Former Iranian Vice President Mashaei convicted and sentenced to prison for 'threatening national security'

RFE/RL
Wed, 12 Sep 2018 16:36 UTC

Former Iranian Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei speaks with journalists during a press conference after registering as a candidate for president in Tehran in May 2017.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a vice president, chief of staff, and senior aide under former Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison after being convicted on charges including threatening national security, Iranian media report.

A top press aide to Ahmadinejad, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, received a four-year prison sentence in the same case, the official government news agency IRNA reported on September 12. IRNA cited the chief justice of Tehran Province, who said the sentences can be appealed within 20 days.

Ahmadinejad, a hard-line conservative who was president from 2005 to 2013, has in the past criticized Iran's powerful judiciary over the arrests of his aides and supporters including Mashaei, who was arrested in March.

Hamid Baghaei, a former vice president and close Ahmadinejad aide, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December following a conviction on corruption charges. Baghaei was jailed in March.

The Guardians Council -- which vets presidential candidates -- prevented Ahmadinejad and Baghaei from running in the 2017 presidential election that returned President Hassan Rohani to office for a second term.

Based on reporting by IRNA, Fars, and Reuters

Comment: Jailed for 'threatening national security'? Sounds like the Iranians are taking from the US playbook. Here's more of the story about Mashaei, and why Iranian authorities may have targeted him:

Making a comeback? Ahmadinejad throws down gauntlet, calls for Rouhani's resignation

The authorities' response to Ahmadinejad's attempt at a comeback has been to use the judiciary to intimidate and silence the former president's supporters. Several of the former president's closest aides are currently languishing in jail, either convicted or awaiting trial. These include former vice president Hamid Baghai, who has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on corruption charges, and another vice president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who was arrested in late March.

Mashaei's arrest and continuing detention has sparked fears that the authorities are intent on smashing the Ahmadinejad faction altogether, possibly by even going to the extraordinary length of arresting the former president himself. A former intelligence official, Rahim Mashaei, is widely considered to be the chief ideologue of the Ahmadinejad movement.