Iranian MP jailed in Evin after calling speaker "dictator"

Iranian parliamentarian and hardline cleric Hamid Rasaei was sent to Evin prison in Tehran this week to begin serving a 10-month sentence. Rasaei will serve his time in the wing designated for clerics, following his conviction on charges of "spreading lies" in a complaint filed by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

The affair began in early 2024, when Rasaei served as editor-in-chief of the weekly publication Dey 9. Articles published under his editorship alleged that Ghalibaf had "manipulated parliamentary documents." Rasaei also posted a video to his Telegram channel in which he called the parliament speaker a "parliamentary dictator." The court acquitted him of that specific statement but convicted him on charges related to falsifying and altering documents.

Throughout the legal proceedings, Rasaei refused to apologize for his statements. In a speech delivered in parliament, he called the court's ruling "non-judicial and political," though he said he would comply with it. He complained about the severity of the sentence, arguing that as a first-time offender he should have received only the minimum penalty of 91 days in prison as prescribed by law.

In addition to the prison term, the court ordered Rasaei to publish a clarification and correction on the cover of the weekly, using the same font and headline size as the original article. The order was issued despite the fact that the publication has not been printed in the past two years.

The legal confrontation reflects a power struggle within Iran's conservative camp. Rasaei accused Ghalibaf of making excessive concessions to the Americans and claimed that the agreement that was reached prevents Tehran from avenging the assassination of Ali Khamenei and could pave the way for a "bloodless coup."

Rasaei also attacked President Masoud Pezeshkian over the talks with Washington, questioned his political competence, and compared him to Iran's first president, Abolhassan Banisadr, who was removed from office in 1981.