Some Iran Insiders Voice Serious Criticism Amid Crisis

Iranian Shia theologian Morteza Moghtadaei -- the deputy chairman of Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom told Iran’s Labour News Agency Sunday that the judicial system does not adhere to Islamic law, or sharia, regarding limitation to issuing death sentence.

Himself a former Revolution Court judge and head of Supreme Court of Iran, Moghtadaei said "In cases where a person does not fight with a group and only fights with one person, that person is not called a mohareb," referring to the charge of "moharebeh" that the Islamic Republic’s judiciary has issued for many protesters. 

“Moharebeh” is an Islamic-Arabic term that in the lexicon of the Iranian regime means “fighting God” and its punishment is death.

The judiciary announced on Thursday the execution of Mohsen Shekari, a twenty-three-year-old protester convicted of injuring a security guard with a knife and closing off a street in the capital Tehran. He was charged with Moharebeh that along with another Islamic concept translated as “corruption on earth” are used as broad concepts by the regime to issue maximum sentences against opponents.

Clerical judges who take orders from the hardliner Judiciary convict people to death without a real trial, often with no defense lawyers and behind closed doors. The defendants have no way of challenging state evidence or introducing witnesses.

Moghtadaei elaborated that "If a mohareb kills someone, he should get the death sentence, but if he only threatens and intimidates, even if he is convicted, he should not get a death sentence; which means although he is a mohareb but should not be executed.”

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Mohammad-Ali Ayazi, another Shia scholar and a seminary teacher, also said that everyone has the right to protest and can defend himself against government agents who want to prevent him. That is not committing ‘moharebeh’, he underlined.

He added that "In an important issue such as execution, it is important that an independent lawyer defends the accused and that a public hearing is held in the presence of a jury." If these principles are not respected, the cycle of violence will continue, Ayazi noted. 

Prominent Iranian lawyer Nemat Ahmadi also criticized the judiciary for the prompt decision to issue death sentences for some of the detained protesters, saying that death sentences cannot be issued so haphazardly. He said that according to Article 279 of the Islamic Penal Code, a person is called a mohareb when he takes up a weapon against the people to cause insecurity by threatening others’ lives, property and honor. “Those who oppose the government are not recognized as mohareb,” he explained.

He added that many Islamic scholars believe the term should be used to describe bandits who endanger the security of the society, considering the historic context in which the term came into existence in the first place. It is very important to determine the use of the term with a lot of caution.

Mohammad-Hossein Saket, another lawyer and law researcher, said that “in general, it is not good to mix legal issues with political issues and make hasty decisions.” 

In a speech after the execution of the first protester, President Ebrahim Raisi announced that "the trial and punishment of the protesters" will continue. Also, Ahmad Khatami, a hardliner cleric and Friday prayer Imam expressed his gratitude “for the decisiveness of the Judiciary, which sent the first rioter to the gallows.” Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi had announced Tuesday that five more people indicted in the killing of a Basij militia member, Rouhollah Ajamian, were sentenced to death.

Shekari’s hanging after a hasty and unfair trial has sparked deep anger among Iranians, who believe his killing was meant to instill fear among the people, and world leaders who describe the act as the acme of atrocity and a nadir of humanity.

Iran’s top Sunni religious leader has also slammed the executions of protesters as violations of Sharia law and warned the authorities that this will not stop the antigovernment movement.

Nationwide protests that erupted after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on September 16 represent one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979. So far, around 500 civilians have been killed by security forces and at least 18,000 arrested. While many have been released, around 1,500 face criminal charges, and at least 80 detainees face the death sentence.

Mohammad Sarafraz said in a video message that “beating and killing [protesters] will not work and sooner or later it will reach a dead end, so this method must end.”

The comments by Sarafaraz, which can be interpreted as an unprecedented warning by an official appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, were made in a conversation with Shahrazad Mirqolikhan.

Mirqolikhan was arrested and imprisoned for five years in the US for trying to send military equipment to Iran.

After her release, she went to Oman and later became the public relations manager of Press TV, the English-language Iranian state TV channel, which was headed by Mohammad Sarfraz at the time.

In his unprecedented speech, Sarafraz warned Supreme Leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei saying “the method of putting pressure on people and not paying attention to their political and economic demands and their legitimate freedoms will not work.”

“I am in a situation that I know by making these remarks, anything may happen to me, so I have written my will,” added Sarafraz.

The so-called neighborhood youth groups have assumed a leading role in organizing protests when first they separately announced their existence on social media. These underground groups, whose members remain anonymous, use Twitter and Telegram as their main platforms. Several of the groups recently announced they had formed an alliance calling it United Youth of Iran (UYI).

The group said its manifesto circulated on social media on Sunday is meant to “pave the grounds for dialogue and cooperation” among various trade organizations, unions, political groups and activists inside Iran and abroad.

Iranian protesters have made it clear in the past three months that they are not seeking reforms within the system of the Islamic Republic. Their slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei show, they are seeking a revolution - a complete regime change. “This is not protest anymore, this is a revolution,” demonstrators often chant.

