Ministry of Intelligence and Security [MOIS]
Vezarat-e Ettela'at va Amniat-e Keshvar VEVAK
With a large budget and extensive organization, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security is of the most powerful ministries in the Iranian government. The ministry has traditionally operated under the guidance of the Velayat-e Faqih apparatus of Ali Khamenei.
Ministry of Security and Intelligence personnel are either attached as diplomats in Iranian embassies and consulate offices or as Ministry of Guidance and Propaganda representatives. Non-official covers include Iran Air [the official airline of Iran] or as students, merchants, mechanics, shopkeepers, bank clerks, as well as members of opposition groups. VEVAK has frequently relied on the foreign branches of Iranian state-controlled banks to place intelligence agents and to finance terrorist operations. In Germany, for instance, the most prominent is Bank Melli, which maintains branches in Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf.
SAVAK's successor, the Intelligence and Security Ministry, operated in the shadows until the late 1990s. The ministry seemed to become fair game for the media after courageous journalists like Akbar Ganji revealed the involvement of ministry personnel in the serial murders of dissidents. Under President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005) the ministry had become more accountable and enjoyed greater public trust.
There were 284 members of parliament present at the 24 August 2005 session, and each cabinet nominee had to secure a minimum of 143 votes to win approval. The new cabinet members who were approved by parliament included Minister of Intelligence and Security Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei. Of the 284 total votes, he received 217 for, 51 against, with 13 abstention.
Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei is a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, and many other alumni are active throughout Iran's government, sine in some of the most sensitive positions of power. The Haqqani School is noteworthy because it serves as a connection between so many individuals, but nowadays it also denotes an extremist school of thought advocating violence against one's enemies and strict clerical control over social and governmental affairs.
Hojatoleslam Gholamhussein Mohseni-Ejei had previously served as the chief of the Special Court for the Clergy. On 25 January 1999 Hojatoleslam Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei was appointed as the prosecutor for the Special Court for the Clergy. The Special Court for the Clergy is charged with investigating cases of corruption, unlawful acts involving clerics, "accusations that are incompatible with the status of the clergy," and crimes that affect the reputation of the clergy. The court can try laymen when clerics are involved, too. Special Court chief Hojatoleslam Gholamhussein Mohseni-Ejei, however, reportedly ignored malfeasances committed by those with whom he is financially involved or politically sympathetic. Mohseni-Ejei was the judge in the corruption trial of former Tehran Mayor Gholamhussein Karbaschi. Karbaschi was imprisoned for financial improprieties, while the clerics associated with the case went unpunished.
Mohseni-Ejei was the Revolutionary Court's representative in the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. At that time, he lived in a building owned by Akbar Khoshkush, an MOIS employee now being held in connection with the killings of political dissidents. During Mohseni-Ejei's watch as representative to the MOIS, Khoshkush was implicated in a scandal involving the illegal import and sale of mobile telephones. During the hearings relating to that case, it was revealed that Khoshkush used money from the mobile phone deal to construct the building, yet Khoshkush was not prosecuted. This also raises the question of how an MOIS official was allowed to participate in such financial transactions. Incidentally, Mohseni-Ejei's neighbors in the building were MOIS officials Said Emami and Mustafa Kazemi, two other suspects in the murders of dissidents.
In mid-August 2005, just days before President Mahmud Ahmadinejad submitted his list of prospective cabinet ministers to the legislature, there were rumors that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini would take over supervision of the Intelligence and Security Ministry from the parliament. Hard-line legislator Elias Naderan allegedly was gathering signatures for a bill that would make this law. The proposal met with criticism from several parts of the political spectrum, including reformers. And in September 2005 newspapers were full of reports that hard-line legislators were promoting a bill that would reduce parliamentary oversight of the Intelligence and Security Ministry. The object is to separate the counterintelligence unit from the rest of the ministry, Fars News Agency reported on 30 August. In that way, ministry personnel would be subject to independent supervision.
Reformist commentators were particularly outraged by the proposal. Said Hajjarian, a founder of the ministry, warned that separating the counterintelligence unit from the rest of the ministry is the prelude to eliminating parliamentary supervision and creating "parallel" intelligence bodies. Hard-line parliamentarian Mohammad Hussein Farhangi said he favored separating the counterintelligence unit from the rest of the ministry, but he opposes making the ministry an organization because it would no longer be accountable to the legislature. The opinions of President Ahmadinejad and Intelligence and Security Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei on this issue were not known.
