Iranian judicial spokesperson Gholam Hossein Ismaili denied arrests taking place within the country’s government and judiciary related to the leaks website case of Amad News.
“Until today, the only arrest made was against Roohollah Zam (manager of Amad News, a popular anti-government news channel on the messaging app Telegram),” news agencies quoted Ismaili as saying. He denied any other arrests being made against government officials and warned against baseless speculations.
He asked officials to avoid exchanging accusations as well. However, Ismaili advised collaborators to “apologize and go back on the error they committed”.
These remarks come a day after conservative deputy Javad Karimi-Ghodousi Tweeted about arrests of a number of government officials associated with the Amad News case, including three presidential staffers.
Ghodousi claimed that one of the detainees worked in the office of Hosamuddin Ashna, special adviser to the Iranian president. Another detainee worked in the office of Rouhani, a third in the office of Morteza Bank, an adviser to the Iranian president in the free trade zones, and a fourth detainee in the Iranian judiciary.
Ghodousi, who is affiliated with the office of the Iranian supreme leader, accused the president’s adviser, Hosamuddin Ashna, of cooperating with Amad News and running a “psychological warfare room in the office of the Iranian president.”
Iranian government spokesman Ali Rubaie dismissed information published by the conservative deputy, stressing that he “belied” people who “broke the record of spreading accusations,” according to the official IRNA news agency.
He warned that such accusations “will lead to a decline in public confidence.”
Meanwhile, a Revolutionary Guards website published a statement containing a phone number and e-mail address and recommending Amad News collaborators to come forward, “express remorse, and get reduced sentences.”
The Revolutionary Guard statement warned against "relying on empty promises of foreign spy agencies" when launching anti-regime media in an attempt to “change the fate of peoples.”
