Mr. Hashemi’s Family
Mohsen Hashemi resembles his father the most
According to Iran Gate, Mr. Hashemi’s family, Mohsen Hashemi, is the eldest son of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani. He has the most resemblance to his father in terms of behavior and character. He always tries to control the situation by adopting moderate positions and staying away from controversy. Unlike Faezeh, who outspokenly criticizes everything she disagrees with, he acts differently.
Mohsen Hashemi, born on 22 October 1961, is the former chairman of Tehran City Council. He served as the chairman and CEO of Tehran Metro Company for 13 years. In the fifth round of Tehran City Council elections, he was introduced as the first candidate on the Omid List by the reformists and won the election with 1,756,086 votes. In the fourth round of Tehran City Council, he was the main choice of the reformists for the mayor of Tehran. However, he was defeated by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf by a one-vote margin, which resulted in the overturning of Elaheh Rastgou’s victory.
After Mohammad Ali Najafi resigned from the position of mayor of Tehran, Mohsen Hashemi’s name was once again mentioned as a candidate for the mayor of Tehran. However, he faced opposition from other members of the City Council. There were also rumors of opposition from Mohammad Khatami to Mohsen Hashemi becoming the mayor.
Mohsen Hashemi said in this regard that everyone should know that in order for a member to be removed from the council, all members of the Tehran City Council must vote for their removal. Mohsen Hashemi currently does not hold any government position and is working at the Institute for the Publication of Revolutionary Teachings.
Fatemeh Shabiheh is like no one.
Fatemeh Hashemi Bahramani Rafsanjani, born in 1338, is a member of the founding board of the Moderation and Development Party and the head of the Special Diseases Foundation. She is the eldest daughter of Ayatollah Hashemi. Her husband, Saeed Lahooti, is a dentist and the son of Hassan Lahooti Ashkoori. She holds a degree in Political Science from the Islamic Azad University.
In 1374, Fatemeh held the presidency of the Association of Iranian Women’s Solidarity and traveled to various foreign countries through this organization. In 1377, the Federation of Special Patients’ Sports was established under the supervision of the Federation of General Sports, and she took over the presidency of this federation in 1384 and continues to hold this position to this day.
In late August 2013, Fatemeh Hashemi was summoned to Branch 12 of the Culture and Media Court due to her statements about the events in the parliament and the insult of one of the hardline representatives to her brother, Mehdi, in one of the media outlets. After the prosecutor’s investigations, a criminal complaint was issued against her and a court session was held on January 8th in the Revolutionary Court.
He said in a press conference that when Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke against the Larijani family, 45 minutes of the parliament’s time was allocated to defend the Larijani family. But when one of the parliamentarians spoke against Mehdi Hashemi, there was no defense for him. After these incidents, I demanded in interviews that Ali Larijani and his brother be defenders of the people’s rights, not defenders of their own family’s rights. Because of this interview, I am being tried today.
In response to this statement, the lawyer of the Hashemi family declared that since a criminal complaint has been filed, but there is no private complainant, the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office’s actions in this case have been illegal. Therefore, we have requested mediation and negotiation to have the case closed. This request was accepted with the consent of the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office.
On January 8, 2014, Ali Larijani, through a letter to the Chief Justice of Tehran, stated that he has no complaints against Hashemi. In a part of this letter, it was mentioned that I did not file a complaint against those who attacked me last year with shoes and a seal. I have no complaints against this honorable sister who only spoke, and I have no objections to her words. Please conclude this case in any way you see fit for the best interest. Finally, on January 25, 2014, Hashemi Rafsanjani was sentenced to six months of suspended imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran. In September 2014, the lawyer of Hashemi’s family announced his acquittal. Fatemeh Hashemi neither criticizes the government like Fa’ezeh nor is she conservative like her brother Mohsen.
Mehdi, the most controversial son of Ayatollah
Mehdi Hashemi was born on September 20, 1969, in Tehran. Mehdi is married to his cousin Farshid Hashemi and has two sons named Fouad and Yasin. In the final years of the war, he served in the front lines along with Mojtaba Khamenei.
He completed his primary and secondary education at Nikan School, then continued his studies in the field of telecommunications at Tehran University. His Master’s degree from Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani is equivalent to a degree, and after completing a training course between Sharif University of Technology and the Fuel Consumption Optimization Organization of the country, which he was the CEO of at the time, he obtained it.
