Against Soleimani’s Daughter
On Sunday, Mehdi Chamran, the head of Tehran City Council, announced that the municipality’s security had requested that the city council’s security be placed under its supervision, but we did not agree, and they have cut off our access.
At the beginning of yesterday’s Tehran City Council meeting, he said that months of phone calls and numerous meetings were held, but unfortunately, they did not solve the issues and even created problems, and did not respond to our two letters. However, the conversation I had here could not be tolerated for 24 hours.
Immediately, they gave it to a writer who wrote a very beautiful article that had no content. The main criticism they had was that I am old. No one said we are young; being old is not a flaw.
If it is a flaw, then you should criticize Prophet Noah, who was 900 years old. Being old is not a flaw; thinking old is a flaw. However, some members of the Tehran City Council believed that money was paid to write this article.
The budget commission should withdraw.
The first pre-agenda warning was by Narjes Soleimani, the head of the Supervision and Legal Commission of the Tehran City Council, who reported on the obstacles created by the council’s Planning and Budget Commission in investigating the municipality. She again used Persian literary poems full of allusions, especially from Parvin E’tesami, to start her warning, which once again led to tension.
She said, ‘Send the oppressed one’s letter yourself, for it may be that your secretaries make mistakes. When the sky has entrusted you with the task of the people, why should others look on? If you do not look at the governors’ office for one day, they will blacken a thousand pages of justice. This is a very beautiful poem about a letter to Nushirvan, which I suggest should be read.’
She emphasized, ‘To my surprise, the Planning and Budget Commission, instead of corresponding with the municipality according to the law, communicating with relevant officials, obtaining documents, and providing them to the applicants for investigation, has defended the municipality and, in an unconventional move, rejected four clauses of investigation from the Real Estate Organization.’
Of course, an appropriate response was prepared and sent in rejection of this letter. Considering the refusal of the Budget Commission to start correspondence and the follow-ups that, according to my discussions with Mr. Akhundi, the head of the commission, on Sunday, it was decided that the letter should be sent by Sunday and, at the latest, by early Monday, because the legal time is limited. However, the letter ended up in the council and, instead of the municipality, reached the council and the applicants.
She added, ‘The Supervision and Legal Commission, as one of the commissions responsible for investigation correspondence, was forced to prepare a letter with two signatures and send it for the signature of the Planning and Budget Commission.’
Therefore, with the reasons I mentioned, it is necessary for the Planning and Budget Commission to withdraw from the investigation so that the correspondence process begins with the letter of the Supervision and Legal Commission, or due to not wasting time, be the second signature so that the correspondence officially begins.
We expected help from friends, God willing, what we thought was not wrong.
You’ve spent your entire life doing political work.
Habib Kashani, a member of the Tehran City Council, referring to the response of the Planning and Budget Commission about the investigation, said, ‘This letter was prepared in 5 pages.’ Mohammad Akhundi, head of the Planning and Budget Commission, announced, ‘We did not respond; it was a letter to Mr. Chamran.’
Kashani replied, ‘This is a letter that was sent to all applicants for investigation.’ Akhundi said, ‘I replied, do not speak politically.’ Kashani replied, ‘What should we not say? You’ve spent your entire life doing political work, kid. It’s clear from your past where you’ve worked. Stop talking like this.’ Chamran, to mediate, said, ‘The letter was addressed to me.’
Kashani replied, ‘He had no right to copy it to me. You asked him; he should have sent the letter to you. They sent it to all applicants for investigation. He has no right to interrupt me. I asked, we want to conduct an investigation, but we are confronting each other. This is not a good atmosphere. I think friends could have held a meeting that would not end in correspondence. These ping-pong exchanges harm the council. If we are going to correspond from this room to that room, thank God, everyone is humble. Please go to each other’s rooms and talk. Continuing these correspondences is not good.’
I won’t back down with threats and poetry reading.
Mohammad Akhundi, head of the Planning and Budget Commission of the Tehran City Council, who was absent during Narjes Soleimani’s warning, arrived at the scene and, in response to this criticism, called Narjes Soleimani a dictator and said, ‘We are facing a dictatorship that has been saying whatever it wants and doing whatever it wants for 3 years, but if someone does something legal, they are attacked. There is no worry.’
