Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani, the son of the head of Iran’s Expediency Council, has been indicted and temporarily sent to prison by the Iranian judiciary until he can face his charges in court.
Hashemi arrived in Tehran last night after a three-year absence and is facing charges in connection with his role in the 2009 presidential election campaigns, as well as a financial corruption charge in connection with his business activities.
Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former Iranian president and current head of the Expediency Council has rejected the charges and stressed that his son is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Mehdi Hashemi’s lawyer has expressed every hope that the case can be processed in a judicial procedure free from political pressures. He stressed that the head of the judiciary and the prosecutor general had advised against Mehdi Hashemi’s return to Iran, but Ayatollah Hashemi had rejected the concern and said that any charges against his son must be dealt with according to the letter of the law.
Hashemi’s lawyer quoted his client as saying that the charges against him have been a means of getting at his father.
Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani has been heavily criticized and sidelined for his moderate support of the opposition in the presidential elections of 2009.
