Iran arrests ex-minister of welfare over financial fraud

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's official IRNA news agency says authorities have arrested the former minister of welfare and social security for financial fraud.

The Sunday report says Parviz Kazemi was taken to Tehran's Evin prison two days ago.

Kazemi resigned from his post in 2006 after nearly a year under former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over political differences. He later worked in the banking sector.

In recent years, Kazemi turned into a critic of Ahmadinejad.

Several of Ahmadinejad's allies are in jail over charges relating to security and financial fraud.

In September, a court sentenced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of Ahmadinejad to six-and-a-half years in prison for plotting to commit crimes against national security, propaganda against the Islamic Republic and insulting officials. </s> (RFE/RL) — A former Iranian minister of welfare and social security has been arrested for financial fraud, official media reported on November 11.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency said Parviz Kazemi was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison on November 9.

Kazemi resigned from his post in 2006 after nearly a year under former hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad over political differences. He later worked in the banking sector.

In recent years, Kazemi turned into a critic of Ahmadinejad.

Several of Ahmadinejad’s allies are in jail over charges relating to security and financial fraud.

In September, a court sentenced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of Ahmadinejad, to 6 1/2 years in prison for plotting to commit crimes against national security, propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and insulting officials. </s> By The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s official IRNA news agency says authorities have arrested the former minister of welfare and social security for financial fraud. The Sunday report says Parviz Kazemi was taken to Tehran’s Evin…

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s official IRNA news agency says authorities have arrested the former minister of welfare and social security for financial fraud.

The Sunday report says Parviz Kazemi was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison two days ago.

Kazemi resigned from his post in 2006 after nearly a year under former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over political differences. He later worked in the banking sector.

In recent years, Kazemi turned into a critic of Ahmadinejad.

Several of Ahmadinejad’s allies are in jail over charges relating to security and financial fraud.

In September, a court sentenced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of Ahmadinejad to six-and-a-half years in prison for plotting to commit crimes against national security, propaganda against the Islamic Republic and insulting officials.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> A minister of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration has been detained over economic malfeasance charges.

Parviz Kazemi, former minister of welfare and social security in the first cabinet of Ahmadinejad, was detained two days ago and transferred to Tehran's Evin House of Detention on charge of causing disruption in the country's economic system, an informed judicial official told IRNA on Sunday.

Kazemi has also served as the chairman of Bank Sarmayeh's board of directors and a member of the board of trustees of Teachers' Investment Fund.

He was proposed by Ahmadinejad to the Parliament in August 2005, but resigned after one year.

Iran has launched an unrelenting campaign against economic corruption and any act aimed at disrupting the country’s economic system as the country is facing re-imposition of sanctions on its various economic sectors by the US administration.

In late September, Iranian Judiciary spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, told reporters that the Iranian judicial officials had handed down death sentences to three people convicted of economic corruption.

Mohseni-Ejei said that the death sentences were given by special tribunals set up in Tehran, which have so far handed down various sentences to 35 economic offenders.

He added that out of 35 convicts, three were sentenced to death for “spreading corruption on earth,” noting that the sentences would have to be upheld by Iran's Supreme Court before being carried out.

Mohseni-Ejei said 32 other defendants were given various jail terms up to 20 years for economic corruption.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in September that enemies of Iran have unleashed an all-out economic and media war against the country with the aim of creating “despair” and “pessimism” among people.

“Today, the Islamic establishment is faced with an all-out economic war, which is being led from a war room with full precision and hard work,” said the Leader. </s> An Iranian political activist, detained in Qom Prison, died in his cell on Wednesday after a 60-day hunger strike.

Vahid Sayadi Nasiri was jailed in 2015 and sentenced to eight years after he was accused of insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and spreading “propaganda against the state” on his Facebook account, according to the advocacy group Iran Human Rights Monitor.

