Ahmadinejad allies charged with sorcery in power spat with Ayatollah

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 18:52 GMT, 6 May 2011


Allies of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have been been accused of using 'black magic' to keep the leader in power.

Twenty-five people close to the leader, including the chief off staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have reportedly been arrested and charged with being 'magicians' and invoking spirits to try and influence his policy.

A growing power struggle between the president and the nation's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dominating Iranian politics and has led some MPs to call for the president to be impeached.

Allies of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad face sorcery charges
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is reportedly in a struggle for power with President Ahmadinejad

Struggle: President Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

The supreme leader of Iran, the holy leader, is described as the 'actual president of Iran.'

One Iranian newspaper said one of the men arrested had 'special skills in metaphysics and connections with unknown worlds.'

Sorcery appears to have become involved in the battle for power after an Iranian documentary alleged the Hidden Imam Mahdi, revered saviour of Shia Islam would be returning imminently - the equivalent in Christianity to the second coming of Jesus, the Guardian newspaper reports. 

Conservative clerics believe the President's inner circle may be responsible for the film. Ahmadinejad frequently references the hidden Imam and two years ago said he had evidence that the U.S. was trying to stop his return.

The power battle has worsened after Ahmadinejad left his post for 11 days apparently in protest over Mr Khamenei's reinstatement of the intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi who the president had asked to resign.

Disobeying the supreme leader is the equivalent to 'apostasy from God' according to one cleric.

Critics of Ahmadinejad have been warned he could face the same fate as Iran's first post-revolution president Abdulhassan Banisadr who was impeached and exiled for allegedly trying to undermine clerical power, if he continues to disobey the supreme leader.