Isa Kalantari Sentenced to 4 Months Imprisonment on Charge of ‘Insulting’ Khomeini

Isa Kalantari, Vice President of Iran and Head of the Department of Environment, was sentenced on Tuesday, March 10, to 4 months of discretionary imprisonment on the charge of ‘insulting’ the founder of the Islamic Republic, despite his previous apology.

Tasnim News Agency reported that he was preliminarily sentenced to 4 months of discretionary imprisonment and banned from membership in political parties and groups for two years.

According to the report, he was also sentenced to pay 40 million rials in fines in branch 1058 of the criminal court on the charge of what was called ‘spreading falsehoods with intent to disturb public opinion.’

Kalantari’s ‘insulting’ remarks about Ayatollah Khomeini relate to the recent circulation of a short video from one of his interviews on social media.

In this interview, which according to Mr. Kalantari dates back three years, a journalist asked Isa Kalantari: “Do you think negotiations took place between the Imam and the Americans?”

He responded: “I don’t know, I have no information. Perhaps it could be said that His Holiness the Imam was an unsuitable son for them. They emptied the space behind the Shah, and His Holiness the Imam took advantage of this opportunity.”

The circulation of these remarks triggered numerous reactions from various officials and figures of the Islamic Republic.

Isa Kalantari subsequently, in a note published on December 29 on the website of the Department of Environment, attributed the broadcast of forty seconds from a two-hour interview to ‘misunderstanding’ the entirety of the matter and apologized at the end for making that statement.

Source: Radio Farda