Criminal Court Summons Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Silverton

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Nov 6, 2004
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Criminal Court Summons Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, No Charge Specified

(June 17, 2013) – Just days after moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani won the eleventh presidential election held in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), Iranian state press announced today that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the current President of the IRI, has been summoned to Branch 76 of the Criminal Court of Tehran Province.

The summons was purportedly made pursuant to a complaint from several members of Iran's parliament, the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

The official information website of the IRI's executive branch has released a scan of the notice of summons issued to Ahmadinejad. According to the document, Ahmadinejad is required to appear before the court on November 26, 2013, almost four months after he is required to leave office. No charges or details of the complaint are specified on the document, which simply references the individuals filing it—Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative assembly; the head of the assembly's Article 90 commission (which hears complaints against the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government as specified by Article 90 of the Constitution of the IRI); and Yaghoub Khalilnejad, about whom no information has been confirmed.

In response to the summons, the president's office points out that the lack of a specified charge on Ahmadinejad's notice violates the Constitution of the IRI. Article 32 of the Constitution does state that detainees must be notified of charges against them as soon as possible, although it does not explicitly state that such a notice must enumerate the charges relevant to the summons. But the notice suggests a violation of Article 140 of the Constitution of the IRI, which states that legal charges against the President, his Vice Presidents, and cabinet ministers are within the competency of the public courts, not criminal courts like the one that issued this summons (translation below).

http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/new...dinejad-no-charge-specified.html#.Ub9QdvleYh_
 

Silverton

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Nov 6, 2004
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Iran court summons Ahmadinejad, ups pressure on outgoing leader

(Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was summoned on Monday to appear before a criminal court on unspecified charges leveled by a conservative rival, days after moderate cleric Hassan Rohani was elected his successor.

While Rohani's election on Friday showed a desire for change, it also highlighted divisions among Iran's establishment conservatives who, though united in their dislike of Ahmadinejad, were unable to rally behind a single candidate.

The summons was issued by a Tehran court and follows a complaint by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. It did not elaborate on the complaint, saying only that Ahmadinejad would face the unnamed charges in November.

Ahmadinejad, who will leave office in August after Rohani's inauguration, was not immediately available for comment.

Larijani has used his position in parliament to lead a conservative campaign to undermine and block Ahmadinejad.

The court summons could be a taste of things to come for the outgoing leader who, after receiving the backing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to suppress protests against his re-election in 2009, later fell foul of the supreme leader for challenging his ultimate authority.

In February, Ahmadinejad tried to strike back and, addressing parliament, played a recorded conversation of Larijani's brother he said implicated the family in corruption.

The stunt backfired as the tape was not fully audible and Larijani dismissed the president from the chamber.

Ahmadinejad has hinted he has incriminating material on a number of prominent figures and has threatened to reveal it should his personal position or safety come under threat.

Rohani won some 51 percent of the vote in the election promising to increase civil rights and bring a measure of pragmatism to Iran's negotiations with world powers over a nuclear program the West says is a cover for making a bomb.

None of the five hardline and conservative candidates ranged against Rohani got more than 17 percent of the vote and Ahmadinejad's protege failed even to pass the state vetting process and make it onto the ballot.

Iran's economy is suffering from the effects of increasingly tight international sanctions due to the nuclear program which it says is peaceful.