Marjan Al Agha: From the Front of Stability to Violent Overthrow
Marjan Al Agha: From the Front of Stability to Violent Overthrow. According to Iran Gate, Marjan Al Agha is one of the examples of inefficiency and corruption breeding in opaque and so-called kleptocratic systems. A system that can transform a simple journalist at a not-so-popular newspaper into a petrochemical product broker whose traces can be seen in the case of the largest embezzlement in Iran’s history. Marjan Al Agha is the best example of how corruption spreads in the Islamic Republic system.
In the public mind, Marjan Al Agha is mostly known as a major economic corruptor and embezzler, but few are aware of her long history in political dealings and her extensive collaborations with both the far-right and far-left political spectrums in Iran. She made many efforts to secure a position within the governing body of the Islamic Republic but never managed to find such a position and eventually left the country permanently in 2017, first heading to Turkey and then to Canada.
Coming from a clerical family, she has had high-profile marriages that have made her case more controversial and complicated. But who exactly is Marjan Al Agha, and to which political movement, conservative or reformist, is she closer?
It All Started with Solidarity
As has been mentioned many times, Marjan Al Agha was a simple freelance journalist in the early 2000s with a background of collaboration with the newspaper ‘Hambastegi’ in her resume. This newspaper, which was close to moderate reformist movements, provided many opportunities for Ms. Al Agha to grow. The connections she made with reformist and conservative political figures during this period played a significant role in paving her path as an economic and political corruptor.
However, a look at the articles Ms. Al Agha published in this newspaper shows that she did not represent any specific political inclination. This was at a time when the press was published in a fully political atmosphere in the early 2000s and late 1990s. Despite her temporary collaboration with ‘Hambastegi,’ she, who was working in the cultural heritage sector, prepared reports that lacked any political orientation. In other words, her freelance writing in a reformist newspaper did not mean she was sympathetic or aligned with reformist positions.
Ahmadinejad and the Emergence of New Corrupt Figures
As mentioned, Al Agha succeeded in establishing extensive connections with government officials and parliament representatives. She, being an opportunistic and exploitative personality, managed to gain special positions in the cultural heritage sector. Although not officially recorded in her resume, some evidence has been provided to Iran Gate indicating Marjan Al Agha’s activities as public relations for some governing bodies in the cultural heritage and handicrafts sector.
However, with the rise of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005, Marjan Sheikholeslami Al Agha’s fortunes shone in a surprising manner. As mentioned, Al Agha came from a religious and clerical family, which played a significant role in establishing effective and close relationships with influential figures in the ninth and then tenth government.
She managed to be appointed as the managing director of the state cultural heritage news agency during the period when Hamid Baghaei was the head of the Cultural Heritage and Handicrafts Organization. During this period, reports about the illegal export of a large number of historical artifacts from the country and Hamid Baghaei’s role in this case were published. However, the cultural heritage news agency staunchly supported Ahmadinejad’s deputy, and some even believe Marjan Al Agha’s traces were seen in this case, but due to the cover-ups by the Ahmadinejad government, this case has remained unresolved.
The controversial positions that the cultural heritage news agency took during Al Agha’s management also caused a stir at that time. Among these positions were radical Pan-Shiism tendencies and promoting the Mashaei version of Iranian nationalism. This was the first period when Al Agha officially and explicitly defined her political stance, revealing her boundless proximity to the so-called deviant current that emerged from the conservatives. In other words, she had undeniable closeness to the Front of Stability and radical currents within the IRGC and the Islamic Republic system.
From Marjan to Leila
Perhaps to better understand her role, it is useful to refer to the role and connection of Leila Zand with Mashaei. In fact, Ms. Zand was the dual-national version of Marjan Al Agha, who was involved not only economically but also in political activities within corrupt currents. Leila Zand was an Iranian-American citizen known as a human rights activist and had very close connections with Mashaei. However, after the deviant current label was affixed to Mashaei’s circle and Ahmadinejad’s supporters, Leila Zand also left Iran permanently for the United States.
Hassan Rouhani Turned Down the Flame
After the rise of Hassan Rouhani’s government in the summer of 2013, Al Agha stepped down from the management of the country’s media scene. However, her significant presence in bypassing oil and banking sanctions, which stemmed from her proximity to Ahmadinejad, led her to continue her activities in this field. But this situation did not last long, and with the extensive crackdown by Rouhani’s government on economic corrupt currents, including Babak Zanjani, Marjan Al Agha also significantly limited her economic activities in Turkey, Iran, and China.
A Cover Marriage
With the initiation of the economic corruption cases, many figures involved in these cases left the country permanently. Marjan Al Agha was one of these figures who left Iran for Turkey in 2017, shortly before the formalization of the Sepanir company’s case. After spending a short time in Turkey, she moved to Canada and obtained citizenship there. During this time, she married for the second time, once again making headlines in both domestic and international media.
After her permanent departure from the country, Ms. Al Agha married Mehdi Khalaji, a prominent figure in the opposition to the Islamic Republic and a staunch overthrower of the regime. Al Agha, whose name was now appearing in both domestic and international media, made a 180-degree turn, abandoning her hijab and appearing in front of the cameras with a completely different appearance from what was seen of her in Iran.
In fact, Al Agha not only changed her color once again but overnight, she moved from a super-radical current at the far end of conservatism to the ranks of radical overthrowers of the Islamic Republic and secular political activists. Her new appearance significantly contributed to the sensationalism of these transformations and changes in her positions, causing an explosion in both domestic and international media.
This union is another sign of Marjan Al Agha’s occasional color changes and reminds the audience that the same radical figures of the Front of Stability, by changing their position, can easily even abandon the hijab and play a role as a star in overthrowing media with a Western appearance. The case of Marjan Al Agha’s economic and even political corruption reminds us of the same figures who today raise the banner of fighting against hijab and whose claims of fighting corruption have deafened the heavens.
Marjan Al Agha and the Largest Embezzlement in History
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