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Fighting Iran’s judiciary and facing prison sentences, close allies of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have appealed to the Supreme Leader for help.

Former Vice President Hamid Baghaei, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, and Habibollah Khorasani have taken sanctuary in the Shah Abdol-Azim shrine, south of Tehran, after they were summoned to court. It is the first time political figures have used “bast neshini” since the Shah, Reza Pahlavi, banned the tactic in 1935.

The men have called on Ayatollah Khamenei to assign the chairman of the Expediency Council, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, to supervise the legal procedure over indictments against them.

Baghaei was detained for months in 2015 on charges of embezzlement, with claims that he was only free upon the intervention of the Supreme Leader. The former Vice President was again held briefly this past July.

Javenfekr, one of Ahmadinejad’s closest advisors, was sentenced to a year in prison in November 2011 for “publishing materials contrary to Islamic norms” as chief editor of the newspaper Iran. He was imprisoned for six months in September 2012.

Ahmadinejad’s former Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai has also been summoned to court for “insulting the Supreme Leader”, “offending the ruling system’s officials”, and spreading false information.

Ahmadinejad: Prosecutions Are Politically Motivated

Ahmadinejad, President from 2005 to 2013, has bitterly criticized the head of the judiciary, Sadeq Amoli Larijani, and his brother Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani this week. The managing editor of a local news agency, Aria, said his website has been blocked after publishing Ahmadinejad’s speech at the Shah Abdol-Azim shrine.

In the speech, Ahmadinejad accused judiciary officials of conspiracy against him and his allies, insisting that the prosecution of Baghaei is for political reasons.

Ahmadinejad faces allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement under his administration, with Parliament’s Audit Court ruling last month — in a largely symbolic judgement — that he must repay $1.3 billion of oil revenues which the court says were diverted from public use. This week President Hassan Rouhani implicitly blamed his predecessor for malpractice that led to inadequate housing and the deaths of many residents in Sunday’s earthquake in western Iran.

However, Ahmadinejad is still a member of the Expediency Council. He has periodically tried to return to electoral politics, but was blocked this spring from running for President.

Supreme Leader’s Top Aide to France’s Macron: “Stop Meddling”

The Supreme Leader’s top aide has stepped up the rhetorical war with France, telling President Emmanuel Macron to steop meddling in Iran’s internal affairs and defense program.

Iran has been trying to detach European countries from the US over the July 2015 nuclear deal and regional issues, but Macron dealt a setback to the strategy last week. Speaking from Saudi Arabia, he blamed Iran for a missile fired by Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) insurgents on Riyadh International Airport. Then he called for the negotiation of Iran’s ballistic missile testing, alongside the nuclear agreement.

See Iran Daily, Nov 17: Tehran’s Rift with France Widens

In the latest Iranian criticsm, Ali Akbar Velayati said:

It is not in Mr. Macron and France’s interest to interfere in the missile issue and the Islamic Republic’s strategic affairs, on which we are very sensitive. Such interference will have no impact other than diminishing the French government’s credibility in Iran’s eye.

How does the issue concern Mr. Macron? Who is he to interfere in the first place?…

No country would bargain over its national interests.

Velayati advised Macron to follow in the footsteps of the late French leader Charles de Gaulle by adopting a stance of “semi-independence” in his foreign policy.

In a sign of concern over the effect of the downturn, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh insisted that France’s energy giant Total cannot withdraw from a flagship $4.8 billion contract with Tehran unless the UN adopts new sanctions.

Total signed the deal in July to develop a phase of Iran’s South Pars gas field, the largest in the world. However, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne has twice warned in the past month that the deal is stalled pending clarification of US restrictions which could affect Total’s holdings.

US Treasury Blocks Donations for Earthquake Survivors

The US Treasury is blocking online donations by Iranian expatriates to help the survivors of Sunday’s earthquake that killed at least 500 people and injured thousands in western Iran.

Tohid Najafi, a medical professional based in Detroit, said the Treasury blocked the Facebook page he set up on Monday to raise money for the families of victims and survivors of the 7.3-magnitude tremor in Kermanshah Province.

Najafi had hoped to raise $110,000 over the next month, but donors had pledged more than $80,000 by Tuesday morning and more than $200,000 by Wednesday. However, he was informed that the funds “will not be released” until he delivers to Facebook the required authorization from the Treasury.

The fundraising site YouCaring canceled the page of New York-based Iranian-American journalist Tara Kangarlou, which had gathered $2,000 in pledges in the first 30 minutes of a campaign.

YouCaring said in a letter, ​“The United States Treasury Department does not allow our platform to disburse funds directly to, or be routed by proxy to a state or person that is currently located in an embargoed region.”

The Treasury has formal exemptions for disaster relief in US sanctions.