Hello, there!

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wave hello at Sadeq Larijani's appointment ceremony as judiciary chief. Ahmadinejad has not had nice things to say about the former president.

[CNN.com] Photos from the scene show Ahmadinejad exchanging friendly waves with Rafsanjani and Sadeq Larijani, who was wedged between the rivals. The three appeared to be chatting amicably before Larijani made his acceptance speech. Just minutes later, Ahmadinejad alluded to Rafsanjani, one of the richest men in Iran, in a searing address that called for the prosecution of "the power-holders and the wealthy," state-run Press TV reported. But the president, who showed up more than an hour late for the ceremony, hustled out of the ceremony when Rafsanjani, the head of the Assembly of Experts that is in charge of selecting the supreme leader, took the podium, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), which is aligned with Rafsanjani. Read

Sanei calls Ahmadinejad 'bastard'

Source: YouTube | August 12, 2009

August 12, 2009

Addressing an audience at the Sharif Mousavi Hoseiniya in the city of Gorgan, the outspoken Ayatollah Sanei called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a 'bastard' who is out to destroy the Shia faith.

"What will destroy Shiism is saying in front of millions of people that the clerics and their children are thieves who have been stealing for thirty years," Sane'i said, in a video posted to YouTube apparently taken at a sermon in Gorgan.

In a televised debate preceding the presidential election, Ahmadinejad had accused Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his family of fiscal corruption.

Sanei added, "What kind of a Shia government is this? There's been thievery for 30 years and they have just found out about it? Meanwhile, billions are transferred to Turkey and the report is rejected."

"Calling someone a thief means tarnishing someone's image and is punishable under Islamic law," he said. But Sanai admitted corruption does exist among officials. "Yes, some people in this establishment are guilty of thievery."

"The person who makes such accusations, if he has taken an oath in Majlis to protect the honor of the people, breaks his oath. As the oath is sworn on the Quran, breaking it has a pecuniary punishment as well as a mortal sin."

"He lies because he is a bastard or else he would have seen the hidden Imam," Sanei said, as laughter rippled through his audience.

"The Sir who speaks of change [Obama], what does he want to change? And that dissolved colonial power [UK] made a big mistake in directly interfering in Iranian affairs."

Ahmadinejad pointed to British interference in Iran's post-election unrest, saying, "Some of this country's officials thought that by launching a Persian-language channel they will be able to reach their objectives in the Islamic Republic, but they underestimated the Iranian nation's love for the rule of its just jurisprudent [Ayatollah Khamenei]."

Ahmadinejad choice for minister was questioned in Palizdar case

The date of the original report is 'June 22, 2008,' but relevant as Ahmadinejad has nominated this woman to be a minister.

Source: ISCA News | June 22, 2008

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's pick to steer the Social Welfare Ministry, Fatemeh Ajorlou, had been taken into custody and questioned for 11 hours over her association with Abbas Palizdar in 2008.Palizdar, who had claimed to be a member of the Iranian Parliament's Judicial Inquiry and Review Committee, sparked a storm of controversy after attacking several top political figures and accusing a number of prominent clerics of corruption and money-laundering in two separate speeches he delivered at universities in Hamadan and Shiraz last May.

He was arrested on charges of instigating public opinion, propagating lies against the government, and threatening national security on June 12.

After Palizdar's controversial remarks made headlines in Iranian newspapers, the Judicial Inquiry and Review Committee denied any links with Palizdar. Former lawmaker Saeed Aboutaleb said the position of secretary of this committee, reportedly held by Palizdar, did not exist.

"Palizdar was helping one of the parliament members as an expert but wasn't present in the sessions of the committee that deals with corruption issues," Aboutaleb said.

According to an ISCA report published on June 22, 2008, Ajorlou, the Karaj representative in Majlis, was summoned by the Prosecutor's office as a suspect in the case and was initially interrogated for five hours.

She was asked to return the following day for further investigation and this time she was interrogated for more than six hours.

Ajorlou, who is married to a judge, was accompanied by her husband in the court hearings that followed.

According to the ISCA report, a source close to the lawmaker had told reporters that she would only be allowed to participate in one public Majlis session that week and the remaining days of the week would be required to come in for interrogation or be present to testify in court.

Mousavi: Nabavi perfectly carried out any assignment

Source: Mowjcamp | August 17, 2009

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi says detained Reformist Behzad Nabavi was the go-to guy in every difficult situation and has pulled through for him every time.

Mousavi decried the "inhumane" treatment of Nabavi, who has been in detention for the past two months. He said such treatment violated the Constitution as well as Islamic law, and called for the immediate release of Nabavi and other post-vote detainees.

Nabavi's wife expressed her deep concern over the violation of the law in every stage of her husband's detention.

"We had no news of him until one month after his arrest. We did not know who had arrested him or where he was being held. They did not show us an arrest warrant when they took him and did not officially announce his arrest. We feared they might kill him and later claim that they had not arrested him."

She went on to say there would be no cause for concern if the law were enforced but the "main problem is that they do not recognize the law."

Lawmaker: Truth finding committee will write to Karroubi

Source: Tabnak | August 17, 2009

The head of the Majlis truth-finding committee, Parviz Sarvary, said lawmakers will write a letter to Mehdi Karroubi to ask for his evidence on detainee rapes.

Karroubi recently made public allegations of sexual abuse against protesters detained after the June 12 election. His claims were met with mixed reactions and a number of Iranian officials called for his prosecution and immediate punishment. He was even branded a 'terrorist' by one official.

Karroubi, however, refused to back down from his position on the issue and released a pronouncement in which he revealed shocking facts about his accusers and announced readiness to offer proof for his claims of detainee abuse.

"The committee has decided to write a letter to Mr. Karroubi and request that he provide us with proof of the issues he has raised in his latest pronouncement so that the committee can investigate them," Sarvary said.

"Efforts will be made to facilitate conditions for those [detainees] who want their cases reviewed. The committee will try to follow up on their cases."

Sarvari announced that the committee would be visiting Evin prison on August 18, 2009 to meet with another group of the post-election detainees.

"We will meet with the political prisoners and try to visit more detention centers and meet the detainees held there."

Of Note...

On August 16, 2009, state-run IRNA news agency published a story titled 'Mehdi Karroubi: Detainee rapes a rumor'

This is while, on the same day, Karroubi issued a pronouncement in which he revealed new information about the death and sexual assault of Taraneh Mousavi and exposed facts about the pasts of a number of Iranian Friday Prayers Leaders.

Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf (Ghalibaf), sits next to Tehran's prosecutor general, Saeed Mortazavi.