In the United States, it almost seems like a common courtesy to past heads of state to leave them alone after they have left office provided they don’t show up with a confession note and a video of the act.
Other countries, not so much…
Iran has not been doing too well in recent years. Especially over the last few weeks with all the protesting. Now another controversy is making headlines. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was arrested for inciting unrest against the Iranian government.
The former President was visiting the western city of Busehehr after Christmas on December 28th. He was apprehended in that same city. The newspaper reported the following about Ahmadinejad,
“Some of the current leaders live detached from the problems and concerns of the people, and do not know anything about the reality of society.”
Apparently, the reason for his protesting was to speak out against the so-called suffering and mismanagement of the current presidential administration. Specifically, that President Ahmadinejad feels the current government feels they are entitled to all the land in Iran and that they treat the Iranian people like they are an ignorant society.
The Daily Mail reported, “It comes after more than a week of unrest in Iran, as demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the government. The unrest was sparked by a hike in food prices amid soaring unemployment. At least 21 people have been killed, and hundreds have been arrested. Pro-government rallies were held in response with officials blaming the anti-government unrest on foreign meddling.
Authorities are now said to be seeking to place Ahmadinejad under house arrest.
Today, the Iranian parliament held a closed-door meeting to discuss the deadly protests that shook the country. In December, Ahmadinejad’s former deputy Hamid Baghaie was sentenced to 15 years in prison on financial charges.
Among his charges was reportedly ‘insulting judiciary officials’ for which he was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. He was imprisoned for seven months in 2015 for reasons that were never made public, though he was previously investigated for irregularities during his time in office.”
Metro UK reported, “Authorities are now planning to put Ahmadinejad under house arrest and are considering whether to charge him with a crime. The former president relied on the votes of poor rural voters during his time in office when he regularly goaded Israel and America. The current protests are said to be the largest to strike Iran since mass demonstrations in 2009. Those protests – referred to as the Green Movement – were held by millions of opposition supporters against the disputed election victory of then-president Ahmadinejad. At least 30 people were killed and thousands arrested in the wave of protests, which drew the largest crowds since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.”
Amole Larijani is Irans fifth head of the judicial system and he has accused Ahmadinejad of the same thing that Shiite clerics and politician Mehdi Karroubi and former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi were found to be guilty of which led to their house arrest. But Ahmadinejad mocked Larijani by responding,
“I have no children spying for the West, I have no brothers who are actively smuggling goods, and I do not steal land to raise my cattle.”
The protests that have occurred in recent days and the former president’s outspoken comments aren’t the only thing going on. Student protests have been occurring as well and it doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. It was reported,
“Ninety university students are among the more than 1,000 people arrested in Iran’s unrest, an Iranian MP has said. Mahmoud Sadeghi, who represents an electoral district in Tehran, was quoted by the Iranian labour news agency as saying: “It seems that the total number of detainees is around 90. Ten students from universities in Tehran and some other cities are in an uncertain position and … it is still unknown which body has detained them.”
It comes as Emily Thornberry defended Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over his silence on the civil unrest in Iran, saying the party takes an approach of “extreme caution” when it comes to the politics of the Islamic republic. The shadow foreign secretary told the BBC it was impossible to determine what political forces lay behind the protests, which began on 28 December and are said to have led to at least 21 deaths – mostly of protesters but also some security guards, according to officials.
