Tensions rise between Rafsanjani and the government, Judiciary poised to indict his son
After the re-publication on Rafsanjani's website, of a sharply critical letter to Khamenei (Iranian leader), offices of Faeze Hashemi, Rafsanjani's reformist and outspoken daughter, were raided and ransacked by an unidentified group of vigilantes, thought to be controlled by the Iranian leader. Also, the judiciary has called for indictment of Mehdi Hashemi, Rafsanjani's son, who is outside the country and said to have close links to the private Islamic Open University.
On Thursday Headquarters of the Islamic Open University were raided by order of Tehran's Attorney General, and several confidential documents were seized. The University, a brainchild of Rafsanjani, is one of the largest private universities in the Middle East and controls substantial assets. The Office of Tehran's Attorney General (prosecutor) claims "unlawful" documents were discovered in the raid. The reformist underground publication, Norooz, reports the documents seized included investigation results on police brutality against University students and on plagiarized degrees by Ahmadinejad's Vice President Mr. Rahimi, Tehran's former Prosecutor, Mr. Mortazavi, and Ahmadinejad's relatives.
It appears that the Judiciary, as guided by the Iranian leader, is poised to indict Rafsanjani's family members on financial corruption cases, to impair Rafsanjani's public image and pressure him to join the leader's corner against reformists.
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