Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

If they don’t accept or want the judicial system in its current form, then let them dissolve it.

We must have courts that have been established by proper legal authorities with clear-cut and well-defined rules of procedure.

Tehran Prosecutor sought help from the Imam in order to prevent chaos in the judicial system.

In the era of Taghut (derogatory term to refer to the Shah, literally meaning the Devil) a responsible judge would either be in jail or in exile, or rotting in some corner, idle and without work.

“Nowhere in the world, even in Islamic countries, are there laws that would allow someone, high-ranking as he/she may be, to establish courts on his own volition and bring people to trial at his will, even if said court issues the most just verdicts. If we allow the [haphazard] establishment of various courts for, let’s say, usurious activities, or for various trades and professions, or the like (the number of which will undoubtedly be in the hundreds or even thousands), judicial chaos will reign in the entire country and no force or authority will be able to prevent the resulting lawlessness and disorder.”

In an exclusive interview with Kayhan newspaper, parts of which were published yesterday, Tehran Prosecutor, Mir Shams Shahshahani, presented his views on revolutionary courts and prosecutor’s offices. In response to the Kayhan reporter’s question, asking for his opinion as Tehran Prosecutor on the work of revolutionary courts and prosecutor’s offices, Shahshahani said:

“Revolutionary courts and revolutionary prosecutor’s offices are revolutionary institutions that were created with the Revolution itself; they obviously cannot be a permanent fixture of society, and in principle, should be dissolved once their work is done."

“Revolutionary courts and revolutionary prosecutor’s offices are revolutionary institutions that were created with the Revolution itself; they obviously cannot be a permanent fixture of society, and in principle, should be dissolved once their work is done. As you know, however, at the same time revolutionary courts and revolutionary prosecutor’s offices were established, a guidelines and law that determined their jurisdiction was enacted by the Council of the Islamic Revolution. Hearings that are conducted by revolutionary courts within the framework of these guidelines and law are, of course, revolutionary and legal; any other processes and actions taken by the revolutionary court or the revolutionary prosecutor’s office outside the framework of these regulations, regardless of where they occur in the country, means that they have been done by a non-competent authority without jurisdiction. And unfortunately, what we are witnessing today is that these officials often hear cases that are outside their competence and jurisdiction. The result is that not only do such verdicts and decisions at times set inappropriate and irremediable precedents, but they also prevent them from adjudicating crimes that are within their legal competence.”

Crimes that are not within the revolutionary prosecutor’s office’s jurisdiction

The Tehran Prosecutor then added: “For instance, in accordance with the aforementioned guidelines and law, other than crimes related to the Revolution, only forcible sexual assault (rape) has been determined as within this court’s jurisdiction, and I don’t know why they even did that. However, not a day goes by where you don’t hear about flogging, imprisoning, and/or executing an individual, male or female, accused of adultery, (which is the same thing as “illegal relations under the laws of religion”) and not read about crimes of this magnitude in the press or not hear about persons being prosecuted for crimes that are not within the competence of the revolutionary prosecutor’s office. More importantly, sometimes these authorities even hear alimony cases, currency trafficking, and the like.

This being the case, these days some revolutionary courts and revolutionary prosecutor’s office’s simply know no legal bounds and limits for their activities, not knowing what catastrophic and irreparable damage and consequences this state of affairs will have for the country, from every respect, especially from an international standpoint.”

The Tehran Prosecutor then alluded to the words of Hojjatoleslam (a rank among Shi’a clergy, below Ayatollah) Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini and said: “Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Ahmad Khomeini said in a speech: ‘First, create an Islamic environment and an Islamic society; only then can you mete out Islamic punishments if people violate Islamic laws.’ And I agree with him. I read Hojjatoleslam Khomeini’s interview several times and tried to contact him in the city of Qom and thank him for this profound social viewpoint and for his courage in uttering those words, but unfortunately I was not able to reach him. I hope His Excellency continues to give speeches and interviews regarding social issues particularly at this juncture.”

"These days some revolutionary courts and revolutionary prosecutor’s office’s simply know no legal bounds and limits for their activities, not knowing what catastrophic and irreparable damage and consequences this state of affairs will have for the country, from every respect”

The Prosecutor added: “He has grown up under the watchful eye of Great Leader of the Revolution and has always been by his side; his opinion is not just the opinion of a regular member of the clergy. Professor Maret, the famous determinist says: ‘An individual’s personality is a consequence of all of his/her compulsory wishes, that is, these wishes are mostly transferred and acquired through education, the environment one is raised in, and one’s teachers and instructors. When I think that that phrase came from the son of the Leader of the Revolution, we can rely on it and count on it more than we can count on what others say.

