PHOTO: Iran’s judiciary head Sadegh Larijani
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In a developing controversy in Iran over alleged corruption, a reformist MP has defied arrest to file a complaint against the head of the judiciary.
Speaking at Tehran University on Thursday, Mahmoud Sadeghi that he had filed the complaint against Sadegh Larijani in Iran’s Clerical Court. Sadeghi also called on the judiciary to explain Larijani’s alleged personal use of its accounts.
Last month, after Sadeghi called for an official inquiry, judicial authorities tried to arrest Sadeghi at his home. Protesters convened outside and helped block the detention.
The MP subsequently appeared in court and was released on bail.
Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri leapt to the defense of Larijani, a hardline cleric who is the brother of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani.
For some time, there have been strange attacks against the Judiciary on media sites, social networks, and even the podium of Parliament. Dear brothers…is it wise to go along with the enemy?
Montazeri asserted that Larijani recently provided evidence to “some parliamentarians” that he had not misused the judiciary’s bank accounts.
Iran’s regime has been beset for years by allegations of corruption. During the Ahmadinejad Administration, the President and Revolutionary Guards each accused the other, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 1st Vice President was subsequently among those convicted over an insurance fraud. Leading bankers were among the defendants in a $2.6 billion embezzlement in which four people were sentenced to death.
Last week the Iranian Supreme Court confirmed a death sentence against tycoon Babak Zanjani, convicted of diverting billions of dollars of Government revenues during the Ahmadinejad era.
Tehran Friday Prayer Denounces US Renewal of Sanctions
The Tehran Friday Prayer has continued the Iranian regime’s denunciation of the renewal of sanctions by the US Congress.
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said the step showed “the world of arrogance is not trustworthy” over implementation of the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Following the line set by the Supreme Leader and supported by President Rouhani and other high-level officials, the cleric warned of retaliation if President Obama signed a 10-year extension of the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act into law.
The US House of Representatives and Senate passed the extension with only one dissenting vote.
Khatami warned President Obama “not to be caught in the Zionists’ trap” by signing the bill.