TEHRAN, Iran — Four children of an influential ex-Iranian president are suing a radical lawmaker for describing the ex-president’s family as a corrupt “octopus,” heating up a struggle between hard-liners and moderates simmering since a contested 2009 election.
The latest salvo has rekindled the bitterness between backers of the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and moderates headed by the former leader, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, just six months ahead of the next presidential election.
A lawyer filed the complaint for the family in the Special Clergy Court against the lawmaker, Hamid Rasai,an ally of Ahmadinejad. Rasai also is a cleric.
“Four children of Ayatollah Rafsanjani have registered their lawsuit against Rasai with the Special Clergy Court. I think Rasai will be summoned to the court within the next 10 days,” said lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 12/27/2012