Why did an 11-year-old child commit suicide?

The Prosecutor then alluded to certain verdicts issued by the revolutionary courts and said: “You know, what are you to think when you hear that they have executed a woman for adultery, and her 11-year-old child, overcome with grief, throws himself/herself under a car in one of the northern cities and dies? Has society done everything it could to provide financial and educational security for this woman and many other men and women, but they still went astray? These are people who have spent the last 25 years under the influence of a corrupt regime which promoted corruption on a daily basis in various ways. In any event, if the revolutionary courts function within the framework of their jurisdiction, they will be able to maintain the revolutionary dimension of their work.”

Illegal Decisions of Revolutionary Courts

Regarding rulings issued by revolutionary courts, Shahshahani said: “Regarding rulings that have been issued by revolutionary courts: I must say that, where they hear cases outside their competence and issue sentences, these sentences are neither correct nor accurate for us to want to opine about them. We cannot doubt however, the accuracy of decisions issued within the purview of their competence, because we are not apprised of the case and of the evidence contained therein; so we cannot give an opinion unless we see the content and the evidence of the case file, and even then, it is not certain that different judges would reach the same conclusions from the content and evidence contained in a single file. Case in point: where there is a panel of judges sometimes there is disagreement between them on a single issue and usually the majority opinion prevails.”

Establishment of Various Courts

Regarding courts other than those of the Ministry of Justice and revolutionary courts, the Tehran Prosecutor said: “Unfortunately we are seeing these types of courts spring up more or less in various places in the country such as courts for combatting usury, trade union tribunals, and the like. As soon as the first such court was established in Tehran a short time ago, I announced my opinion based on my duty as the Prosecutor to oversee the good implementation of laws, and stated that if swift action is not taken to prevent the spread of such courts, we will gradually see them be established all over the country. I say it again now, no law, not only in Iran, but anywhere else in the world, even in Islamic countries, permits an individual to establish a court on his own volition and bring people to trial as he wishes, even if the most just decisions are issued by said court.

Principle 125 in the proposed text of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, the draft of which has been approved by Imam Khomeini (and he has also expressed his agreement with the principles stated therein) provides: “The courts of the Ministry of Justice are the official authorities to hear public complaints and cases and no one is permitted to establish courts under any circumstances whatsoever.” The same concept was expressed in Principle 73 of the amended Constitution of Iran’s Constitutional Monarchy which had also been drafted by religious scholars: “No one, regardless of what position they hold, is permitted to establish any courts contrary to the law.” Now, I do not understand the reason behind establishing trade union courts or usury courts, or the like, given the express prohibition in the draft Constitution.”

Mir Shams Shahshahani added: “If we do not prevent the establishment of nonsensical tribunals, whose numbers are multiplying every day in every alleyway and will soon be in the hundreds and perhaps thousands, judicial chaos will reign over the country in the very near future.

We have to answer to foreigners

In a different part of his discourse, the Tehran Prosecutor alluded to the levels of domestic production and said: “We produce only 7 percent of our domestic consumption needs, and so we have to interact with the rest of the world. It is therefore necessary to have courts that have been established by law and through the proper legal authorities with specific and proper rules of procedure, with crimes and punishments defined beforehand in order to carry out justice throughout the country. It is not important what system these courts and laws are derived from; what is important is that they exist beforehand. The world cannot fault us about why we punish a thief or a person who has committed sexual crimes or what kind of punishment we mete out, but these acts must be defined as “crimes” beforehand and the punishment and the adjudicating authority must be defined and known beforehand; it is at that point and in such circumstances that we can then tell foreigners what the punishment is for theft in our country. If you do not wish to be subjected to such a punishment, either don’t come to our country, or if you do, do not steal.”

The Tehran Prosecutor added: “But for anyone to gather a bunch of people around him and start a tribunal under any pretext, and try and punish people according to his taste and wishes under the guise of “Shari’a” is something that will ultimately lead to judicial chaos and insecurity in the country.”