The youth groups alliance says getting rid of the Islamic Republic, separation of religion and state, and the “formation of an inclusive, democratic government” form the cornerstone of the 43-article manifesto, The document highlights the strictly secular nature of any future government.

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The first article of the manifesto is inspired by a famous Persian poem from the 13th century poet Saadi, which is also inscribed on a large hand-made carpet at the United Nations headquarters in New York, that says:

"Human Beings are members of a whole

In creation of one essence and soul

If one member is inflicted with pain

Other members uneasy will remain

If you have no sympathy for human pain

The name of human you cannot pertain"

The articles of the manifesto emphasize the right of the Iranian people to self-determination, citizens' equality before the law, full equality of men and women, freedom of belief and religion, freedom of speech, freedom of forming trade and other unions, as well as personal freedoms.

“Political parties must have freedom of action within the framework of law, respect for the country’s territorial integrity, fundamental human rights, transparency, and they must abide by democracy,” article 22 of the manifesto says.

The country’s foreign policy should be based on securing national interests and maintaining global peace, and non-interference, the manifesto says, and underlines that the future government of Iran should be committed to international charters and conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Several of the articles of the manifesto outline the future government’s duties to work for the welfare of its citizens, especially those not capable of providing for themselves without state assistance, provide free education and healthcare to all, protect the environment, and ensure that the rich pay their taxes in proportion to their income.

The manifesto can become an outline or a guide for a new, post-Islamic Republic constitution, reflecting the aspirations of a majority of young and older Iranians.

He specifically raised the issue of death sentences against five protesters charged with the murder of a government security agent and said, “Where is it written in Sharia that for killing one Basij member five people should receive the death sentence, and in such a short time?”

Abdolhamid also criticized the December 8 execution of the first protester, Mohsen Shekari, saying that for wounding a government security agent and closing a street, he should not have been hanged. The Sunni cleric said that Sharia foresees many lesser punishments, even if a person is convicted of “fighting against God,” the charge made against Shekari.

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Abdolhamid also said that government agents have killed many innocent people since September and there has been no accountability and no justice.

The Islamic Republic considers many acts of opposition or defiance against the regime as “Moharebeh”, an Islamic-Arabic term meaning war against God, with the maximum punishment of death, which the regime readily applies.

Abdolhamid had warned last week against issuing death sentences for protesters. Relations between Abdolhamid and the government became tense after security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Zahedan September 30, killing more than 80 people.

A secret file revealed by hackers in November showed that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered his security people not to arrest Abdolhamid but to disgrace him, after the Sunni cleric directly criticized the autocratic ruler. If true, this shows that Khamenei plays a major role in decisions that lead to violations of human rights and the operations of intelligence agencies against dissidents.

Abdolhamid defended his own record on the issue of freedom and equal rights for women, which critics have recently raised. He said that the Baluch populated region was a traditional area, where women did not historically enjoy much freedom, “But a lot of work has been done.”

Condemning excessive punishment and executions, Abdolhamid said, “Governments of the world should know that killing their own people is wrong.”

He maintained that Shekari’s execution was not right according to Quran and Sharia. “Executions in Iran had no precedent in Islam in any period. [Similar executions] did not take place during Prophet [Mohammed] or during the four senior Caliphs who succeeded him, including Imam Ali.”

In Islamic jurisprudence, the decisions and actions of Prophet Mohammed are taken as a guide in Sharia and judicial or political decisions. The Sunni cleric particularly mentioned the fourth Caliph Ali, because he is the most important source of emulation after the prophet.

Abdolhamid also criticized the regime’s foreign policy, saying its international conduct brough poverty and hunger to the nation. “The nuclear issue has gone on for so long and you were not able to solve it, which brought pressure on the people and led to their protests.”

Molavi Abdolvahed (Abdulwahid) Rigi was kidnapped by unknown people on Thursday afternoon and his body was found on Friday with three bullet wounds to his head. 

The prosecutor of Zahedan, Mehdi Shamsabadi, confirmed his death, explaining that he was abducted from the backdoor of Imam Hussein Mosque and was taken with a car without a license plate. He added that the police is investigating the case to identify the perpetrators of this incident.

Following the Bloody Friday of Zahedan and the killings in the city of Khash, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had sent a delegation to the region as a measure to calm the situation. Abdolvahed was one of the clerics who met with the representatives of Khamenei. 

The crackdown on protesters in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan, known as the Bloody Friday, took place September 30, when security forces killed close to 100 people, including women and children. 

Since then, people of the province are holding protest rallies almost every week after Friday prayers, chanting slogans against the regime and its ruler Khamenei. 

Earlier in the day, Molavi Abdolhamid, the most prominent religious leader of Iran's largely Sunni Baluch population living in the province, again criticized the regime for the execution of Mohsen Shekari, a young protester hanged for injuring a security guard with a knife and closing off a street in the capital Tehran, as well as other death sentences issued against other protesters.