Ali Motahari's Letter to Ebrahim Raisi Regarding 'Five Improper Practices' in the Judiciary

Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in a letter to Ebrahim Raisi, the new head of the judiciary, urged him to 'stop certain improper practices in this branch.' Motahari outlined five requests, one of which is to halt the implementation of a clause added to Article 48 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which he claims was added without proper legislative process. According to this clause, political and security defendants are required to choose their lawyers solely from a list approved by the head of the judiciary. This decision by the former head of the judiciary faced objections from legal experts and attorneys. Motahari deemed this legal clause 'incompatible with the right to freely choose a lawyer and with justice and the Constitution,' and considered it 'a cause of unjust discrimination among lawyers.' In one of his five requests, the Deputy Speaker described the prosecutor's indictment against members of the parliament for their interpellation speeches as a 'strange phenomenon' and asked the head of the judiciary to put an end to this. Motahari stated that 'this action contradicts Articles 84 and 86 of the Constitution, and representatives are free to express their opinions.' In another section of the letter, he referred to cases within the judiciary that are disputed between two intelligence agencies in the country, specifically mentioning the detainees in the case of environmental activists, where one agency considers them spies while the other, which is the specialized authority for determining espionage, does not. He requested Raisi to issue orders to 'prevent the involvement of irresponsible individuals in these cases and to end this practice.' Motahari emphasized the need for appropriate decisions regarding prosecutors who believe their powers are only slightly less than God's. He also referenced the special powers granted to the former head of the judiciary by the Supreme Leader to establish special courts for economic crimes, which have stripped defendants of the right to appeal except in death penalty cases. He noted that these special powers and rulings pertain to 'crisis-era cases,' but he has heard that these conditions 'have also included some past cases.' Another focus of Motahari's letter was the special court for clergy, of which Raisi is still the prosecutor. Motahari argued that 'the necessity of a special court for clergy dates back to the early revolution, and it is unclear if such a special court for clergy, reminiscent of the class-based Sassanid government, is in the country's interest.' He pointed out that 'if someone has a complaint against a cleric, they must only refer to this court and can only use specific clerical lawyers,' stressing that 'this undermines individuals' freedom to choose their lawyers.' Motahari asserted that 'the Islamic Republic must decide on this matter.'