DUBAI: Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s top aide has been indicted, apparently in connection with allegations of corruption in the previous administration, Iranian media reported yesterday.
Former Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi has been the target of a lengthy judicial investigation into his possible role in several high-profile bribery and embezzlement cases that also spill into Turkey, as well as Central and East Asia.
Rahimi has denied all the accusations and last year, while still in office, he said he would “volunteer to have my hands severed if even one of these charges is proved against me”.
Mohsen Eftekhari, a Tehran judge, told Shargh newspaper that Rahimi had been indicted and that his case would be referred to a special court. He did not specify the charges against him.
Rahimi has reported links to jailed businessman Babak Zanjani, chairman of Sorinet Group, who is accused of skimming up to $2.7 billion off illegal oil exports, as Ahmadinejad’s government tried to bypass international sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme.
Tunisia raid kills 3 ‘terrorists’: Ministry
TUNIS: Tunisian security forces yesterday killed three suspected jihadists implicated in attacks last months that left four people dead, including two policemen, the interior ministry said.
Special police units surrounded the house of a “takfirist”, or Muslim extremist, in the northwest Jendouba region near the Algerian border at around 0200 GMT, ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told reporters.
“The terrorist group threw a grenade at the agents... and an exchange of fire followed between the security forces and these members of a banned movement,” he said, alluding to the radical Islamist group Ansar Al Sharia. Three militants were killed in the clash, “one of whom was very dangerous,” and two police agents were wounded.
Two of those killed were Tunisian and the third was foreign, possibly Algerian, Aroui said.
Gunmen kill 2 soldiers in Yemen ambush
ADEN: Gunmen in Yemen’s southeastern Hadramawt province killed two soldiers in an ambush on an army patrol yesterday, a security official said.
“Unknown gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at an army vehicle” in the town of Shehr killing both soldiers on board, before fleeing, the source said.
Yemen has seen regular attacks on its security forces usually blamed on the local franchise of Al Qaeda that remains active in the south and east despite several military operations and US drone strikes against it.
Agencies
