This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A former Iranian minister of welfare and social security has been arrested for financial fraud, official media reported on November 11.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said Parviz Kazemi was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison on November 9.
Kazemi resigned from his post in 2006 after nearly a year under former hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad over political differences. He later worked in the banking sector.
In recent years, Kazemi turned into a critic of Ahmadinejad.
Several of Ahmadinejad’s allies are in jail over charges relating to security and financial fraud.
In September, a court sentenced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of Ahmadinejad, to 6 1/2 years in prison for plotting to commit crimes against national security, propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and insulting officials.
