Arash Aramesh

Fars News, a pro-government website with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, reported March 19 that Hossein Marashi, a close aid of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani who is also his brother- in- law, was sentenced to serve one-year in prison. Fars News wrote that security forces transported him to the notorious Evin penitentiary one day before the Iranian new year.

Marashi and his Kargozaran Party, a political party composed of technocrats with close ties to Rafsanjani, supported Mir Hossein Moussavi in the June 12 election. Marashi was an outspoken critic of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but he chose to be less vocal in the past few months.

In recent months, hardliners have intensified their attacks against Rafsanjani’s family and made numerous calls for the judiciary to detain and place on trail those in his family who supported Mir Hossein Moussavi.

Mehdi Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s oldest son, has been in the center of these attacks. He left Iran soon after the disputed June 12 election and has not returned.

In an interview with Bahar, a moderate newspaper published in Iran, Faezeh Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s daughter who is also accused of instigating riots in Iran this past summer, said that her family was against her brother’s return to Iran because of safety concerns. Ms. Hashemi said the hardliners were trying to attack Rafsanjani’s family members because they could not find any flaws in Rafsanjani to weaken him.

Only two days after the Iranian New Year, Fars News reported today that Hassan Lahouti, Faezeh Hashemi’s son and Rafsanjani’s grandson, was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport upon arrival from London. Mr. Lahouti left Iran after the disputed June 12 election.

Fars News also reported that Rafsanjani’s second oldest son, Mohsen, and his family left Iran for Geneva March 22 to spend time at their family villa during the holidays.

Despite recent developments signaling Rafsanjani’s return to power, the hardliner faction within the Islamic Republic is increasing pressure on Rafsanjani and his family. Some observers believe that this is a way for the hardliners to embarrass Rafsanjani by showing that he cannot prevent the arrests of his own close family members.

It is not clear who ordered Lahouti’s arrest. The IRGC controls all of Iran’s airports but in theory, the IRGC reports directly to the Supreme Leader. Some analysts believe that the IRGC may have acted independently while others hold the view that Khamenei is still wary of Rafsanjani and considers him to be a much bigger threat than any other domestic rival.