Iran president’s brother arrested
The brother of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was arrested in a corruption inquiry, the Iranian judiciary said Sunday, in what appeared to be a move by Rouhani’s hard-line rivals to undermine him.
The arrest of the brother, Hossein Fereydoun, who had been one of Rouhani’s close aides, was announced by a judiciary spokesperson at a news conference reported by state media.
The spokesperson also announced in a separate matter that a person with dual nationalities had been arrested and sentenced to a 10-year prison term in an espionage case involving “America’s infiltrators.”
The spokesperson did not identify the person arrested in the case, but the judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, said the person was Xiyue Wang, a history major at Princeton University.
A spokesperson for Princeton, Daniel Day, said in an email that he could not immediately comment on the matter.
The developments suggested ominous new pressure on Rouhani, a moderate cleric who was re-elected to a second four-year term a few months ago. His reelection was seen as a referendum vote for more co-operation with other nations, including the U.S., despite the entrenched anti-American hostilities harboured by other powerful interests in Iran, including the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; the judiciary and intelligence services; and the Revolutionary Guards.
Fereydoun, a former ambassador to Malaysia, has long been considered a potential vulnerability for Rouhani over allegations of nepotism and cronyism.
Hard-line conservatives accused Fereydoun more than a year ago of improper dealings with money-changing companies during the final years of the administration of Rouhani’s predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They said Fereydoun had continued those dealings while serving as an adviser to Rouhani.
Fereydoun has also been accused by hard-liners of using his influence to place colleagues in high-paying positions, including the heads of banks, and of exploiting his connections to gain a coveted spot in a doctorate program at an Iranian university. He has denied the accusations.
“Rouhani and the reformists won a landslide victory in the May presidential elections, yet this detention makes clear the conservatives are still strong and can lash out,” said Cliff Kupchan, chair of the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy in Washington. The president’s brother, Kupchan said, was “lowhanging fruit for conservatives seeking to cut Rouhani down to size.”
Because Fereydoun could not provide bail, a spokesperson said, “he was sent to prison; he will be released once he provides bail.” Mohseni-Ejei did not specify the bail amount or the charges.