During his initial detention at Raja’i Shahr and Evin prisons, Iran Human Rights Monitor alleges that Sayadi Nasiri had been harassed by operatives linked to the Iranian regime. The group say he was attacked in May 2017 by a fellow prisoner, and again in February, this time by two offenders. Sayadi Nasiri was released in March having served two-and-a-half years of his sentence, but detained again in August 2018.

He began his hunger strike in October in protest at the conditions of his imprisonment and his lack of access to a lawyer. According to Elaheh Sayadi Nasiri, his sister, Sayadi Nasiri had also requested that he be transferred to Evin Prison, on the outskirts of Tehran. the political activist had argued that being locked up alongside regular criminals was a violation of Iran’s regulations on the principle of separation of crimes.

According to Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental group, authorities in Iran “routinely restrict detainees’ access to legal counsel.” The U.S. State Department advises potential travelers to the country that “Iranian authorities continue to unjustly detain and imprison U.S. citizens, including students, journalists, business travelers, and academics, on charges including espionage and posing a threat to national security.” </s> Image copyright Iran Human Rights Monitor Image caption The activist was protesting against his conditions in prison

An Iranian political activist jailed for his messages on social media has died after spending 60 days on hunger strike, his family says.

Vahid Sayadi Nasiri had been accused of insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other offences.

He was released last March after serving two-and-a-half years in prison but detained again five months later.

The activist demanded his transfer from a high-security unit of a prison in the city of Qom to a different location.

Vahid Sayadi Nasiri was initially arrested in September 2015 and sentenced to eight years in prison for "insulting the supreme leader" and "propaganda against the state," according to the advocacy group Iran Human Rights Monitor.

The charges were related to posts he had made on his Facebook page. He was later pardoned and released early.

However he was arrested again in August, just months after his release, reportedly on similar charges.

He began his hunger strike in October in protest at the conditions of his imprisonment and his lack of access to a lawyer, according to Iran Human Rights Monitor.

He also said the principle of separation of prisoners' crimes was being violated as he was being held with ordinary criminals and was being attacked and harassed, the group said.

Conditions in the Qom prison are described as harsh, correspondents say.

The activist had reportedly been taken to hospital in the wake of his hunger strike.

His sister, Elaheh, said the family had been informed by authorities of his death. No other details were immediately available. </s> WASHINGTON -- The United States has condemned Tehran for the “unconscionable” death of a hunger-striking Iranian political activist who had been jailed for messages he wrote on social media.

In a statement on December 13, State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said Vahid Sayadi Nasiri, who died on December 12, had been “arbitrarily detained” by Iranian authorities after his arrest four months ago.

Nasiri had “no access to legal counsel, was held in inhumane conditions, and was charged with spurious national security offences such as ‘insulting the Supreme Leader,’” the statement said.

Nasiri’s sister, Elaheh, told RFE/RL that the authorities had informed the family that the activist had died in a hospital in the city of Qom.

She said her brother went on hunger strike to protest against the conditions of his imprisonment and to demand his transfer from a high-security unit of a prison in Qom to Tehran’s Evin prison.

Nasiri was initially arrested in September 2015 and sentenced to eight years in prison for “insulting” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and "propaganda against the state," according to the U.S.-based advocacy group Iran Human Rights Monitor.

The charges stemmed from posts he had made on his Facebook page.

Nasiri was released early in March after serving 2 1/2 years in prison, but was arrested again in August, reportedly on similar charges.

The State Department statement said he was “just one of many more unjustly detained prisoners held at the mercy of the Iranian regime’s whims.”

“The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the Iranian regime for its unceasingly flagrant human rights violations,” it said.

“We demand that the regime stops subjecting Iranians who are peacefully voicing their opinions to brutal conditions and slow deaths and that it release all those unjustly imprisoned,” it added.

The statement referred to two other detainees, Farhad Meysami -- who it said was also on hunger strike -- and Nasrin Sotoudeh.

Meysami, a medical doctor, was detained in July for supporting women protesting against the hijab law that forces them to cover their hair and body in public.

