Efforts by Prosecutors to Arrest Tehran Representative at Night

On the night of December 7, Tehran prosecutors attempted to arrest Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, at his home. Mr. Sadeghi had recently reported being summoned to the prosecutor's office. Just before midnight, he informed ILNA news agency that the prosecutors had arrived at his home with an arrest warrant. Mr. Sadeghi is an active member of the Hope faction in parliament and reports on Twitter indicate that some members of the Hope faction and Tehran citizens visited his home to prevent his arrest. ILNA and ISNA reported that Mohammad Reza Aref, the head of the Hope faction, has been making serious efforts to prevent Mr. Sadeghi's arrest. Mr. Aref also issued a statement requesting the judiciary to present its 'documents' to the Supervisory Board on the Conduct of Representatives for review, after which further actions would be taken based on the board's findings. Mohsen Sadeghi, Mr. Sadeghi's lawyer, stated to ILNA that Ali Larijani and Ali Motahari, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, are following up on the matter. He mentioned that the prosecutor's order cites charges of insult and dissemination of falsehoods intended to disturb public opinion against the Tehran representative. Mr. Sadeghi's lawyer expressed surprise that the prosecutors visited his home with a 'mobile arrest warrant' on a holiday night. In this context, Masoud Pezeshkian, another Deputy Speaker of Parliament, stated that the 'nighttime action without informing Parliament' to arrest Mr. Sadeghi is 'disrespectful to Parliament and the people' and promised that this issue would be pursued. Recently, Mr. Sadeghi had referenced personal accounts within the judiciary in his pre-scheduled speeches, and after the head of the judiciary objected to this topic being raised in Parliament, he reiterated his questions regarding accounts attributed to the head of the judiciary in a letter. One day after this letter, the Tehran prosecutor's office sent a summons to him through the parliamentary leadership, but this summons was related to the case of Yashar Soltani. Meanwhile, Fars news agency reported on the same night, citing an informed source, that the reason for Mr. Sadeghi's arrest warrant was his disregard for multiple summonses issued to him over the past four months. This news agency, close to security institutions, claimed that Mr. Sadeghi has faced multiple complaints, including from 'a number of students' for dissemination of falsehoods. The prosecutors' efforts to arrest the Tehran representative come at a time when the Tehran prosecutor has threatened legal action against those who disseminate information about personal accounts in the judiciary in recent days.