I talked about monitoring the behavior of representatives, and several Telegram channels, which are known to belong to whom, are destroying me. I will also present the evaluation criteria. We do not know how to play the victim, but for 3 years, there have been individuals in the city council who are being destroyed by groups.
I am sorry if there is a point; I am not dead, I am alive. Pick up the phone and say this letter of yours is wrong. Is the council microphone the place for these words? Am I someone’s employee? I am a council member. I am not the municipality for you to read poetry and threaten. I am a people’s representative, and no one has the right to threaten me. Resign or withdraw. The head of the council can review the commission’s performance. We do not allow any plan or bill to remain on the ground, and we hold meetings every Sunday and Tuesday. Check whether we have had more oversight in these 3 years or the Supervision and Legal Commission.
Chamran said, ‘Do not refer to the Supervision and Legal Commission.’ Akhundi replied, ‘They made threatening and determining statements.’
Allow me to speak as the head of the council. You sent a letter regarding the investigation to us, and I, along with experts, reviewed it in the commission and announced that these points exist.
We also made a suggestion to hold a meeting with the applicants for investigation. They laugh at us when we write something wrong. We said these matters do not relate to the Real Estate Organization. In the previous incident, Mrs. Soleimani said, ‘Why didn’t you copy us?’ We said to copy the applicants for investigation so they don’t say why you stopped. I copied it in the council system. Are the city council members strangers? Did we insult anyone? What defense did I make of the municipality? Where did I respond to the investigation? Every word here carries legal weight. You, who are the head of the Legal Commission, I wrote that these criticisms apply to this text. You, as the head of the council, state your opinion.
Did I say something bad? Did we insult anyone? Did we disrespect anyone? Did we defend anyone? If it is about oversight work, I have done more oversight than all of you in these three years. So I ask you to apologize to the Budget Commission, not to me. Please do not threaten. I am not the municipality to back down with these threats. I perform my legal duty. We will definitely hold a meeting at the first opportunity and conduct the investigation. No one should be afraid. The mayor of Tehran has said to start the investigation.
After these discussions, finally, with the mediation of other members of the Tehran City Council, a joint meeting of these two commissions was held yesterday afternoon.
We will stay until the end, and you will not.
Mehdi Eghrarian, a member of the Tehran City Council, however, pointed to the sad story of the critics of the mayor of Tehran and emphasized that this issue is not related to the presidential elections, although Mr. Zakani’s wrong actions in the elections have harmed the sixth council, but more than two and a half years and six months after his appointment, due to his behavior, a group of members concluded that the mayor does not have the necessary efficiency to manage the city.
Perhaps this council has had the most cooperation for reforming the municipality’s process. Unfortunately, we witness that the line of confrontation with Zakani’s critics becomes more prominent and widespread every day. Social media indicates an organization against Zakani’s critics.
He added, ‘We told Mr. Zakani to explain about the housing deposit and not to allow those close to you to interfere in municipal matters. We do not know what our crime is that we must be under pressure every day.’
Mr. Sharbiyani had a speech in the council on May 8, and after that, he was under pressure. We are not interested in saying what tools friends use to pressure members.
18 council members voted for Mr. Zakani, but today almost half of the members have serious criticism of his performance. They think pressure on critics will make them retreat. No, they use legal methods. There was no cooperation in the investigation, and we are investigating housing so that the Urban Planning Commission examines the issue. It is not good that the municipality creates obstacles.
If the process that the municipality is following in Rey County is not corrected, we will be forced to talk to the people about actions in line with pressure on critics. Know that council members will stay until the end of the work, but your political experience has shown that usually, you do not stay until the end.
Of course, Nasser Amani also warned about pressure on critics, especially Jafar Sharbiyani, a member of the presidium of the Tehran City Council, to the Tehran Municipality. These warnings are in line with the fact that the municipality is planning to close Sharbiyani’s office in Rey City for the second time.