He has been reportedly on a hunger strike since August to protest the charges he faces and also the lack of access to a lawyer of his choosing. He reportedly is being held in a medical clinic at Evin prison, where he is being force-fed intravenously.

Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer, was arrested in June after she represented several of the women detained for removing their head scarves in public to protest against the country’s Islamic dress code.

The European Parliament on December 13 overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for the Iranian government to “immediately and unconditionally” release Sotoudeh.

Sotoudeh -- the co-winner of the European Parliament's 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought -- has denied all charges against her. </s> (Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Rights groups and the European Parliament expressed outrage following the chilling news from Tehran that the outspoken Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to 38 years in prison in a “Kafkaesque trial” for her human rights work.Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan published the news on his Facebook page on March 11 which prompted Amnesty International to state: “This is the harshest sentence Amnesty International has documented against a human rights defender in Iran in recent years, suggesting that the authorities – emboldened by pervasive impunity for human rights violations – are stepping up their repression.” Sotoudeh, a former political prisoner, has campaigned tirelessly against the death penalty and defended many human rights activists, women and rights campaigners from ethnic minorities is respected internationally for her dedication to human rights.A shocking 38 years in prison for Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh for defending women who didn't want to wear mandatory headscarves and other such "outrages." https://t.co/qKIFpJWSRe pic.twitter.com/JrokmeYl8v— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) March 11, 2019She was arrested in June and was informed this week that she had been found guilty of seven charges and sentenced to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes. The vague charges included “Inciting corruption and prostitution,” “openly committing a sinful act by … appearing in public without a hijab” and “disrupting public order.” The judge used his discretion to apply more than the maximum sentence in her case.Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament said on Twitter “I strongly condemn utterly outrageous Iranian government sentence passed against #SakharovPrize laureate, Nasrin Sotoudeh. She's dedicated her life to defending women's rights and speaking out against the #deathpenalty. The @Europarl_EN stands with her – at Le Parlement Européen”Local human rights organizations have also criticized the lack of a proper trial in-line with international norms.“Sotoudeh has been sentenced in a Kafkaesque trial severely lacking in international standards of due process,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “The Iranian Judiciary is punishing Sotoudeh for trying to uphold the rule of law and the right to a fair defense in cases involving defendants facing politically motivated charges,” he added. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2012 while in prison for not bowing to “fear and intimidation.” She was jailed from 2010 to 2013 on charges of propaganda and conspiring to harm the establishment’s security.“The EU expects an immediate review of her sentence as well as the conviction of her husband Reza Khandan, who was sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment in January 2019. The European Union also expects Iran to ensure that both Mr. Khandan and Ms. Sotoudeh's right to appeal their sentences is protected,” the spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, Maja Kocijancic, said in a statement. She has been targeted by the state since 2009 when she was an advisor to reformist Mehdi Karroubi during the presidential election. Then she was arrested and detained for three years after being charged with anti-state propaganda. Her most recent detainment began in June 2018, according to CHRI, because she represented a woman facing imprisonment for peacefully protesting the country's compulsory hijab law.Shahidi has also sued the Iranian judiciary for banning her from seeing her family and children while she has been jailed in the notorious Evin Prison. </s> Iranian-American businessman Reza Taghavi, 71, speaks at this home a day after he was released from Evin prison in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian-American businessman freed after more than two years in Tehran's main prison visited survivors of a deadly 2008 mosque bombing as a condition of his release in a scripted event Sunday that could carry propaganda value at home.

Iranian authorities did not immediately explain their demand for 71-year-old Reza Taghavi to pay homage in the southern city of Shiraz — and personally acknowledge an attack in which he denies having any connection. But it would fit neatly into possible Iranian attempts to squeeze multiple messages from Taghavi's release on Saturday after 29 months in custody.

It can easily score political points at home for the ruling clerics at a time when international sanctions are hurting Iran's economy.

