Advisor to Rouhani Advises Raisi: A Judge Should Learn from the Past

The Tasnim news agency reported that Hesamoddin Ashna, cultural advisor to Hassan Rouhani, wrote on his Twitter account addressing Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi, that he should "learn from the past" and "not expose the judge to public judgment." On Tuesday, March 13, Ashna tweeted without directly mentioning Raisi's name: "It is inappropriate to drag the respect of Astan Quds Razavi into the harsh and bitter election campaign. It is not in the interest to expose the judge to public judgment. Let us learn from the past." In recent weeks, speculations have arisen regarding the nomination of Ebrahim Raisi, who also heads the Special Court for Clergy, as the main candidate for the conservatives in the presidential election scheduled for May 18 next year. In this context, his name is among the 14 main candidates of the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability, a newly formed conservative coalition for the presidential elections. However, Ebrahim Raisi has not yet reacted to the possibility of his candidacy. Nevertheless, the state-run IRIB news agency published an interview with him last Wednesday in which he stated that he would not run in the elections, but hours later, the agency announced that it had not conducted an interview with Raisi. As the date of the twelfth presidential election approaches, political competition has intensified. The presidential election is set to be held on May 18 next year, and several figures close to the conservatives have expressed their readiness to run. Ashna's tweet refers to Raisi's judicial history. He has held high judicial positions in Iran for nearly four decades. Before his appointment as head of the Special Court for Clergy, he served as the Attorney General of the country and previously was the head of the General Inspection Organization, the Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran, and for years the First Deputy of the Judiciary. Ebrahim Raisi was also appointed as a member of a special three-member committee to investigate the allegations of abuse of detained protesters in Kahrizak following the controversial 2009 elections, after statements by Mehdi Karroubi, one of the leaders of the election protesters. This committee rejected Karroubi's statements and deemed them "an insult to the dignity and credibility of the system." Previously, Ebrahim Raisi was a member of the decision-making committee for the executions of the 1980s as the then Deputy Prosecutor. Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri referred to his role in this matter in an audio file released a few months ago by his son, Ahmad Montazeri. However, Raisi has not yet responded to this issue. In Ayatollah Montazeri's memoirs, it is mentioned that after Ayatollah Khomeini's decree, between 2,800 and 3,800 prisoners were executed. In addition to his judicial background, Ebrahim Raisi has been appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, as the custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, the largest endowment organization in Iran, since March 2016. Hesamoddin Ashna has previously commented on some potential conservative candidates for the presidential election. Last October, he advised Ezzatollah Zarghami, former head of IRIB, in a tweet to "wait four years for his own sake." Zarghami's name is also among the 14 main candidates of the conservative Front of Islamic Revolution Stability. Ashna has also reacted to rumors of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, potentially running for office, tweeting: "Let us not allow him to be dragged into the election campaign like Mohsen [Rezaei] and Baqer [Qalibaf]." This is while this IRGC official has stated that he has no intention of participating in the elections.