Ahmadi-nejad says he won’t take no for an answer and insists he has a right as president to see the inside of Evin.
According to media reports, Ahmadi-nejad put a visit to Evin on his scheduled for October 8.
But Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossain Mohsen-Ejai announced Sunday that the Judiciary had vetoed the visit.
Ejai lectured the president on his responsibilities, saying, “As we are faced with special challenges and the country’s priorities are the economy and the people’s standard of living, all authorities should focus on solving those key challenges….Visiting a prison is extraneous.”
Ejai noted that Ahmadi-nejad has been president for more than seven years and never felt any need to visit the prison in all that time.
Ejai indicated he smelled a rat. He suggested Ahmadi-nejad’s sudden interest in Evin was linked “to a person affiliated with the government who is in prison.” That was seen as an allusion to Ali-Akbar Javanfekr, the president’s chief press adviser, who was hauled off to Evin last month to serve a six-month sentence after being convicted for writings deemed offensive.
Ejai said the timing of the president’s proposed visit appeared to involve a “political dimension” and, “in this situation, it is deemed inappropriate.”
The very next day, Ahmadi-nejad announced he still intended to visit Evin. He wrote a letter to Judiciary Chairman Sadeq Larijani citing various articles in the Constitution that gave him authority for a prison visit.
“I have to remind you that, in the Constitution, there is nothing that requires the president to first obtain the permission of the Judiciary before exercising his legal duties,” Ahmadi-nejad wrote.
“I am determined to fully execute the Constitution and fundamentally reform the country’s affairs,” he wrote. “I am certain that by inspecting the prisons and some courts, I will be able to study how the Constitution and the people’s basic rights are observed. I will report to the people and the Supreme Leader.”