The footage, captured at a gas station in Boroujerd on April 16, shows Fatemeh Maqsoudi, lawmaker for the Iranian city, crying for “help” and attempting to break her brother free from the grip of police officers trying to take him into custody.
Hamid-Reza Maqsoudi, the brother, had been on the run since being sentenced to five years in prison for the sale of property he did not own almost two months ago.
Police were tipped off on the night of the incident that the fugitive was in his sister’s car at a gas station.
Three officers were dispatched in plainclothes to capture him. The footage has caused an outcry among ordinary people and online users, who say the lawmaker should have complied with law like any other citizen.
Maqsoudi has claimed afterwards that the three officers did not provide police badges, and that they assaulted her and his brother. Local authorities have disputed those claims, explaining that they provided relevant ID and that she and her son clashed with them to let her brother escape.
The lawmaker’s son reportedly used a bat to assault the police officers.
An official in Boroujerd’s Prosecutor’s Office has said Maqsoudi’s claims were instances of disseminating falsehoods and that she has been charged accordingly.
