Senior official sacked over Palizdar case
Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008
SIO - CHIEF – SACKED
Washington, 29 June (IranVNC)—Hojjat ol-Eslam Mohammad Niyazi, has been dismissed from his post as the head of Iran's State Inspectorate Organization [SIO] and transferred to a position in the State Supreme Court.
Niyazi, head of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces under former President Mohammad Khatami, was also in charge if an investigation into the case of the assassination of a number of writers and dissidents in Iran in 1998. Since 2004, he has been in charge of the SIO. But, in a statement yesterday, the public relations office of the Judiciary announced that "Hojjat ol-Eslam Mohammad Niyazi's term of office at the Judiciary has ended," Tabnak news website reports.
Niyazi is the most senior official, to date, to lose his job over revelations by Abbas Palizdar, a former researcher of the Majlis Investigation and Research Committee probing the performance of the Judiciary, who earlier this month accused the Judiciary of negligence in carrying out investigations into allegations of financial corruption against a number of Iran's senior officials. But E'temad Newspaper reports today that an [unidentified] prominent Majlis deputy has also been detained in connection with the Palizdar affair.
Earlier, two Majlis deputies, Fatemeh Ajorlou and Mohammad Dehqan - both members of the Majlis committee investigating the Judiciary - were summoned to appear before Tehran's prosecutor for questioning. The Majlis, however, has so far declined to lift the MPs' immunity from prosecution.
Relations between the Judiciary and Niyazi took a turn for the worse when his office manager, Mohsen Qa'emi-Nasab, was detained on charges of cooperating with Abbas Palizdar. Judiciary authorities say that Qa'emi-Nasab is responsible for handing over classified government documents to Palizdar and to the Majlis investigation committee. Palizdar, now in jail on charges of libel, says the documents prove the veracity of his charge against the Judiciary.
Asr-e Iran website quotes unnamed "informed sources" as saying: "Abbas Palizdar established a relationship with Qa'emi-Nasab to gain access to classified documents and asked him to use his position to inspect a number of classified military contracts."
But, [Reza] Zarandi, deputy head of the SIO published a response saying that Qa'emi- Nasab "acted within the confines of his professional responsibilities… and served only as liaison by handing over a number of unclassified reports to the Majlis investigation committee upon receiving a written request from it." He added that "written receipts, which [Qa'emi-Nasab] received in exchange clarify this point."
Tehran's hardline Kayhan Newspaper reported on 22 June that "a noticeable number of military documents, including purchase records, blueprint of military bases, operational plans of the military, strategic areas and the location of nuclear plants are among the documents that Palizdar's gang has removed from the SIO, under the guise of an investigation, and hidden in different locations throughout the country.
Responding to the Judiciary's charges that the Majlis is obstructing Palizdar's investigation, 212 deputies and more than 600 students and university employees, wrote a letter objecting to the Judiciary's treatment of Majlis members, particularly Ajorlou, whose house was raided by Judiciary officials in connection with the Palizdar scandal. In their letter, the Majlis deputies and members of academia, called the Judiciary's behavior "an insult to the Majlis" and demanded that Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's Prosecutor, be tried in court.
Yesterday, however, 160 student organizations and 4,000 students and professors, who back the Judiciary, wrote a letter to the leaders of the Majlis and officials of the Judiciary. "Some elements who champion trouble-making are trying to cause divisions between the Majlis and the Judiciary by pointing the finger at the foundations of the Justice System of the sacred Islamic Republic and they are trying to interfere in the Judiciary's investigation of Palizdar by poisoning the atmosphere and causing bad omen," the Judiciary supporters wrote.
The signatories objected to the Majlis Investigation and Research Committee, particularly to its member, Alireza Zakani, who had accused the office of the Prosecutor of wrongdoing, in an investigation into the case of the sale of booklets containing questions appearing in Iran's nation-wide college entrance exam.
In their letter, the Judiciary supporters urged that "the trouble makers" be firmly dealt with and requested that the chief of the Judiciary and the speaker of the Majlis continue to pursue those who colluded with Palizdar, and, bring them to justice.
The Palizdar investigation has caused three members of the Majlis - Ajorlou, Dehqan and Kamran - to be summoned for questioning by the Judiciary. The Judiciary is also investigating 11 others in connection with this affair.
For his part, Mohammad Niyazi now is a deputy of Iran's Supreme Court.
Sources: Jahan News, Asr-e Iran, Mehr News Agency, E'temad Newspaper
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