iran unfiltered

Hassan Lahouti, the grandson of Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and daughter of Faezeh Hashemi, has been arrested after arriving in Iran from Britain, where he is a student.

This comes on the heels of the arrest and sentencing of another Rafsanjani relative, the reformist politician Hossein Marashi, although it's been reported that Marashi was subsequently released for the Norooz holiday.

Update on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 2:45AM by Ali

Lahouti has been released on bail.

Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's seeming shift toward the government camp has not been enough to persuade it to stop its campaign of pressure against him and his family: a judiciary official has announced that the legal cases against his children Mehdi Hashemi and Faezeh Hashemi are still pending.

In an interview with Rooz, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh Hashemi has dismissed claims that her father's recent actions (in connection with his duties as head of both the Assembly of Experts and Expediency Council) signal that he has sold out the Green Movement and moved fully back into the pro-government camp.  She asks for patience, implying that he is still working behind the scenes, and argues that he still stands by the demands he made in his famous Friday prayer sermon last July.   

The interview also features a question and answer that are quite amusing in their obviousness.  After Hashemi details the short detentions she and other family members have faced in recent months:

Q: Ms. Hashemi, was the quick release of you and your relatives (which did not last more than 30 hours) not due to your relation to Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani?

A: Yes, the possibility exists that they let me go because of my relation to him.

Hashemi also refers to a video currently circulating on the internet which shows her being harrassed by Basij members on December 7 (16 Azar: Students Day and one of the big post-election protests).  Here it is:

With Mousavi, Karroubi and company nowhere to be seen today, the most prominent figure so far confirmed to have participated in protests today is Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.  Here is video of her at Tehran's Azad University:

Hashemi's appearance can only increase the ongoing pressure on Rafsanjani and his family by the hardline camp.