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Sun, Jan 02, 2011 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Ahmadinejad’s Office Chief Provokes Outrage Once Again

Ahmadinejad’s office chief Esfandiar Rahim Masha’i provoked another outrage this week after making two controversial remarks recently. Speaking at an artists’ convention held in the city of Arak in early December, Masha’i said that some clerics did not understand music and therefore claimed that it was forbidden in Islamic religious law.

In another remark, Masha’i recently claimed that the prophet of the Muslims was Iranian. His claim was based on the alleged linguistic connection between the names Cyrus (the king known in Iran as Kurosh) and Quraysh, Prophet Muhammad’s tribe, associated in traditional Arab genealogy with Qadr bin Isma’il bin Ibrahim.

Esfandiar Rahim Masha'i

Masha’i’s remarks provoked strong reactions from top conservative clerics. In response to his statements with regard to clerics’ view of music, Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi said that his words were an offense to clerics. According to the ayatollah, senior clerics agree that light-hearted music is forbidden in Islamic religious law, a view shared by Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution (www.makaremshirazi.org, December 22). Ayatollah Ha’eri Shirazi, a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Supreme Leader’s representative in Fars Province, also criticized Masha’i’s remarks. In a letter he sent to the president’s office chief, Shirazi said that the beauty of music had nothing to do with its legal status in Islamic religious law. Not all that is beautiful is allowed under the shari’ah, the conservative cleric wrote (Shi’ah Online, December 27).

In response to Masha’i’s statement that the Prophet was Iranian, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said that the claim was indicative of ignorance, since King Cyrus was not in any way related to the Quraysh tribe. Consequently, Masha’i hurriedly issued a clarification saying that he had meant Ibrahim (i.e., Abraham, who is considered a prophet in Muslim tradition) rather than Prophet Muhammad (Fararu, December 28). However, speaking at a press conference held during President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Alborz Province this week, Masha’i said that no criticism had been made, and that he had received no letter of protest following his latest remarks (ILNA, December 28).

It is not the first time that Masha’i has provoked a public outrage for making controversial statements. Several months ago, the president’s office chief caused a scandal when he announced during convention of Iranians residing abroad that Iran had to spread “Iranian thought” in the world and to give it preference over “Islamic thought”. His statement was strongly criticized by senior officials in the conservative camp and in the religious establishment, who accused him of encouraging secular nationalist views and offending Islam.

Masha’i caused another scandal last year by saying that Iran was a friend of all the nations in the world, including the nation of Israel. The statement caused a considerable uproar in Iran, following which Masha’i explained that he referred only to the residents of Palestine, not to “Zionists”. Due to the strong criticism against Masha’i, as well as a direct order given by the Supreme Leader, Ahmadinejad had to go back on his decision to appoint Masha’i as his first vice president following the last presidential elections.

In recent months, there have been several reports of questionable reliability on Iranian media saying that Masha’i intends to run for the presidency of Iran in the next elections, slated for 2013.

While the president’s office chief continues to cause scandals, Ahmadinejad’s first vice president, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, may find himself in legal trouble. Last weekend, judiciary branch spokesman Hojjat-ol-Eslam Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje’i said that the judiciary intended to investigate complaints filed by several Majles members against Rahimi for alleged involvement in an economic corruption scandal during his term as head of the Accountant-General’s Office in the years 2004-2008.

Mohammad Reza Rahimi

Rahimi denied the claims against him this week, strongly criticizing the judiciary spokesman’s remarks, saying they went against the constitution and Islamic religious law. He claimed that the accusations made against him were aimed against the government, and that the judiciary had a double standard and ignored complaints filed by him and other government members. He noted that, due to the subsidy policy reform which now keeps the government busy, he prefers not to comment on the accusations immediately and address the issue at a more appropriate time. Rahimi added that he intended to continue serving as Ahmadinejad’s first vice president until the end of his presidential term (IRNA, December 23).

Strong disagreements have arisen between the judiciary and President Ahmadinejad in recent months. In August, judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani voiced strong criticism of the president for remarks made by Ahmadinejad at a meeting with journalists about the functioning of the judiciary. Larijani is the brother of Majles speaker Ali Larijani, one of President Ahmadinejad’s major opponents from the conservative bloc.

The president himself has shown support for his first vice president this week. Speaking at a press conference, Ahmadinejad’s office chief Masha’i noted that the president was more determined than ever to let Masha’i keep his position (IRNA, December 25). In addition, the president’s office categorically denied a report published on Raja News, a website affiliated with the president’s supporters, saying that Ahmadinejad had allegedly welcomed the judiciary’s announcement on the need to discuss the accusations against Rahimi, and claimed that holding a trial was the most sensible way to find out the truth. According to Raja News, the accusations against Rahimi are aimed to compromise the government. The website also claimed that, unlike Expediency Discernment Council chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is opposed to putting his son Mehdi Hashemi to trial on charges of involvement in corruption affairs, President Ahmadinejad is willing to conduct a legal discussion on the matter of his first vice president (Raja News, December 27). As mentioned earlier, the president’s office denied the information, claiming that it was a baseless report.

Meanwhile, Majles members agreed by a majority vote to reject Majles member Elias Naderan’s proposal for the Majles Planning and Budget Committee to hold a discussion about the performance of the Accountant-General’s Office during the time it was headed by Rahimi. As the Majles was debating his proposal, Naderan, considered to be one of President Ahmadinejad’s political opponents on the conservative bloc, made serious allegations against Rahimi, claiming that he had compromised state interests even violated the law while he was the head of the Accountant-General’s Office (ILNA, December 28).