Announcement

**Rasputin** · 06-11-2008, 04:16 PM

Iranian man jailed for accusing top clerics of corruption

Iran's state television says a man has been jailed for accusing several prominent conservative clerics of corruption.

TV says Abbas Palizdar allegedly accused several top clerics of exploiting the country's wealth for their own benefit.

Palizdar has claimed to be a member of a parliamentary committee investigating corruption. He made the allegations in a speech to students in western Iran.

State TV's report on Wednesday didn't provide more details.

**Rasputin** · 06-11-2008, 04:17 PM

The former parliamentary researcher who made waves by accusing some of Iran's top clerics of economic corruption was jailed today, news agencies reported.

Abbas Palizdar, a former corruption investigator, created a huge sensation in Iran after making a speech earlier this month alleging corruption among the country's most powerful clerics.

Some analysts saw the speech as a move by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to weaken his rivals, though a website close to the president denied he had anything to do with Palizdar.

Iran's not the kind of place where you can go around making accusations like that and get away with it. Many Iranian analysts figured he had some kind of patron looking after him. If he didn't, why hadn't he been arrested by authorities?

Well, now he has been.

Iran's Fars News Agency reported that "he was issued with a detention writ and sent to prison."

The big question now about the Palizdar affair: Is he a legit reformer, some kooky gadfly or a pawn in a bigger game?

**Rasputin** · 06-11-2008, 04:17 PM

A member of the Iranian parliament's Judicial Inquiry and Review Committee has been arrested after accusing several prominent clerics of corruption and hinting that further revelations were to come.

Authorities have charged Abbas Palizdar -- a supporter of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad -- with "spreading rumors" and "causing distress among the public."

The arrest comes just days after he publicly accused several prominent ayatollahs and leading members of parliament of pilfering state funds and obtaining favorable business arrangements for their relatives.

In an exclusive interview with Radio Farda on June 9, Palizdar claimed to have proof that top-level politicians -- including former President Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who chairs the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council -- have been involved in illegal deals and criminal acts.

Palizdar also said he planned to reveal more information regarding corruption among the country's political elite.

"I spoke based on documents and evidence [in my possession]," he told Radio Farda. "There are many more cases that I will reveal in the future. Everything that I said -- if [the government] didn't add anything to it -- is based on proof and documents."

The accusations -- unprecedented for Iran -- came in late May in speeches that Palizdar gave at Bu Ali Sina University in the western Iranian city of Hamadan and at Shiraz University, in the southern part of the country.

Palizdar offered details of criminal offenses that he says were committed by several leading politicians and clerics who he claims accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal business deals.

Along with Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Palizdar singled out so-called traditional clerics, including the interim Friday Prayer leader of Tehran, Mohammad Emami Kashani; and the head of the Imam Reza Shrine Foundation, Ayatollah Vaez Tabbasi.

Iranian bloggers published portions of Palizdar's speech and exchanged views on what was an exceptional event for Iran. After the controversial speech, the Bu Ali Sina University's Islamic Society of Students was reportedly shut down.

Some observers say the accusations by Palizdar were an attempt to weaken some the president's rivals ahead of next year's presidential election.

A conservative faction hostile to Ahmadinejad and led by presidential rival and parliament speaker Ali Larijani, has dominated the Iranian parliament, the Majlis.

Others suggest that Palizdar -- who like many other pro-Ahmadinejad candidates was defeated in the last elections to Tehran's City Council -- is trying to gain revenge by making these accusations against his rivals.

Palizdar told Radio Farda that his accusations have "nothing to do with elections."

"I feel they try to give the impression that I'm saying these things because of the elections, but it has nothing to do with elections," Palizdar said. "I had some obligation on behalf of martyrs. It was my religious duty to bring up these things because I had a feeling that the Majlis has no intention to go forward on these issues. So, I did it myself."

Palizdar told Radio Farda that the Majlis had studied his report and sent it to the judiciary to be investigated.

The Majlis has reacted publicly to the claim by saying that Palizdar did not work for the parliament's research center and therefore had not been able to obtain any information regarding corruption.

**Rasputin** · 06-11-2008, 04:18 PM

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran arrested a mid-ranking civil servant on Wednesday for "spreading lies" after he reportedly made unprecedented corruption allegations against several of the country's most powerful clerics.

Abbas Palizdar, presented as a supporter of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also charged in the speech in the western city of Hamedan on May 27 that the authorities had assassinated two prominent officials, reports have said.

He was summoned to the government employees tribunal on Wednesday and charged with financial irregularities, spreading lies and disturbing public opinion, the Fars news agency reported.

"He was issued with a detention writ and sent to prison," the news agency added, without giving further details.

Neither Iranian newspapers nor official news agencies have carried the contents of the controversial speech but the conservative news site Tabnak has published excerpts.

Palizdar made corruption allegations against prominent clerics including ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Tehran Friday prayer speaker Mohammad Emami Kashani, former parliament speaker Ali Akbar Nateq Nuri and former judiciary chief Mohammad Yazdi, according to the reports.

He has also alleged that a transport minister in the former reformist government and a former commander in the elite Revolutionary Guards -- both killed in plane crashes -- had been assassinated.

Palizdar, said to have worked for Iran's auditing organisation, presented himself as a member of parliament's research centre and ran for Tehran's municipal elections with a faction backing Ahmadinejad.

Combating corruption was one of Ahmadinejad's main campaign slogans and the president -- who has faced mounting criticism over his economic policies -- has accused his opponents of orchestrated efforts to paralyse his government.

The president angered several figures with an outspoken speech in the clerical city of Qom in April in which he accused his opponents of forming an economic and political mafia.

"Ahmadinejad makes no allowance for anyone in combating financial corruption," Palizdar was quoted as saying.

"The government is on its own in its fight against corruption and nobody is supporting the government."

But Ahmadinejad loyalists and the government newspaper were quick to distance themselves from the allegations.

"Palizdar has attacked and accused some clerics and simultaneously supported the government's anti-corruption campaign to put clerics and respectable figures at odds with the government," the government daily Iran fumed.

It described Palizdar as a "fake whistleblower" and denied he had any links to Ahmadinejad's government or the conservative-controlled parliament.

"The fact that his comments play into the hands of biased people reveals a conspiracy against the government to create disagreement among officials," Iran quoted Mehrdad Bazrpash, a senior figure in Ahmadinejad's faction, as saying.

Iran newspaper also said that Palizdar owed a state bank 63 billion rials (6.8 million dollars) and "had lied about officials in a headlong rush to clear his offences."

The hardline daily Kayhan said: "Palizdar was chosen by counter revolutionaries as the right prey for this propaganda.

"Security and judicial forces should confront the plotters and agents of this project and avoid the simplistic attitude customary in such incidents," it added.

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