Iran Says Detained Officer Involved in Man's Death During Arrest

An Iranian police officer allegedly involved in the death of a man during an arrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad has been detained, the judiciary's news agency reported Sunday.

The rare announcement of an investigation earlier today, and subsequent arrest of a law enforcement member, comes two weeks after Iran's judicial authority banned torture and other violations of defendants' rights.

"The offending officer... was arrested by the order of the military prosecutor's office," Mizan Online reported.

"Two other police officers who transferred the victim to the police station have also been investigated," it added.

The arrest comes after Khorasan Razavi province's police chief Mohammad-Kazem Taghavi announced an investigation into the incident, following reports by media outside Iran claiming the man "was poisoned by pepper spray."

"Special orders have been given ... for quickly investigating the case and finding out why and how" it happened, he told state news agency IRNA.

He expressed "regret" over the "incident" and said the results of the investigation will be announced soon.

The police were called to the scene over a 'family dispute' between the man and his ex-wife's family, IRNA said, adding that he died while being transferred to the police station.

According to Fars news agency, a video circulating on social media shows "a police officer using pepper spray and a taser in response to the arrested individual swearing at him".

"There are claims that the individual has died from suffocation due to being pepper sprayed," Fars added.

Mehdi Akhlaghi, an official with the province's judiciary said on Saturday that the man's family have pressed charges, IRNA reported.

Samples will be taken from the man's lung following autopsy to "investigate the impact of (pepper) spray on his death", Akhlaghi was quoted as saying.

Iran's judicial authority issued an order on October 15 banning torture, the use of "forced confessions", solitary confinement, illegal police custody and other violations of defendants' rights.

It came a week after controversy sparked by videos posted on social media showing police officers beating detainees in pickup trucks in the middle of a street.

In the videos, apparently filmed in Tehran, the detainees were also made to apologise for the "mistakes".

Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi in response said the police action was a "case of violation of civil rights.”

He also ordered measures be taken against those responsible, saying it was "strictly forbidden to attack the accused, even if they are thugs.”

Photo: IRNA

Iran's Judicial Authority Moves to Ban 'Torture' and Forced Confessions

Iran's judicial authority on Thursday issued an order banning torture, the use of "forced confessions,” solitary confinement, illegal police custody and other violations of defendants' rights.

The "document on judicial security" was signed by Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi and released by Mizan Online, the authority's news agency.

It also stresses the "transparency" of the judicial process, including the right to freely choose a lawyer and "the principle of the presumption of innocence.” 

It also guarantees "consular access" for foreign nationals.

Iran is regularly accused by the United Nations, several Western countries, rights organisations and Iranian lawyers of flouting the principles that Raisi says he wants to see respected.

The publication of the charter comes a week after controversy sparked by videos posted on social media showing police officers beating detainees in pickup trucks in the middle of a street.

In the videos, apparently filmed in Tehran, the detainees are also made to apologise for the "mistakes" they say they have committed.

Raisi on Monday said the police action was a "case of violation of civil rights", according to Mizan Online.

He also ordered measures be taken against those responsible, saying it was "strictly forbidden to attack the accused, even if they are thugs."

Raisi, 59, who is close to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was picked to lead the judiciary in March 2019 with the mission of radically transforming an institution mired in corruption.

At the beginning of September, the execution of a young wrestler caused outrage after reports he been convicted on the basis of confessions extracted under torture.

Raisi ran in the 2017 presidential elections with the support of a broad conservative coalition, but was beaten by Hassan Rouhani who won a second term.

Iranian media see Raisi as a possible candidate for the next presidential election, scheduled for June 2021.

Since Raisi took office, the press have covered several high-profile cases of "economic corruption", or prevarication within the judicial authority.

State television announced overnight Wednesday the successful extradition of Ali Reza Heydarabadipour, former head of Sarmayeh bank who was convicted of being the kingpin of an embezzlement scandal harming tens of thousands of teachers.

Heydarabadipour—extradited from Spain in coordination with Interpol—arrived Wednesday evening in Iran, state television said.

He had been sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Opens Trial of Former Judiciary Deputy Head

Iran opened the high-profile trial of a former senior judiciary official alongside 21 accused accomplices on Sunday in Tehran, charging them with corruption, money laundering and influence trading.

In a rare move state television broadcast the hearing live, focusing on the accused Akbar Tabari, the former deputy head of administrative affairs at the judiciary.

Tabari "obstructed the execution of justice" against influential senior Iranian officials "by forming a criminal group" within his office which "became a centre... for certain accused (individuals) to settle their cases", his indictment said, according to official judiciary news agency Mizan Online.

Tabari and 21 other defendants were tried by the 5th chamber of Tehran's criminal court, presided over by judge Hassan Babaie.

The former official worked as the financial director during the mandate of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who headed Iran's judiciary from 1999 to 2009.

