did not include former students. Kianmanesh Rad, however, did not intend to confront his former student, which is why on the day Mostafa Neyli was supposed to be investigated, he did not go to the prosecutor's office, and one of his colleagues took Neyli's 'final defense'. Ultimately, Kianmanesh Rad issued an indictment for his student, and he was sentenced to three years and six months in prison. In the summer of 2011, on the day Mostafa Neyli, along with several other prisoners, was summoned to the prosecutor's office to write a request for 'pardon' and freedom, he told a person known as Investigator Mohibi that he had not made any mistake for which he should request a pardon. Neyli, however, asked Mohibi if Mr. Kianmanesh was in this prosecutor's office. Mohibi, who apparently insisted that Mostafa Neyli write the 'pardon' request by any means, took Neyli to the third branch of Evin Prison Prosecutor's Office. This political prisoner, upon returning to the other prisoners, said that his former teacher, upon entering the room, asked him, 'What are you doing here?' and Neyli replied, 'It is clear what I am doing here; what are you doing here?' indicating that he did not expect to see his former teacher in the role of an investigator. However, the conversation between the teacher and the student did not delve much into political and investigative topics but was more of a nostalgic chat. This incident opened the conversation about this investigator among the prisoners, and some prisoners said that he would tell newly arrested individuals at the beginning of their interrogation, after removing their blindfolds, that they were in the third branch of Evin Prison Prosecutor's Office and 'from now on, anything you say will be used against you'. Some detainees who had heard this phrase in Western police films were pleased that this warning meant that the investigator was not demanding confessions from them. A few moments later, however, Kianmanesh Rad explained that what he meant by this phrase was that if you do not confess and do not write the actions you have taken on the interrogation sheet, and later these actions are revealed with other documents or subsequent confessions, you will be deprived of leniency in punishment. Many prisoners, however, said that his treatment with most detainees was not harsh or rude like some other investigators. Mojtaba (Madiar) Sami Nejad, however, wrote that Kianmanesh Rad 'intensely sought confessions from detainees and staged television shows according to the demands of the IRGC's cyber information section and himself asked detainees to confess to various issues'. Kianmanesh Rad is now the deputy prosecutor of Tehran, and if he gains political support, he may aspire to the position of Tehran prosecutor as well. These days, he has become known for the Saeed Toosi case, and in the program 'Final Page' of Voice of America, his image and also his letters regarding the Saeed Toosi case have been published. The plaintiffs in the Saeed Toosi case, based on the documents they have provided, say that he, who initially issued an indictment for Saeed Toosi, later announced the closure of this case following the remarks of the head of the judiciary and the order of the Tehran prosecutor. One of the plaintiffs in this case stated in an interview with Radio Farda that Kianmanesh Rad, in response to his question about closing this case, said that he himself has 'Sharia justification' for this. However, he did not provide an explanation about this 'Sharia justification' to the defendants. This 'Sharia justification', however, may be different from the 'Sharia justification' based on which he issued indictments for journalists, political activists, and human rights activists, and even his former student. This 'Sharia justification', however, has led to different fates for two Saeeds. One Saeed's case has been closed by his order, while the other Saeed has had a death sentence in his case for years.