Iran is pressing to resume talks on its nuclear program with the United States and other world powers after a yearlong standoff. The European Union's foreign affairs and security chief, Catherine Ashton, suggested last week after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that talks could be held as early as next month.

But Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has already thrown up a big hurdle — saying talks could move forward only if the West clarifies its position on Israel's undeclared, but widely suspected, nuclear arsenal.

The U.S. and allies fear Iran could use its nuclear fuel labs to eventually produce weapons-grade material. Iran says it only seeks peaceful energy-producing reactors.

Taghavi's attorney — former U.S. diplomat Pierre Prosper — said he purposely left American officials out of the negotiations to avoid having his client become a bargaining chip.

"Our strategy was to make sure that our dialogue with the (Iranian) government was between us and them," said Prosper, who held five rounds of direct talks with Iranian envoys since Taghavi was jailed.

Prosper said the talks ultimately convinced authorities that his client had no links to a rebel group blamed for the Shiraz mosque bombing that killed 14 people. Taghavi says he unwittingly gave $200 to someone with ties to the group.

Taghavi's detention drew far less international attention than the campaign to free three young Americans taken into custody last year along Iran's border with Iraq and accused of spying. One of the three, Sarah Shourd, was granted freedom last month on $500,000 bail.

Shourd's two companions, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, remain jailed and face possible trial on espionage charges. Shourd and the families of the other Americans deny they committed any crime and say they were just hiking in a scenic and relatively peaceful part of northern Iraq. They say that if the three did cross the border with Iran, they did so unwittingly.

Some conditions of Shourd's release were similar to those for Taghavi. Shourd was allowed to leave Iran only after meeting with children of an Iranian woman jailed in the United States and visiting families of Iranians held for two years by American forces in Iraq.

Taghavi — accompanied by his wife and lawyer — fulfilled his pledge to visit the site of the mosque bombing. They later met with survivors, including people who lost relatives in the attack. Iran did not immediately release video of the encounters on state TV.

"Freedom is something so good. No one can imagine. I hope everybody enjoys his freedom," Taghavi told The Associated Press in Tehran before leaving for Shiraz, about 550 miles (885 kilometers) south of the capital. He plans to return to his home in southern California on Thursday via London.

Taghavi — who regularly visits Iran to conduct business and see family — had been jailed for passing $200 to someone suspected of links to a rebel group known as Tondar, which seeks to topple the Islamic system and was implicated in the mosque bombing. In 2009, Iran hanged three men convicted of a role in the bombing.

Taghavi, who was never formally charged, denies knowingly supporting the faction. He told AP Television News that he was given the money by an acquaintance in the United States and "brought the money here without knowing anything about it."

He said his friend took advantage of his trust and that he plans to sue him.

Iran blames the United States and Britain for supporting groups seeking to destabilize the Islamic system. Both countries deny the accusations.

Taghavi said he spent part of his time in Evin prison in wards that held many detainees from the effort to crush dissent after the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad in June 2009. Shourd and the other two Americans detained with her were also held in Evin.

Prosper, Taghavi's attorney, told the AP his client "admitted to nothing and he continues to maintain his innocence."

Iranian officials are "comfortable that he was in fact used by this organization, and comfortable that he does not pose a threat to them and that he can leave and go back to the United States," said Prosper, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes under the administration of President George W. Bush.

Taghavi said prison authorities at Evin did not mistreat him and "didn't do anything wrong to me."

"They were kind to me, especially as I am old, and you know, they were watching carefully with me," said Taghavi.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Noel Clay said Saturday the United States welcomes the "release of Reza Taghavi from detention in Evin Prison in Iran, and are pleased that he will soon be reunited with his family."

"We urge Iranian authorities to extend the same consideration to Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, and other detained Americans by resolving their cases without delay," Clay said.

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. AP's National Security Writer Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.
Parviz Kazemi, former Iranian welfare minister, is arrested and transferred to Tehran's Evin Prison on charge of causing disruption in the country's economic system.