Ahmadinejad Wants ‘Power Holders, Wealthy’ Brought to Court

By Ladane Nasseri

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who pledged to root out corruption in his country, called on the judiciary to bring certain powerful and affluent people to court.

“If power holders and the wealthy are taken to court, there would be no place left for those who hold lower ranks to commit any wrongdoings,” Ahmadinejad said, speaking yesterday at the inauguration of the new head of the judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, state-run Press TV reported. He didn’t identify those he recommended for prosecution, nor what charges they may face.

Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the June 12 presidential election, which defeated candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi say was rigged. The vote was followed by protests over Ahmadinejad’s re-election, mass arrests and a deepening of divisions among Iran’s political elite.

During his campaign, Ahmadinejad accused former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his family of corruption and opulence. Rafsanjani’s daughter was temporarily detained after speaking to a crowd at a Tehran post-election protest.

Rafsanjani had indirectly backed the campaign of Mousavi, the leading presidential challenger, and has condemned the government’s crackdown on the opposition since the election in the Shiite Muslim-led nation.

Rafsanjani, a cleric, also heads the Assembly of Experts. The panel of 86 senior clerics, directly elected by the people, has the power to choose Iran’s supreme leader, oversee his work and potentially depose him.

Ahmadinejad, who was sworn in on Aug. 5 for a second term, promoted himself as a modest man. He was initially elected in 2005 after promising to distribute the country’s oil wealth to the poor.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps have accused opposition leaders Mousavi, Karrubi and former President Mohammad Khatami of playing the “main role in planning and executing” the post- election unrest and called for them to be prosecuted.