Tabari was later promoted to the head of executive affairs and then executive deputy under Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani from 2009 to 2019, according to state news agency IRNA .

In March 2019, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei replaced Larijani with Ebrahim Raisi, a religious conservative, and called on him to work "against corruption".

According to IRNA , Raisi "dismissed Tabari eight days after taking office", without specifying a reason. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili confirmed Tabari's arrest on July 2019, saying that it "proves the seriousness of the judiciary... to fight against corruption, especially if it is within" it.

Former judge Bijan Qasemzadeh is among the co-accused at the trial.

He is best known for ordering the blocking of Telegram, the most popular messaging service in the Islamic republic at the time.

Esmaili announced in June 2019 that three judges were involved in Tabari's case, one of whom is still in office.

Raisi vowed to make the fight against corruption in the justice system his "first priority" shortly after coming to power, followed by unprecedented trials targeting judges and senior Iranian officials.

Two former members of parliament were recently sentenced to 61 months in prison for manipulating the country's auto market.

Photo: Mizan

U.S. Sanctions Key Iranians Reporting to Supreme Leader

By Josh Wingrove

The U.S. used the 40th anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis to sanction key officials reporting to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, including his son, and called on the Islamic Republic to release Americans believed to be held in the country.

The U.S. said Monday that the officials include those involved in terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Argentina. Three Trump administration officials, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, also announced a $20 million reward for information leading to the return of American Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in 2007.

“Today the Treasury Department is targeting the unelected officials who surround Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and implement his destabilizing policies,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “These individuals are linked to a wide range of malign behaviors by the regime, including bombings of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in 1994, as well as torture, extrajudicial killings, and repression of civilians.”

The move comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran remain high over the breakdown of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord and military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf region. Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi on Monday said Iran has increased the number of advanced centrifuges it is running to enrich uranium and additional milestones in the country’s nuclear program may be announced later this week.

Iran has been scaling back its compliance with the beleaguered 2015 deal since May as it resists the “maximum pressure” offensive of President Donald Trump, who unilaterally left the accord last year and later imposed sweeping economic sanctions including the total ban on oil sales.

But the troubled history between the two countries dates back to at least the Carter administration.

The taking of more than 50 diplomats at the American embassy in Tehran in November 1979 became a defining moment in U.S.-Iran relations for more than a generation. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since the hostage crisis, which ended 444 days after it began.

Among those targeted for inclusion on Treasury’s sanctions list on Monday are Ebrahim Raisi, the head of the country’s judiciary, for involvement in cracking down on public protests in 2009, according to the statement. Also designated was Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the Supreme Leader’s chief of staff, and Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader who Treasury said helped the Iranian regime extend credit lines to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the leader, was targeted “for representing the Supreme Leader in an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position aside from work in the office of his father.”

With an economic crisis looming, Iran announced on May 8 it would gradually withdraw from the nuclear agreement unless the remaining parties find a way to ease its pain. It first stopped complying with a 300-kilogram cap on the storage of enriched uranium and heavy water imposed by the multilateral accord, and then broke the 3.67% limit on uranium purity.

While officials have said the country will “set aside” restrictions on uranium enrichment, it has so far held off enriching to anywhere near 20%, the level required for research reactors. Weapons-grade uranium needs to have an enrichment level of 90% or higher.

Photo: Tasnim

Ultra-Conservative Cleric Appointed Head of Iran's Judiciary

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday appointed ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi, a one-time presidential hopeful, as head of the judiciary, the leader's website said.

Former judge Raisi, who currently heads the holy shrine of Imam Reza, was the leading rival to President Hassan Rouhani at Iran's 2017 election and has close ties to the supreme leader.

Khamenei said in a statement that he appointed Raisi to bring about a "transformation (in the judiciary) in line with (its) needs, advancements and challenges" on the 40th year of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

“For carrying out this crucial act, I have chosen you who have a long track record in different levels of the judiciary and are in touch with its nuances," he said in the statement.

He called on Raisi to be "with the people, the revolution and against corruption" in his new role.

Raisi is a mainstay of the conservative establishment, having served as attorney general, supervisor of state broadcaster IRIB and prosecutor in the Special Court for Clerics.

He bears the title of Hojjat al-Islam, which is a rank under Ayatollah in the Shiite cleric hierarchy.

Raisi became deputy prosecutor at the Revolutionary Court of Tehran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. 

Human rights organisations, opposition members and dissidents have accused the tribunal of overseeing the execution of political prisoners without due legal process during his tenure.

He was chosen by Khamenei in 2016 to head Iran's Imam Reza Shrine and lead its huge business conglomerate, Astan Qods Razavi, with interests in everything from IT and banking to construction and agriculture.

During his 2017 campaign, Raisi took a tough line on Rouhani's "weak efforts" in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that brought the Islamic republic sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear program.

US President Donald Trump last year withdrew Washington from the pact and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. 

Photo Credit: IRNA