TEHRAN, Iran — Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his inner circle have been at the center of a storm on the Iranian political stage in recent weeks, with senior aide Hamid Baghaei hurling brazen accusations of rights abuses at the judiciary.

Baghaei, a former vice president for executive affairs, made the accusations on July 26 after being released from 18 days in detention, his second imprisonment without any charge. Law enforcement officers first arrested him in June 2015, only freeing him after seven months.

Soon after Baghaei’s latest detention, Ahmadinejad slammed the move as a grave injustice and called for his immediate release. In an open letter on July 9, the former president openly accused political rivals of deliberately targeting him and his aides, writing, “They attack us when they quarrel with each other or make peace with each other … even if they can’t settle their scores, again they come to settle their scores with us.” In a second letter, Ahmadinejad wrote that Baghaei had gone on a hunger strike and warned that he would hold the judiciary responsible for any harm to his health.

Reacting on July 16, judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, without naming Baghaei, threatened that Ahmadinejad could be charged for his letters. He also vaguely spoke of “another defendant in a separate case who had confessed to giving 2 million euros [$2.3 million] to that person [Baghaei].” Without further elaboration, Ejei added, “[Baghaei] is held in proper conditions. He signed a paper, admitting that he prefers to remain alone rather than going to the communal ward.”