Tehran’s Friday Prayer Leader and a New Claim
Following allegations of land grabbing attributed to Kazem Seddiqi, the temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran, and his sons, the institution under his management, the Imam Khomeini Seminary of Tehran, has issued a new statement. It acknowledged the violations that occurred and stated that an order has been issued to return the land to the seminary.
Previously, Yashar Soltani, an active journalist in Iran, had published documents claiming that ownership of a 4,200 square meter garden, valued at approximately one trillion Tomans in the Aghol area of Tehran, which belonged to the Imam Khomeini Seminary of Tehran, had been transferred to a non-commercial institution called ‘Followers of Qaem’s Thoughts.’ The owners of this institution include Kazem Seddiqi and several of his sons.
However, the temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran denied the documents related to this transfer, stating that his signature had been forged. In a television interview, he described the transfer of the garden’s deed to his personal institution and his sons as a malicious act intended to make people lose faith.
Nevertheless, on Thursday, the Imam Khomeini Seminary of Tehran announced in a statement that Mr. Seddiqi, trusting an individual who had been a trustee of the seminary for years, personally attended the notary office and transferred the deed of part of the seminary’s land to the mentioned institution, signing it himself.
According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, the Imam Khomeini Seminary of Tehran stated in its statement that after learning of the violations involving the distortion of the statute and forgery of signatures, an order was issued to return the land to the seminary, and the administrative procedures are underway. Once finalized, it will be announced.
Earlier, on March 18th, this institution had announced in a statement that in this one trillion Toman violation case, procedural errors had occurred which have been resolved, and the individuals involved have been removed from the institution. The seminary did not specify who these individuals were.
While the allegations against Kazem Seddiqi were raised in the final days of the year 1402, images of the Nowruz speech by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, on March 21st showed that the temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran was present at the meeting with him.
Kazem Seddiqi, 73, who has chaired the Headquarters for Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil since 2018, is considered a graduate of the Haqqani School. In previous years, he has held various judicial positions in the Islamic Republic. The case of acquiring the Aghol garden in northern Tehran is the latest in a series of corruption cases involving high-ranking officials in the Islamic Republic.
The formation of a large economic gang and the misuse of their father’s name for money laundering by two sons of Mohammad Mosaddegh, the former deputy head of the Iranian judiciary, and the transfer of a 150-hectare endowment in Qazvin to Mona Chaychian, the daughter-in-law of the head of the Endowment Organization, are among these corruption cases that have sparked widespread reactions. The latest report by Transparency International shows that Iran ranks 147th out of 180 countries in terms of the extent of financial corruption.
