Iran's judiciary takes a military colour

In preparing demonstrators for execution and proposing to revive a judicial police force, the Tehran regime further shames itself.

A new phase of political killings is set to begin in Iran with the trial of 5 demonstrators charged with being mohareb a description for someone who fights against Islam.

Tehran's "general and revolutionary" prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, told the Iranian news agency, IRNA, that those who "set fire to vehicles and committed other crimes" could be regarded as mohareb and will be dealt with in revolutionary courts. He said the cases against them had been "prepared by security forces, after taking their confessions". The usual punishment for being a mohareb in the Islamic Republic is execution. In other words 5 people face execution for taking part in a demonstration.

Rightwing MPs who dominate the Iranian parliament have also been busy rushing through a new legislation calling for a faster process for dealing with those cases. They want to reduce the period for seeking an appeal from 20 to 5 days. "There are too many cases, and these must go through the system as soon as possible," said judiciary officials.

The call for using the "harshest punishment" for those who "insulted the supreme leader and the Islamic Republic" has continued for several weeks. However, in the last week religious and political authorities have raised the bars by calling demonstrators mohareb. 2 high-ranking officials, both with background in the Revolutionary Guards, the police chief, General Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam and the interior minister, General Mostafa Najjar have called for the need to regard demonstrators as mohareb.

In a meeting with the Revolutionary Guards in the holy city of Qom, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, known as the guru of the contested president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, added another dimension calling for the demonstrators to be regarded as mofsed fel arz "the corrupt on earth". He accused the demonstrators of getting their instructions from the west and "corrupting Islam". "They prefer to be Obama's servants rather than servants of God," Yazdi said. "They deserve only the harshest punishment."

Hundreds of clergy across Iran have now taken their cue from ayatollahs such as Mesbah Yazdi. It was originally the leader of the Iranian revolution of 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini, who used the terms mofsed fel arz and mohareb to describe those layers that he regarded as opposition. Islamic Republic's penal code provides the following definition:

Anybody who takes up arms to create fear and to divest people of their freedom and security is mohareb and mofsed-e fel-arz. Anybody convicted of being mohareb or mofsed-e fel-arz or both may be sentenced to death at the behest of the ruling judge.

Those 3 sentences sent thousands of post-revolutionary opposition figures to their death, as documented by international human rights organisations. It was the man who became known as the "hanging judge", the late Ayatollah Khalkhali, who in early 1980s used those terms readily to send people to their deaths.

The system of swift condemnation is well rehearsed in Iran. Last Friday, following the rallies of Ashura in which 10 demonstrators were killed, all Friday prayer leaders across the country appeared to have been instructed to condemn the demonstrations. The Friday prayer leader in Tehran was the head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati a staunch supporter of the contested president Ahmadinejad. He called for "harshest sentences" on those who do not accept the results of presidential elections.

"Official media and the intelligence services must name and shame those who insight riots," he said. He condemned those who used slogans for the downfall of the Islamic Republic and the supreme leader. "They've gone too far this time."

The Friday prayer leader in Shiraz, Ayatollah Imani, called for the "execution of those responsible for riots", Fars news agency reported. And in Yazd, Ayatollah Sedoughi called for the harshest punishment. Many quoted Ayatollah Khomeini as saying "those who want a republic without Islam are the enemies of Islam".

An envoy of the supreme leader, Hojatoleslam Taghavi, co-ordinates the policy for Friday prayer sermons. Addressing the recent demonstrations he said Islamic teaching insists on the ability to define and distinguish Islam's enemies. "To recognise the devil is to recognise the enemy."

Thus the head of judiciary in Iran, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, has stated that his responsibility can no longer be "limited" to judiciary matters. "My job is highly politicised and has also to deal with national security," he said, addressing judiciary officials.

Proposing new laws to deal with recent "riots", he asked the parliament where his brother Ali Larijani is the speaker to co-operate. He said people are "demanding firm action" and proposed a revival of judicial police force. To create a new military dimension to the judiciary, Larijani selected as his adviser a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad-Bagher Zolghadr, who has held several security posts.

So, the stage is set in every sense for putting the demonstrators on trial, accusing them of being mofsed fel arz or mohareb, giving them 5 days to appeal, and then in all probability sending them for execution. More than 500 were arrested in Ashura demonstrations. Several leading opposition figures were targeted and detained over the past 2 weeks.

Since protests started on June 13, following the disputed presidential election, Human Rights Watch has "confirmed from sources across Iran" the arrest of hundreds of opposition and reformist activists. Those arrested include prominent political and religious leaders on the reforming wing of the Islamic establishment as well as leading intellectuals, journalists, and students.

The measures so far have done nothing to deter the demonstrators. However, they have done much to discredit the Islamic Republic's political standing.

Source: The Guardian, January 9, 2010