A close ally of Ahmadinejad, Mortazavi was Tehran's Prosecutor General in 2003-2009. A parliamentary report issued in 2010 found him responsible for mistreatments of detainees of post-election unrest in Kahrizak Center which caused the death of three of them in 2009. The detention center was later closed by the order of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Speaking to Khabar Online today, Pezeshkian, a reformist lawmaker said: "As Mortazavi had promised some lawmakers that he will resign from the new post, they withdraw the impeachment of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare Minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami [who appointed Mortazvi for the new post ordered by Ahmadinejad].
Based on the regulations of the Majlis, the impeachment cannot be again put on the agenda, "Now, if Mortazavi do not fulfill his promise, the lawmakers will more insistently follow Ahmadinejad's interpellation plan," the representative of Tabriz in the Majlis said.
A heart surgeon and member of the health committee of Majlis, Pezeshkian probed into the cases of death under torture in Kahrizak as Mortazavi claimed that the prisoners had died from meningitis. He made a speech on condemnation of violence against protests in Iranian presidential election on June, 2009 in the Majlis.
At the moment, Mortazavi is facing a potential investigation into his conduct of post vote trials.
Responding to a question on whether a number of MPs are mediating the act of interpellation or not, Pezeshkian said: "I cannot comment on the issue since it has been suggested based on presumption and suspicion."
Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Reza Mirtajodini had previously said that the government would give no “guarantee” that Mortazavi’s resignation will be accepted, MNA reported.
Mirtajodini told reporters that Mortazavi has not submitted his resignation to the president.
He also said, “The president and his first deputy and a number of ministers had come to the entrance doors of the Majlis” to defend the impeachment session against the labor minister when suddenly it was announced that MPs had withdrawn their bid.
Earlier in March, Mostafa Kavakebian, a lawmaker and the secretary general of Mardomsalari (democracy) Party spoke about a petition on Ahmadinejad's political inefficiency which was being considered to be submitted to Iranian Majlis
Based on article 2 of the Islamic Republic’s constitution, if at least one third of parliament members decide to interpellate the President, he will be duty bound to attend the floor of Majlis within a month to respond. However, the plan would be simply carried out on the condition that it’s not disapproved by Ayatollah Khamenei.
Lawmakers already questioned Ahmadinejad in mid-March for violating 50 articles of the Constitution, rapid implementation of subsidy reform plan which cut energy and food subsidies compensating them with paying direct cash to people. After being implemented, the plan heightened the inflation rate and hiked up prices critically for the poor and the middle class.
Above all, their complaints were centered on the Ahmadinejad’s resistance against a decree issued by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei which reinstated Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi among the instances of his government’s inefficiency.
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