Consensus Among Traditional and Radical Conservatives on 'The Judge of the 1988 Massacre'

There is little time left until the presidential elections on May 17, 2017. Conservatives, with the support and intervention of the IRGC and Basij (refer to the article 'The Open Project of the IRGC and Basij to Capture the Presidency in 2017') and the backing of court clerics, are seeking a single candidate against Hassan Rouhani. Regarding the views of clerics, consider the following examples: Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi stated in a meeting on February 28, 2017, with one of the conservative groups, 'If all conservatives agree on one option, there is hope for the election results.' Ayatollah Nouri Hamadani, in a meeting with Mehrdad Bazrpash - one of the main candidates of 'Jamna' - called for all revolutionary forces to unite around a single candidate in the presidential elections, saying, 'With sacrifice and selflessness, you can reach a single option. But know that if there is discord, defeat is certain.' The real situation of conservatives is that the Popular Front of Revolutionary Forces - 'Jamna' - was formed with this goal and has selected 10 candidates to introduce 5 candidates for debates and one main candidate to compete with Hassan Rouhani by mid-April. Among the 10 candidates of 'Jamna', Ebrahim Raisi is the main candidate, having received the most votes. However, not all conservatives have joined this 'Jamna'. Ali Larijani is waiting for the presidential elections of 2021. 'Jamna' has not invited Ali Larijani either. If Hassan Rouhani has any regard for him, Larijani and his forces prefer Rouhani to remain president. The Islamic Coalition Party has introduced Mostafa Mir Salim as its candidate. Saeed Jalili and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, two of the main candidates of 'Jamna', have also not participated in the group's meetings and are pursuing their independent candidacies. The only condition for cooperation from either of these two is to become the main candidate of 'Jamna'. It is said that Saeed Jalili is even seeking to form 'a new front'. General Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf also has his own front with extensive resources from 12 years of being the mayor of Tehran and is waiting for a final decision. The Stability Front is another conservative group that did not participate in the 'Jamna' meeting. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi is the spiritual and political leader of this group, and they are looking for 'the best candidate' according to his views, not necessarily 'the candidate who can win votes'. Ahmadinejad, who moved from city to city with great hope, was directly barred from running for president by a command from Ayatollah Khamenei. He expressed his protest with a statement declaring that he would not support any individual or group. However, the presidency was not possible for him to be away from. They nominated Beheshti, and Ahmadinejad not only activated his Twitter account but also wrote a letter to Donald Trump and has published two letters against Hassan Rouhani so far. Ahmadinejad's supporters have said that if their candidate is not approved, they will not support any other conservative individual. According to them, only Beheshti or another individual approved by Ahmadinejad can defeat Hassan Rouhani. If Ebrahim Raisi - a current member of the Guardian Council's supervisory board - officially announces, like Fattah and Bahonar, that he has no intention of participating in the presidential elections, then it will be difficult to consolidate traditional and radical conservatives around a final candidate. One conservative wrote in an article comparing Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Atabak and General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr that General Zolqadr's delusion intends to revive the corpse of conservatives with the 'Jamna' organization, but this is impossible. Of course, the writer did not consider the miraculous role of the IRGC and Basij's intervention in his analysis. The consensus of conservatives around one of 'the historical criminals' Ebrahim Raisi was a major factor in the suppressions of the first decade of the revolution. He was a member of the 'Death Committee' responsible for the mass execution of political and ideological prisoners in the summer of 1988. Ayatollah Montazeri, who stood alone against Ayatollah Khomeini's decree and this massacre, harshly criticized the members of the Death Committee, urging them to stop these crimes. 