Published: 23 Oct 2012 - 04:01 am | Last Updated: 07 Feb 2022 - 12:52 am
DUBAI: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Iran’s judiciary of unconstitutional conduct yesterday for barring him from a visit to Evin prison where a top aide is jailed, a row that provided another sign of his waning power in his final year in office.
Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad’s press adviser and head of the state news agency IRNA, was sent to Evin in September to serve a six-month sentence for publishing an article deemed offensive to public decency. He was also convicted of insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s highest authority, on his personal website, though it is unclear how or when this happened.
Ahmadinejad’s influence within the factionalised power structure has weakened since a clash with Khamenei in 2011 over the supreme clerical leader’s reinstatement of Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi, whom Ahmadinejad had sacked.
The president’s request to the judiciary to visit Evin, made public this month, was seen by Iranian media and commentators as linked to Javanfekr’s detention, although there has been no official confirmation that this was the case. The judiciary rejected the request on Sunday, saying it was not in Iran’s best interests as it faces an economic crisis. Ahmadinejad’s opponents in parliament blame the crisis as much on mismanagement by his administration as on Western sanctions.
