Iran Times – April 17th, 2012
Saeed Mortazavi, perhaps the most hated judge in the Islamic Republic, was pressured by the Majlis to quit his new job and did so Saturday—but was back at his desk Monday, reportedly on orders from President Ahmadi-nejad.
The latest dust-up may further exacerbate the bad relations between legislature and executive. It certainly won’t improve matters.
Mortazavi was a confrontational judge for a decade who seemed to love slapping down reformists. In 2009, when the post-election protests broke out, he was the chief prosecutor of Tehran. He ordered a number of arrested protesters sent to the Kahrizak detention center south of Tehran rather than to Evin prison where such men were supposed to be sent.
Mortazavi later said that Evin was filled up, but Evin’s warden said that was not true.
At Kahrizak, the protesters were held in vile conditions. At least three men died there. Mortazavi said they died of meningitis. But the father of one of the men was a leading conservative with lots of friends in the regime. When he picked up his son’s body, he saw the boy’s face smashed in and several teeth missing. He contacted many friends and the case became a cause cÈlÈbre of such intensity that even the Supreme Leader became involved, ordering the permanent closure of Kahrizak.
Mortazavi was also dropped as Tehran prosecutor. But Ahmadi-nejad soon named him to head the anti-smuggling campaign the president has launched. Many in the Majlis—conservatives as well as reformists—muttered with displeasure. They pushed for Mortazavi to be tried for what he did at Kahrizak.
No trial has yet been held. At one point, Mortazavi said he had been cleared of all wrongdoing. But the Judiciary said that was wrong and his case was still under investigation.
Several weeks ago, Labor Minister Abdol-Reza Shaikhol-eslami appointed Mortazavi to head the Social Security Administration.
The roof caved in as deputies lined up to condemn the idea of naming a man under investigation for involvement in murder and torture to a major government post. There were demands for Shaikholeslami to rescind the appointment. He refused to budge.
Majlis deputies began talking of ousting Shaikholeslami from the cabinet. It only takes the signatures of 10 deputies to force such an ouster vote and 20 signed on in this case.
The vote was scheduled for Sunday. On Saturday, Mortazavi telephone at least two deputies and announced that he was resigning his post and would not show up at the Social Security office Sunday.
The resignation was announced in the Majlis. Deputies said they had accomplished what they wanted and withdrew their motion to force an ouster vote—though some deputies, chiefly conservative Ali Motahari and reformist Mostafa Kavakebian, said the motion should simply be tabled until deputies saw what Mortazavi would really do.
Kavakebian alerted deputies to a text message sent to several deputies Saturday by the vice president for parliamentary affairs, Mohammad-Reza Mirtaj-odini, saying that the government would give no “guarantee” that Mortazavi’s resignation would be accepted.
But 18 of the 20 deputies who had signed the ouster motion withdrew their signatures Sunday. Mortazavi went back to his office Monday with his aides saying his resignation had been rejected by President Ahmadi-nejad.
Furious deputies said they would reintroduce their ouster motion, but Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said the Majlis rules did not allow such a motion to be reintroduced immediately after its withdrawal or defeat.
That is where things stood Tuesday with Mortazavi’s legions of enemies trying to decide what to do next.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary confirmed that Mortazavi had been summoned for a hearing into the deaths of the protesters three years ago at Kahrizak.
Mortazavi is the judge implicated in the 2003 death of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian dual national who died about two weeks after her arrest for taking photographs outside Evin prison. Mortazavi said she died of a fall. But a doctor who said he treated her later fled to Canada and said her body was badly bruised and several fingernails and toenails had been extracted.