By The Journal of Turkish Weekly

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeated his request to visit Tehran's Evin Prison after his previous bid had been met with reluctance of Judiciary officials, Press TV reported.

In a new letter to Iranian Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, Ahmadinejad repeated his request saying that according to the Iranian Constitution, the president does not require to ask for permission or agreement of the Judiciary to fulfill his legal duties.

"I am determined to fully implement the Constitution and make fundamental reforms to [all] the country's affairs," Ahmadinejad said in the letter published on Monday.

"In your letter you had noted that the president should ask for the Judiciary's permission before visiting prisons. You had emphasized twice that it is not expedient to visit the Evin Prison and had once said that you do not agree with it.

I should remind [you] that there is no constitutional provision necessitating the president to ask for [anybody's] permission or take the Judiciary's expediency into account when fulfilling his legal duties," he added.

Ahmadinejad also mentioned his former media advisor, the director of the state news agency IRNA, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, who has been sent to Evin prison in June 2012.
Iranian president expressed his wish to visit the prison after Javanfekr's imprisonment.

"I am accused of protecting the offenders, yet I have always said that the verdict against Javanfekr was not fair. However, the trial is now over, and he has taken his punishment," the president wrote in his letter.

Javanfekr was charged with publishing material contrary to Islamic norms and human values in a special issue of Khatun. He was also accused of insults of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After Javanfekr's imprisonment, Ahmadinejad expressed his regret over the imprisonment.

In response to Ahmadinejad's first letter, Judiciary Spokesman and Attorney General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei had said on Sunday that visiting Evin Prison was a secondary issue, while the country's main priority was resolving economic problems.

 

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