Faezeh, an active politician in her own right, was accosted by a group of angry men February 20 as she was walking across a parking lot near the Shrine of Abdol Azim in Rey, south of Tehran, where she had been attending a memorial service.
The confrontation was captured on video, which was posted on YouTube and became a political issue in Tehran.
The men shouted and cursed at Faezeh, who was a Majlis deputy in the 1990s and has 
long been an active feminist, but the shaky video does not suggest she was ever touched. She was repeatedly called a “prostitute.” Eventually she got into a car with some relatives and drove off. But even just a verbal assault and foul language was very offensive to many conservatives who disparage the whole Rafsanjani clan.
Even the ultra-rightist daily Jomhuri Eslami was offended by the verbal assault. Jomhuri Eslami also said that when her male relatives put themselves between Faezeh and her assailants, they were tasered. However, no tasers can be seen in the video.
On Tuesday, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi announced that the men who had confronted Faezeh had been arrested. He gave no names or even numbers, however.
A number of conservative Majlis deputies were very vocal in denouncing the verbal assault on Faezeh. Some appeared to fear that the attack would taint all conservatives if it were not denounced. But many were clearly offended by the distasteful cursing and demanded that the attackers be dealt with as criminals.
One prominent figure who has been silent about the incident is President Ahmadi-nejad, who has, as yet, said nothing despite his propensity for commenting on almost all events that capture public attention.
A Majlis ally of the president, Deputy Mahmud Ahmadi-Bighesh, was one of the few figures to speak publicly of the matter without condemning Faezeh’s attackers. He said he believed the whole incident had been staged as a ploy to garner sympathy for the family. “Rafsanjani’s children are not worthy of the concern of our people,” he concluded.
The incident happened a few weeks before Rafsanjani lost the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts. (See last week’s Iran Times, page one.)
That vote appears to have satisfied many on the right. Instead of clamoring that he be removed form other posts, many of his critics instead joined in lauding Rafsanjani for withdrawing from the balloting.
They appeared to be following the line of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi who made a point a lavishing praise on Rafsanjani when the Leader met with the members of the Assembly two days after Rafsanjani lost the chairmanship.
Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi-Kani, who took over the chairmanship, also made a point of lauding Rafsanjani. He said, “Mr. Rafsanjani is a close and old friend of mine and, as always, I would like us to be together.”
