After the murder of Gholamreza Mansouri in Bucharest on June 20, 2020, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) immediately attributed the murder to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK), in remarks published in Entekhab website on June 21.
Subsequently, Alireza Zakani, a Parliament Deputy from Qom said that Akbar Tabari, the former Judiciary Deputy Chief and the lead defendant in a trial currently underway in Tehran involving massive fraud, had been a supporter of the PMOI / MEK in the early days of the 1979 revolution.
While failing to mention the fact that Tabari had recanted his support for the MEK and had turned into an Intelligence Ministry henchman decades ago, Zakani said, “Tabari’s case is a complicated one … Akbar Tabari was imprisoned in the early days of revolution due to his activities on behalf of the MEK grouplet. After his release, however, he became the Governor of the city of Noor in Mazandaran Province, taking advantage of the naiveté of some people. Subsequently, he used his talking skills and contacts to join the Judiciary. Through a corrupt network and contacts, he climbed all the way to the position of Deputy Judiciary Chief.”
On June 19, parallel with the IRGC’s claim, Hossein Soleimani, the editor of the Mashreq website affiliated with Khamenei’s faction, twitted, “Henceforth, Romania is also a strategic depth.” An hour later, the site removed that post because it was an early admission (to the regime’s role in the murder of Mansouri). It posted a new tweet, which said, “[Romania]
is the strategic depth for those who are corrupt and the mafia which was worried about his [Mansouri] return to Iran.”
The next day, June 20, the same website published a piece titled, “Where is the nexus between the Monafeqin (the pejorative term used by the regime to characterize the MEK), Romania and Mansouri’s death?” It wrote, “Given the influence of the MEK in Romania, it is not unlikely that Judge Gholamreza Mansouri being thrown out from the hotel window was designed as a narrative to attack the officials of the Islamic Republic with the code word that had he (Mansouri) come (to Iran), he would have revealed some names.”
To clarify the facts surrounding this case, the NCRI’s Security and Counterterrorism Committee states the following. (Supportive documents are available and could be presented to a court of law.):
1. The regime’s security and intelligence agents, who have been working on Tabari’s case since last year, had Mansouri under their control and were in audio and visual contact with him. The Intelligence personnel repeatedly questioned him and recorded everything.
2. Mansouri’s brother, Mohammad Reza, is the Secretary for the Investigative Board for Administrative Violations of Employees of the Planning and Budget Organization and closely affiliated with Mohammad Bagher Nobakht (Hassan Rouhani’s adviser, and head of Plan and Budget Organization). He is in contact with the Ministry of Intelligence and involved in this case in the Ministry.
3. In his own words, Gholamreza Mansouri had planned to return to Iran “despite the Coronavirus in February and March.” He had purchased his ticket. He was in Romania in March. Through its operatives, however, the regime was sending misleading signals to prepare what was necessary.
4. In early May, Mansouri retained a lawyer, Amir Hossein Najafpour Thani, and gave him a power of attorney to defend him in the proceeding underway in the regime’s Judiciary. But, Baqer Baha’i, the Jude and the head of the fifth branch of Tehran Province’s criminal court, acting on orders by Ebrahim Raisi, the Judiciary Chief, delayed accepting the power of attorney so that subsequent actions could not be hindered. To deceive and fool Gholamreza Mansouri, he was sent messages through several channels that it would be to his favor not to give a power of attorney so that no judgment could be rendered against him until he returns to Iran.
5. On the afternoon of Wednesday, June 10, 2020, Mansouri went to the regime’s Embassy in Bucharest and stayed at the Embassy until Thursday night. He asked the Ambassador to make public his visit to the Embassy. But Morteza Abutalebi, the regime’s Ambassador did not agree and ultimately convinced Mansouri not to do so, because, “If the MEK were to learn [of his visit], they would set the Embassy on fire. So, it would be better if no-one knew about it for now.”
6. As stated in previous statements of the NCRI’s Security and Counterterrorism Committee, according to Mohammad Javad Rassouli Mahallati, the regime’s Ambassador to Bulgaria, everything had been coordinated to transfer Mansouri after his arrival in Sofia into the QeshmAir plane, which had arrived from Tehran to Bulgaria on Thursday night, June 18. In practice, however, subsequent to the filing of complaints, as well as political and international actions, the Romanian prosecutor did not allow Mansouri to leave the country.
7. The contradictions and inconsistencies, in this case, were such that Hesamodin Ashna, Hassan Rouhani’s adviser, tweeted on June 21, “What kind of a file is this? The prosecutor’s representative and the deputy Judiciary Chief insist that the death of the key and the fugitive defendant will not damage the trial proceedings?”
8. The Government of Romania must immediately make public all the reports and the details about incidents related to this case. It should, without any ulterior consideration, condemn the conduct of the Iranian regime and its agents on Romanian soil.
9. The United Nations must appoint a delegation to launch a thorough investigation into this case. The International Criminal Court must prosecute and punish the perpetrators and agents responsible for this murder, which the regime is pinning on the MEK.
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
Security and Counterterrorism Committee
June 21, 2020