Dissolve the Judiciary

The Tehran Prosecutor then alluded to the country’s judiciary falling out of favor and said: “My belief is that, if they don’t want or accept the judiciary in its current form, it is best to dissolve it with the passage of a Single Article law by the honorable Council of the Revolution and leave its duties to people they believe are better-suited for the task. But what they shouldn’t do is allow just any individual to set up tribunals in every corner of the country, tribunals that are not established within and pursuant to the law and with legal standards. Judges will never fight such a decision.

"The fact of the matter is that the judiciary was under constant attack and disrespect, on a daily basis, by the Shah, and on official occasions, those who were most targeted with anger and disrespect were judges who were trampled upon more and more every day, but never gave up."

Expressing dissatisfaction with state of affairs at the Ministry of justice, the Tehran Prosecutor said: “I give you my word that judges will never dispute or oppose the new judiciary, and that, on the contrary, will assist in its formation and completion with the utmost honesty and caring in order to protect what is right and to carry out justice; this is the special characteristic and of all of the judiciary’s pious judges and it is what they all have in common.

The Tehran Prosecutor then alluded to the matter of insults and disrespect of judges by some of the aforementioned people and said: “To disrespect judges and insult the judiciary on a daily basis and call it Taghuti, and call the judges “subordinates and affiliates of the previous regime” is truly unfair and unjust; what’s interesting is that the matter is brought up mostly by people who consider themselves to be the torch bearers of justice and fairness. The fact of the matter is that the judiciary was under constant attack and disrespect, on a daily basis, by the Shah, and on official occasions, those who were most targeted with anger and disrespect were judges who were trampled upon more and more every day, but never gave up. Today, when the treatments of the past must be remedied, and judges must be provided with an appropriate environment to carry out their sacred and very important duty and command the respect that their position deserves, they are being disrespected by a special group of individuals.”

Seeking the Leader of the Revolution’s Assistance

In another portion of his interview, the Tehran Prosecutor talked about the positions of those who were the Shah’s pawns and carried out his will and said: “In order to carry out his evil deeds, the dictator tried to bring all of society’s legal and legitimate organizations and bodies under his control. When he lost hope in the assistance of true judges and true clergymen, he made use of a bunch of incompetent and opportunistic individuals under the guise of “judge” or cleric, while the true and responsible judge was either exiled or jailed, or rotted in isolation, jobless and up in the air. At the same time the Kianpurs (Minister of Justice executed by the Islamic Republic judicial system) and the Yeganehs (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who committed suicide in exile in the United States a few years after the Revolution) and the like, were the pawns carrying out the Shah’s made to order justice under the reassuring title of “judge”, there were other pretend clerics with phony Ayatollah labels who justified Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s deeds in Islamic terms. They were no clerics, just like the others were no judges. Just like there is no longer any sign of fake clerics and the latter have ceded their posts to the truly responsible and committed clergymen of today, there is also no sign of that group of judges who sold their soul to the devil. Where were those who are now proclaiming today’s judiciary as Taghuti and cronies of the previous regime when the virtuous judges of the judiciary were enduring persecution in those dark times of silence and oppression? If the deviant Pahlavi regime brought a bunch of cronies for its own purposes into the judiciary as judges, it was because that was what it had planned across the country in all realms and all organizations. But which governmental organization so quickly and immediately acted in purging itself in utter ruthlessness? In any event, today, the judiciary has taken onto itself the duty to implement reform, and it does so without being charitable to anyone. [Is that the case with every organization though?] For instance, has every cleric who was being paid by the Oghaf (“plural for Vaghf” or Islamic endowments of property) Organization and the SAVAK to promote Mohammad Reza Pahlavi against Imam Khomeini, the Great Leader of the Revolution, been investigated?”

“I ask the grand Ayatollahs to leave the task of establishing courts to the legislators, and I seek the assistance of Imam Khomeini to pay particular attention to this issue in these crucial times, because continuation of this trend will have grave consequences for the country.”

Mir Shams Shahshahani, the Tehran Prosecutor, said in closing: “I ask the grand Ayatollahs to leave the task of establishing courts to the legislators, and I seek the assistance of His Highness, the Great Leader of the Revolution, Imam Khomeini, whose sharp eyes detect even the slightest issues and dangers, to pay particular attention to this issue in these crucial times, because continuation of this trend will have grave consequences for the country.”