Criminal rewarded by promotion!

Naghdi’s un-Iranian roots and his role in the external arm of the Iranian armed forces

Something that’s overlooked by many Iranians is Naghdi’s Iraqi roots. Naghdi is actually not originally Iranian and was born into a religious family in the Holy city of Najaf in Iraq in 1954. Naghdi’s father was Sheikh Ali Akbar Osmani and was forced to immigrate to Iran by Saddam Hussein around the time of the 1979 revolution in Iran. After arriving in Iran, the family first settled in the Western city of Naghdeh, in the West Azerbaijan province, which is where the name Naghdi is derived from. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the second child in the Naghdi (or Osmani) family quickly joined the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) after the start of the 8-year Iran-Iraq war and started work as a member of this council in Oroumiyeh. Naghdi’s military career started off when he was deployed in Lebanon in the 80s. During that time he was a member of the military branch of the ISCI in Lebanon. This paved the way for Naghdi to join the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and to work alongside other fellow Iraqi commanders which led to the creation of one of the well-known branch of the IRGC during the war with Iraq. Naghdi later held a senior position in the operations and intelligence unit of the Badr Brigade and was then recruited to Lebanon after 3 years.

Because of Naghdi’s proficiency in Arabic, Naghdi had a key role in the Quds forces which was the external arm of the Iranian military and his main responsibility was fighting against Israel. He also had an active presence in Bosnia Herzegovina under the alias “Shams.” Naghdi’s role changed after the Iran-Iraq War into a more international nature, however with the end of that war, Naghdi’s military role shifted towards inside Iran.

After the end of the war and Ayatollah Khamenei’s assumption of the leadership role, Naghdi held key positions in the IRGC and was soon appointed by the leader as deputy of the intelligence unit in the Quds force and later became the commander of the intelligence division of the Iranian Police forces which facilitated the elimination of the then Tehran Mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi and his associates.

Naghdi and Vesal detention camp

Naghdi played an essential role in the early years of the reformist movement in creating dossiers and discrediting Karbaschi and the mayors of other regions in Tehran. Karbaschi was viewed as a supporter of the then president, Mohammad Khatami and therefore must have been dealt with at the time. At the time, the mayors of the different districts of Tehran were arrested and taken to the illegal underground prison of Vesal and a few days later, Karbaschi was taken to the infamous Evin prison. During this time, Naghdi was the head of intelligence in the Iranian Police and could operate with much more freedom. Eye witness accounts of Iranian citizens highlighted the role of Naghdi in the imprisonment and torture of many citizens. According to a witness, Naghdi personally attended the torture sessions and even demanded a prisoner undergoing cable lashes to falsely confess to adultery. Naghdi had direct supervision over the illegal Vesal detention camp and the tortures carried out during this period.

In meetings with MPs at the time, Naghdi even admitted to his role in the Vesal camp incidents. He also spoke of the leader’s blessing of actions taken against “corrupt” officials (which at the time meant the Tehran mayor and his associates). In his revelations, Naghdi also told these MPs about the role of Niazi, the Justice Minister o the time.

These illegal acts were carried out at a time when most polls revealed that Iranian public opinion saw the trials of Karbaschi as politically motivated and Naghdi was sentenced to 3 months in jail in another court for torture, even though this sentence was never carried out. Unbelievably a few months later, Naghdi was appointed as senior military advisor to the leader instead of serving time in prison.

Naghdi’s role in the murder of a judge

Naghdi’s name comes up in another court case when he was suspected of involvement in the death of the first judge in charge of handling the Karbaschi’s court case. The judge died as a result of a suspicious stroke after a dinner at the house of Mohseni Eje’i which was meant to settle the differences that existed between the judge, Naghdi, Masoud Sadrol-Eslam and Mohseni Eje’i.

After the death of the judge, a security commission from the Supreme National Security Council prevented further follow up of the case, even though the hands of senior Iranian officials including Naghdi were linked to the case of this suspicious death.

1999 student crackdown

In the summer of 1999, Naghdi along with other commanders of the Iranian Police was one of the perpetrators of the student crackdowns and issued the order to enter the sight of Tehran University dorm. Naghdi took part in the unspeakable tortures and interrogations of many students during that time. Ahmad Batebi was one of the students who went through the horrific conditions made possible by Naghdi and his associates.

Link with pressure groups above the law

Although they are called independent and autonomous, the “self-directed” forces that take part in the crackdowns in Iran are not so “self-directed” after all and are guided by senior commanders of the IRGC and the Iranian Police Force. Naghdi is one of those commanders who led these forces in the July 1999 crackdowns and attempted to assassinate the former Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri and also plotted to physically attack the former Minister, Ataollah Mohajerani. Naghdi was present at the sight of Nouri’s planned assassination along with Brigadier General Faraj Moradian and an Iranian revolutionary guard Hakim. However, the assassination attempt failed due to the awareness of Abdollah Nouri’s bodyguard and the nervousness of the assassin. Eye witnesses confirmed Naghdi’s presence at the sight of the assassination attempt.

Naghdi is also said to have been the leader of a pressure group called Kabir which was created under the name of fighting social corruption. The primary responsibility of this group was to fight against what they deemed as unethical behaviour. They attacked private properties of Tehran residents as well as raiding private parties. This group which also enjoyed close ties with Ansar-e-Hezbollah, would arrest young boys and girls under the pretext that they were mixing or that the girls were not fully covered.

The members of this unlawful group were later put on trial, during which some members’ links with authorities and intelligence officials was exposed. Members of this criminal group would threaten citizens with firearms and cold weapons and apply all types of torture and pressure without showing any kind of warrant for their actions.

Once again Naghdi’s close relationship with the Leader’s office helped him get away with his crimes and he was appointed as Ahmadinejad’s advisor for fighting illegal smuggling. However a week after his appointment, Naghdi exposed Ahmadinejad’s financial sponsors as illegal smugglers and uncovered and a financial scandal in Ahmadinejad’s government. This caused Ahmadinejad to remove Naghdi from his position. At the time, Naghdi’s suspicious resignation was a much talked about topic. Following the election fraud and coup on 12 June, Naghdi’s role was instrumental in suppressing the protests when he worked under the supervision of Hossein Taeb (another criminal responsible for many of the crimes committed after the elections) and alongside Mohaghegh who was in charge of plain-clothed militia during those days. His performance during the post-election violence caused him to be promoted to the commander of the Basij forces.

Naghdi’s return to Basij

Naghdi was appointed by Ayatollah Khamenei as the head of Basij on Sunday. The leader praised Naghdi and asked him to use his “valuable experience” in fulfilling the “mentioned expectations.”

In another appointment, Hossein Taeb, whose role was spread in the Iranian media was promoted to the commander of the intelligence unit of the IRGC.

These two latest appointments raise further questions about the leader’s role in the coup and his knowledge of the heinous crimes committed following the elections in June. More than ever before, it has become very clear that the “independent” and “autonomous” militia that terrorised Iranian citizens before and after the 12 June elections are not so “autonomous” after all.