Holy Land Grab! Khamenei’s Man Embroiled In Corruption
A case of a large land grab by Tehran’s interim Friday prayer Imam, Kazem Sedighi, has sparked uproar in Iran, adding to the growing list of corruption scandals implicating regime insiders.
A case of a large land grab by Tehran’s interim Friday prayer Imam, Kazem Sedighi, has sparked uproar in Iran, adding to the growing list of corruption scandals implicating regime insiders.
Sedighi, a cleric trusted by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, found himself embroiled in controversy following the publication of documents in recent days revealing that he and his sons took over a 4,200-square-meter (45,200 sq feet) garden at a prime location in northern Tehran through a family company.
The lot, estimated to be worth approximately $20 million, is adjacent to a seminary that Sedighi founded about 20 years ago and has presided over ever since. The land was originally owned by the seminary and was transferred to the family company owned and led by Sedighi and his two sons. Other people from Sedighi’s close circle, including his daughter-in-law Rezvaneh Ghavam and the chief of his security detail Fazlollah Beigverdi, hold positions in the company, established in June 2023.
The documents were leaked by Yashar Soltani, a well-known whistle blower who has exposed numerous high-ranking officials of the Iranian government, ranging from Revolutionary Guard generals such as the slain Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, to lawmakers such as parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Sedighi has asserted that he was unaware of the land's title transfer, reopening an old wound that many Iranians know all too well from countless similar cases. The hardline cleric stated on Sunday that his signature was forged, sparking outrage online. People argue that a forged signature is used to obtain something from someone without their consent or awareness, rather than providing it to them.
Journalist Behnam Gholipour has dug up a series of Sedighi’s remarkable statements in the past about the metaphysical realm, pointing out that the cleric tells anecdotes beyond the physical world, but claims ignorance about a piece of land owned by him. Sedighi has famously claimed that Khamenei has contact with a figure in Shiite Islam believed to be in occultation since 941 CE. Sedighi also claimed that his late teacher, Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, momentarily came back to life in the morgue.
Another argument circulating online is that even if he had no prior knowledge of the transaction that granted him the land, now he does. People question why he has not taken steps to return the land.
Iran's recent history is marked by myriads of corruption cases implicating a broad spectrum of the regime's top brass and dignitaries, who wield significant influence over the country's laws and regulatory bodies with impunity.
Sedighi is only the latest addition to the extensive roster of Khamenei confidants, who have acquired land, misappropriated substantial sums, and embezzled billions of dollars over the past decades, shielded by Khamenei's unwavering protection.
Last year, it was revealed that Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda -- the firebrand Friday prayer Imam of Mashhad and the father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi, who controls one of Iran's biggest religious endowments -- was pocketing a monthly cut of approximately $200,000 for at least seven years.
Another high-profile case was Ayatollah Kazem Nourmofidi, the representative of Khamenei in the northern Golestan province, whose control over the province’s forest exploitation has always been known among locals. He owns the largest wood businesses in the region and his offspring are involved in at least 20 wood companies. Nourmofidi, who is the brother-in-law of another great ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankrani, is pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars per month for wood smuggling from the lush forests of northern Iran. Another Friday imam who is taking advantage of his relationship with Khamenei is Zeinolabedin Ghorbani, the former representative in Gilan province. He started a shopping mall project in the city and pre-sold the units but never delivered them. People who paid found no remedy in courts controlled by clerics. These were only a few cases revealed in 2023.
The Friday Prayer Imams, Khamenei's regional representatives pushing the regime's ideology and rhetoric, are infamous for enjoying immunity from the law. There are more than 900 Friday Prayer Imams across Iran, as well as 290 members of the parliament, 31 provincial governors, thousands of judges and thousands of senior IRGC members.
Responding to Zarif's comments, Amir-Hossein Mosalla, chief editor of the reformist Ayat-e Mandegar bi-weekly, tweeted, "How disgraceful was the arrogance in Zarif’s recent remarks, leaked as usual! Blaming radical reformists or those advocating to limit the leader's powers instead of critiquing the dictator responsible for the status quo, is nothing but seeking a share in power?"
The remarks referred to by Mosalla were made at a private meeting with a group of citizens recently an edited recording of which was leaked to IranWire. He alleged that during the 1999 student protests, reformists sought to lead demonstrators towards Khamenei’s residence in Tehran, aiming to topple him.
“Reformists sought elimination in 1999. That is, they said they wanted to change the Constitution [to limit Khamenei’s powers] … Obviously realistic rules apply here, when you seek elimination, when you threaten someone’s existence, he will be driven to threaten your existence,” Zarif said at the meeting.
In a tweet Saturday, Zarif defended himself against critics and claimed that when making the controversial remarks he only meant “a few radical reformists” who he claimed were not even approved of by the “majority of Reformists and Reformists’ leadership”. The former foreign minister who faced constant criticism by hardliners for advocating a nuclear deal with the West, has been in political limbo since he left his post. At the same time, he is disliked by most dissidents in Iran and abroad for having relentlessly defended the regime against charges of human rights violations. They call him “white-washer in-chief” for his role in defending the Khamenei-led system.
