Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's Prosecutor General and the spokesman of the judiciary Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei asked police to identify the individuals who are promoting "immorality and violating Islamic dress code."
Police should encounter the persons who are altering the Islamic sphere of the society, in particular those who are planning in organized groups, Mohseni Ejei said, Iran's Fars news agency reported on June 9.
It should be noted that a Facebook campaign set up by a London-based Iranian journalist attracted more than 480,000 likes on the social media site, with women across Iran sending unveiled pictures taken in parks, at the seaside and in the streets.
The prosecutor general made the remarks during a press conference in Tehran on June 9.
While responding to a question about the case of persons who were involved in the 2009 presidential election protests, Ejei said that 27 persons who were suspect in the events had been prosecuted and 13 of them have been sentenced.
"A number of the mentioned individuals had been prosecuted in absentia," he noted.
In 2009, after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president of Iran for the second term, the opposition leaders protested the decision, which later resulted in massive protests across Iran, in particular in Tehran. Many people were arrested.
Mohseni Ejei also announced that Mehregan Amirkhosravi, brother of Mahafarid Khosravi, the executed CEO of Amir Mansoor Arya Investment Company, who is one of the suspects in the famous 2011 $3 billion embezzlement case had been prosecuted in absentia and sentenced without unveiling further details.
"If he return to the country it will be better for him, otherwise the legal procedure will continue," he added.
Mehrgan Amirkhosravi escaped to Canada in September of 2011, meanwhile his brother Mahafarid was executed on May 24.
The $3-billion embezzlement was a fraud involving the use of forged documents to obtain credit from Iranian state and private banks to purchase state-owned companies.This bank fraud had been described as the biggest financial scam in the country's history.
The case raised questions about corruption at senior levels in Iran during the administration of the former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Alongside Khosravi three other defendants in the case were sentenced to death, including Khosravi's legal advisor Behdad Behzadi, financial solicitor Iraj Shoja, as well as head of the Ahvaz branch of Saderat Bank, Saeed Kiani Rezazadeh. Thus far only Khosravi has been executed.
Edited by CN