Iran's Former VP Sentenced To 12 Months For Insulting Parliament Speaker

Iran’s former vice president under Hassan Rouhani, Es’haq Jahangiri, has been sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for “false accusations against the parliament speaker.”

The court's recent verdict sentences Jahangiri to “four months of imprisonment for defamation and eight months for spreading falsehoods,” but considering Jahangiri's legal position, the prison term has been commuted to a cash fine of 440 million rials (less than 1$,000).

The sentence, based on a complaint filed by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, is preliminary and subject to appeal.

Earlier this year, Mohammad Saeed Ahadian, the political and media assistant to the Parliament Speaker, referred to Ghalibaf's complaint against Jahangiri in a tweet, explaining that “Ghalibaf had filed a complaint in 2017 due to false statements made by Jahangiri.”

Simultaneously, media reports claimed that Ghalibaf's complaint against Jahangiri was related to the debates during the presidential elections in 2017. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of the two main conservative candidates, targeted the Rouhani administration in his sharp attacks. The heated exchanges between Ghalibaf and Jahangiri led to intense debates.

Both Jahangiri and Ghalibaf withdrew in favor of their respective main faction candidates at the end of the debates. Ghalibaf supported Ebrahim Raisi, while Jahangiri cast his vote in favor of Hassan Rouhani.

The reopening of the old case by Ghalibaf is viewed by observers as an attempt to attract public attention on the eve of the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for the winter.