'Your actions are against religion, law, ethics, and rights. On what basis do you execute individuals who have been sentenced to several years in prison in closed courts without a lawyer? Future generations will remember you as 'the greatest criminals in history'.' Whether Ebrahim Raisi becomes a presidential candidate or not, he is one of the main candidates to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei. The claim is: The only person who, if he runs, will bring all groups and conservative individuals together is Ebrahim Raisi. Ayatollah Alam al-Huda - Ebrahim Raisi's father-in-law - is the representative of the Supreme Leader in Khorasan Razavi province and the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad. The speaker before the Friday prayer sermon on March 3, 2017, in Mashhad was Javad Karimi Qodosi - a very radical member of the Stability Front. He stated in the Friday sermon, 'We hope that thanks to this holy city and the esteemed sanctuary of Imam Reza, for the upcoming elections, which are close to the anniversary of the revolution, one of the men [Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi] who has been nurtured in this city and is favored and has public support will create a wave similar to the early revolution for a transformation in the 96 elections and the selection of a revolutionary cabinet.' Seyyed Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, a senior member of the Stability Front, also stated in a detailed interview that Ebrahim Raisi is the best candidate and that the views of the seminary teachers of Qom, the Combatant Clergy Society, and all conservatives are with him. 'Jamna', 'the Stability Front', and other conservatives have consensus on him. If Raisi runs, Saeed Jalili and Qalibaf will not run. Some have suggested that to satisfy Qalibaf, he may be introduced as the first vice president of Ebrahim Raisi. In the Assembly of Experts meeting held on March 7, 2017, Ayatollah Jannati and other speakers targeted Hassan Rouhani. Ayatollah Jannati said that this meeting is very important due to the elections and that Hassan Rouhani should apologize for not implementing the resistant economy. Jannati also mentioned at the Experts' dinner that 'Today, there are people in society and the country who do not have bread for dinner, while the government holds a ceremony in Karaj costing 500 million tomans.' The IRGC media highlighted an interview with Ayatollah Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of this meeting. He stated that Rouhani must defend his economic record because the main concern of the people is numerous economic problems. Regarding foreign and regional policy, he added: 'Today, the Americans, Europeans, and many Western statesmen are trying to undermine the national dignity and power of the country, which has been achieved through strength. Meanwhile, the upper hand in all fronts, whether in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Africa, and other countries, belongs to the front of those devoted to the Islamic Revolution, meaning the strategic extension of the Islamic system's strategy has the upper hand in all parts of the world. This dignity and power come from the readiness of the Hezbollah youth to take risks.' 'Crimes Against Humanity' as a Symbol of Unity Suppose today it is announced that Ayatollah Khamenei has passed away. Conservatives with a majority in the Assembly of Experts and consensus around Ebrahim Raisi, 'the Judge of the Massacre', will choose him as Khamenei's successor. The issue is this: Conservatives are a very diverse front with conflicting interests. The conflict of personal and group interests has left no room for compromise and unity among them. In terms of social base, their situation is so discouraging that they have no hope of victory except through repression, eliminating rivals, non-competitive elections, and military intervention. However, even if they combine all these - that is, repression, elimination of rivals, non-competitive elections, military intervention - they still cannot create unity around their claimed 'principles'. For unity, they must resort to 'one of the historical criminals'. 'The Ayatollah of the Massacre' is the glue that binds them together. What are the principles of these conservatives? Repression and crime? According to the constitution, the Minister of Justice appoints the head of the judiciary. The Minister of Justice of the conservatives is another member of the 'Death Committee' - Mostafa Pourmohammadi - who defended the summer 1988 massacre, stating: 'We executed God's decree.' The point of contention in this writing is not who will become president or succeed Ayatollah Khamenei; the point of contention is the factor that creates unity and consensus among all conservatives. Consensus around 'the Ayatollah of the Massacre' is consensus and unity around repression and crime. Although Iran, like the US and Israel, is not a member of the International Criminal Court, and the ICC does not address crimes before the year 2000, the crime of 'crimes against humanity' is now very serious. So much so that the UN, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have considered the massacre of over a thousand Muslim minorities in Myanmar in 2016 as 'crimes against humanity'. Even the US representative at the UN Human Rights Council emphasized that the world should not ignore the crimes of the Myanmar army due to the presence of Aung San Suu Kyi - the Nobel Peace Prize winner - in the Myanmar government. The fundamental question is: In such a context and background, how do conservatives introduce themselves to the world and Iranians with the symbol of 'the Ayatollah of the Massacre'? Is 'the Ayatollah of the Massacre' trust-building and legitimacy-creating?