Iran’s Parliament Speaker Files Complaint Against Three Journalists and One Lawmaker
Coinciding with the unofficial report of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf’s complaint against Mostafa Mirsalim and three journalists, the Public Relations Director General of the Islamic Consultative Assembly announced the submission of a lawsuit against “those who undermine Parliament’s position.”
Alireza Sharifi, Public Relations Director General of Parliament, last night on the 22nd of Mordad, in a tweet called silence in the face of undermining Parliament’s position “an injustice to the people’s vote” and wrote: “Those should not consider themselves immune from legal prosecution for accusations under the guise of journalism, justice-seeking, or representation.”
Mr. Sharifi further announced the submission of a lawsuit to the judiciary and wrote: “We hope this time there will be no delay in legal proceedings.”
Although the Parliament’s Public Relations Director did not name specific individuals in this tweet, given the publication of reports about the arrest of a former lawmaker regarding a 65 billion toman bribery case during Qalibaf’s tenure as Tehran’s mayor, it is believed the mentioned lawsuit has been filed against Mostafa Mirsalim, a parliament member, and some media activists.
Following the publication of unofficial reports of the Parliament Speaker’s complaint against Yashar Soltani, Sadra Mohaghagh, and Vahid Eshteri, three media activists, Mr. Eshteri confirmed this news in a tweet and addressed Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, writing: “Your recent complaint against me and two journalists and one parliament member regarding the 65 billion toman bribery matter reminds us of the same practice of Mr. Hashemi and Mr. Amoli in misappropriating public funds and using public resources and facilities for personal matters.”
A few days ago, Mostafa Mirsalim, a parliament member, announced that he had submitted his documents regarding the 65 billion toman bribery of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf to prevent investigation and inspection of the municipality to the judiciary.
In this regard, Mohammad Said Ahdian, Qalibaf’s political and media adviser, also wrote after the publication of the report on submitting the 65 billion toman bribery documents: “It makes no sense for someone who is not taken seriously to interview BBC one day for visibility and level accusations another day.”
He also claimed by naming Mostafa Mirsalim: “Judicial officials are pursuing unfounded accusations by Mr. Mirsalim against the Speaker and some other parliament members.”
Mostafa Mirsalim, representative of Tehran, who first raised this matter generally on the 6th of Khordad, announced on the 20th of Tir that the 65 billion toman bribery matter “relates to the investigation and inspection of the period when Qalibaf was at Tehran’s municipality.”
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is currently the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, has not made any public statement on this matter so far.
Source: Radio Farda