Top reformist politicians and media have not yet publicly reacted to Zarif’s remarks but many including Paris-based reformist activist Taghi Rahmani, whose wife, the Nobel Peace Laureate Narges Mohammadi is in prison for her political beliefs, have taken to social media to respond to Zarif.
“In Zarif’s mind the Iranian people have no place… Khamenei pitched the system against the people,” Rahmani said in a tweet stressing Khamenei’s responsibility in creating the divide between the ruling system and people.
Expatriate political activist Ali Afshari, one of the leaders of the student movement at the time of the attack on Tehran University, alleges that it was the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) that created the rumor at the time that reformists were aiming at deposing Khamenei as Supreme Leader. “[The majority of Reformists and Khatami’s administration] had no role in organizing and managing the protests on Tehran University campus,” he wrote.
Afshari who was arrested after the incident also alleges that IRGC’s intelligence tortured him to accuse President Khatami’s chief of staff, Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, of trying to incite students to chant against Khamenei and to lead protesters towards his residence in downtown Tehran.
Others argue that Khamenei's opposition to reforms stemmed from his fear of losing power, rather than radicalism within the reformist movement, as Zarif suggested.
The protests that began at the campus of Tehran University were sparked by the closure of the reformist newspaper Salam by the hardliner judiciary’s Press Court. Protests spread to several major cities in the following days after riot police, paramilitary Basij and other vigilantes raided the campus on the evening of July 9 with many protesters demanding secular democracy.
The law enforcement was under Khamenei’s own command at the time as he had refused to grant any authority over the police to the reformist government as commander-in-chief of armed forces.
One student was thrown to his death from a rooftop and over two hundred others were seriously injured during the harsh crackdown on students in one night. Over 1,200 were arrested in the following days and several students vanished without a trace.
Following the protests, the press court shut down twenty reformist newspapers in one day and many of Khatami’s allies were persecuted and imprisoned under various pretexts in the coming months.
All elected and re-elected members of parliament need to have their mandates approved first by the investigative committee and then in full session of the newly elected legislature.
Ghalibaf’s saga started when Hamid Rasaei, a newly elected hardliner politician attacked him in a TV program and on social media, calling the veteran politician, former IRGC general, mayor of Tehran and speaker of parliament a “hypocrite.” The IRGC media immediately came to Ghalibaf’s defense threatening that Rasaei’s credentials could be rejected in parliament. It is worth noting that Ghalibaf is a relative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and it is safe to assume that he enjoys his support.
According to Reformist figure Mohammad Reza Javadi-Hesar, the ultraconservatives at the new Majles (parliament) might take Ghalibaf's credentials hostage to make sure that Rasai's credentials get the approval of the parliament, and he can get away with undermining Khamenei's advice to avoid conflicts and controversies.
Javadi-Hesar also warned that hardliners might use all their political muscle and influence to back the motion to reject Ghalibaf's credentials to blackmail him and his supporters and get Rasaei's credentials through the vetting during the next parliament's first two weeks in May and June.
The elections were marred by the lowest turnout in the 45-year history of the Islamic Republic. Official numbers said 41 percent voted in the March 1 elections, although many observers looking at partial numbers published believe the turnout might have been around 30 percent. Also, millions of people cast invalid ballots to show their dismay at the existing conditions in the country. All this has put the legitimacy of the new parliament in serious doubt.
There were as many as 500,000 invalid ballots cast in Tehran alone, with some hardliners getting elected with around 5% of all eligible votes in the capital.
Another lawmaker, Massoud Pezeshkian, who won the elections only after Khamenei intervened to avert his disqualification by the Guardian Council, told reformist Shargh newspaper that the newly elected hardliner lawmakers have very limited experience and knowledge. He explained that the regime is underestimating potential damage by barring the candidacy of many experienced politicians from the elections and putting the ultraconservatives in majority of the new parliament.
Pezeshkian reiterated his concern, stating, "The new lawmakers are incapable of addressing the country's major challenges." Additionally, he criticized the government, highlighting its failure to deliver on numerous promises regarding housing, employment, and tackling economic corruption. He further remarked, "The government has failed to fulfill even one of the many promises it made."
He further argued that "I cannot say the Majles and the government ignore the country's problems, but their decisions are problematic and those who should carry out these decisions are not capable of accomplishing their tasks. They lack the knowledge and experience for doing their job."
Meanwhile, hardliners continue to make outlandish claims about how successful the elections were. Esmail Kowsari, a hardliner and an IRGC officer said in an interview that “polling stations in Tehran were too busy and the waiting lines were too long in the morning, so voters decided to vote in the afternoon. The situation was the same in the afternoon, so they decided to go to the polls during the night, but the polls were still busy."
However, numerous videos taken by citizens showed empty polling stations in the capital and other large cities. The lackluster elections has become another issue of legitimacy for the regime that faces intractable economic and other crises.