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Mahbubeh Niknahad

Just a week after president Ahmadinejad in Qom publicly accused certain government ‎agencies and organizations of complicity with the mafia groups operating in Iran, two ‎government agencies both operating under the umbrella of the country’s judiciary reacted ‎to his remarks.‎

Mohammad Niazi, the head of the country’s inspectorate general which is charged with ‎following up on investigations of the bureaucracy, implicitly rejected the president’s ‎accusations when he said, “The Inspectorate Organization intervenes in different issues ‎and presents its findings and potential impact, but in this case the organization has not ‎come across any specific economic mafia and no such report has been submitted to us.”‎

Hoseina Amiri, the assistant to the head of Iran’s judiciary, ayatollah Shahrudi who is ‎also the head of the country’s official Register of Records organization too published an ‎open letter to the president in which he said, “What has prompted this letter are the ‎questions that have been raised by our dedicated and religious colleagues, which includes ‎investigative journalists about your excellency’s comments in which you have detailed ‎the shortcomings, problems and corrupt economic practices of the country. Your ‎knowledge of what goes on in the government ministries agencies under your command ‎is clear and expected but regardless of the extensive and noteworthy activities and ‎measures of this organization which includes the large and important projects, … ‎unfortunately the mention of the Register of Records organization as an organization that ‎is affiliated to the judiciary along with other government agencies to be a source for ‎discrimination, unfairness or as a mafia organization is surprising, unfortunate and the ‎source of objection by the thousands of our colleagues here who have accepted the ‎strenuous positions and tasks of this organization despite its minimum salaries and ‎benefits because of the thousand vacancies (which had been communicated to you ‎earlier).”‎

In another part of the letter, Amiri alluded to the legal consequences of the charges made ‎by the president and writes, “Before your remarks become the subject of opportunism and ‎the sources of rumors causing public concern and the creation of a negative atmosphere ‎and irresponsible accusations against honest and hard-working employees and officials of ‎this organization, it is requested that you instruct that any documents, evidence or proof ‎that may exist for your remarks be investigated and sent to us for legal action.” At the ‎conclusion of the letter, Amiri requests that the president give this issue his top priority ‎and respond as soon as possible.‎

While parliamentary representatives and political activists belonging to the conservative ‎camp have repeatedly responded to the recurrent accusations made by Mr. Ahmadinejad, ‎through which they have denied his unpredictable claims, this is the first time that two ‎senior administration officials, both belonging to the Supreme Judiciary Council, are ‎directly standing up to the president and have requested an explanation from him.‎

It is noteworthy that in his letter to the president, Amiri writes, “You realize that using ‎the term mafia in public, in addition to its meaning and the weight it carries in ‎international law, carries negative consequences and damages to the bureaucratic and ‎judiciary organization of the country, particularly as the audience to your remarks, as the ‎chief executive of the country, believes that these rational and documented claims are ‎certain and definitive.”‎