He then received a PhD in Energy Resources Engineering from the Islamic Azad University. In 2009, he began studying East Asian Studies with a focus on the Iranian Constitution at Wolfson College, Oxford University. Due to allegations that Mehdi had written his doctoral thesis with the help of others, he was investigated by Oxford University.
He was active in his father Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s election campaign headquarters in the 2005 elections. In interviews with the US Today, he claimed that if his father lost, he would feel the danger of creating a religious dictatorship and would concentrate all his power on another faction in Iran to prevent free elections. He promised that if Hashemi won, he would work to change the constitution in order to limit the Supreme Leader’s powers and transfer them to a similar position as the King of England.
In the 88 elections, he was a supporter of Mir-Hossein Mousavi and had established a headquarters at the Azad University to monitor the accuracy of the elections. After the elections and Mousavi’s defeat, several individuals accused him in court of making allegations against him.
In 2007, the CEO and several employees of Total were arrested by French judicial authorities on charges of paying approximately 60 million euros in bribes to Iranian officials for participating in the construction of the South Pars gas field. The name of Mehdi Hashemi was mentioned as the person who received a portion of this amount.
In 1997, Total, along with the Russian company Gazprom and Petronas Malaysia, won the tender for the construction of this gas field. In 2004, Swiss police discovered that approximately 78 million euros from Total’s assets had been deposited into the account of an Iranian resident in Switzerland, who according to French media reports, is one of Mehdi Hashemi’s employees.
The Statoil case is another case in which the name of Mehdi Hashemi is mentioned. In 2004, a Norwegian court fined Statoil 20 million Norwegian kroner, equivalent to 16 million dollars, for paying bribes to Iranian officials. According to the court’s investigation, Statoil had paid 15 million euros to Mehdi Hashemi through a consulting company to guarantee the signing of a contract between Statoil and Iran.
Officials of State Oil Company stated in their defense that Mehdi Hashemi does not have the power to give a contract to State Oil Company, and there has been no interference in the decision-making process regarding the Iranian government. Nevertheless, the court recognized State Oil Company as the debtor and in addition to the company’s fine, John Hubbard, the CEO of State Oil Company, was also sentenced to 200,000 Norwegian kroner or 20 days in prison.
After the report of the parliamentary investigation, which indicated his innocence, Mehdi Hashemi stated that he will file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission in Europe to restore his status. However, it is not known whether this complaint has actually been filed or not.
Finally, after much media hype from conservative media outlets and in line with the project of undermining Ayatollah Hashemi, Mehdi Hashemi’s case was returned to the Tehran Court on May 5, 2013, with a 125-page indictment. The court requested that the issues be addressed, and ultimately, on August 3, 2014, after 679 days of reexamination, the trial resumed.
It was decided that the accused and his lawyers should go to the Revolutionary Court to receive the verdict, but they did not appear in court until 15:00 on 23 Esfand 1393. With a verdict from Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mehdi Hashemi was sentenced to imprisonment, fines, confiscation of property, and separation from government services. Finally, on 21 Khordad 1394, Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani was sentenced to 10 years in prison for charges of embezzlement, bribery, and security matters. On 18 Mordad 1394, he was taken to Evin Prison to serve his sentence.
Yaser Hashemi
Yaser Hashemi, born on 5 Mordad 1350, was the head of the Security Council Office at the Islamic Azad University and the head of Ayatollah Hashemi’s office at the Center for Strategic Research of the Expediency Discernment Council. Yaser is the youngest son of Akbar Hashemi. He completed his secondary education at Nikan High School and his university education at the University of Science and Industry, holding a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Science and Industry. Yaser Hashemi served as an economic advisor to the Football Federation during his tenure as Chief Prosecutor. His name was mentioned in 1392 as one of the candidates for the Ministry of Sports and Youth in Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet.
After the death of Ayatollah and his departure from governmental positions, Yaser Hashemi has focused more on economic activities and is engaged in the passenger airline industry, away from the margins. Yaser is closer to his brother Mohsen in terms of character and behavior and tries to stay away from controversies.
This article has been published in several parts. The other parts are accessible through the following links.
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