Saeed Mortazavi, the head of the Social Security Fund who was arrested on Tuesday evening, was released after 24 hours.
The Fars News Agency reported that Mortazavi was released on February 6, and the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office has not yet announced the reason for the arrest.
Mortazavi’s arrest came a day after the Labour Minister was impeached in Parliament for appointing Mortazavi to the Social Security Fund. The session turned into a fiery tit-for-tat between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani. Ahmadinejad showed a video that seemed to implicate the Larijani family in abuse of power and corruption. Larijani fired back with similar accusations and asked Ahmadinejad to leave the session for lack of etiquette.
Mortazavi is also a prime suspect in the torture and death of detainees in Kahrizak prison in 2009, when he was the Tehran Prosecutor, and his appointment to the Social Security Fund has been challenged over this charge.
