Criticism of the Continued House Arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi Affects the 'Justice' of the Leader

The second round of harsh criticisms by Ali Motahari regarding the performance of the Assembly of Experts and his explicit opposition to Ali Khamenei's support for the continued house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi has created potential for new controversies in Iran's political landscape. Motahari stated in late November that due to a 'specific' political tendency in the Assembly of Experts, this body has deviated from its main role, and its members' activities have been reduced to meeting once or twice a year, having dinner and lunch, attacking 'seditionists,' and making a few cultural remarks to the government. Although Motahari's statements were significant, they may not have received much attention due to their publication in a weekly magazine {Seda}. However, in early December, he criticized the Assembly's performance more explicitly, stating that its members are engaged in matters other than their primary duty of overseeing the performance of the Supreme Leader and his subordinate institutions. He added that the leadership institution and the Executive Headquarters of the 'Imam's Command' have turned into an 'economic cartel' and sometimes play a 'destructive' role in the country's economy, yet the Assembly has not addressed this issue. In his speech at Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, Motahari not only criticized the members of the Assembly of Experts but also explicitly stated that although the Supreme Leader claims to have observed 'justice' regarding the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi, he disagrees with that view. Motahari, stating that Khamenei is not 'infallible,' believes that the house arrest of Karroubi and Mousavi is a mistake and labels this action as unjust. The concern of the website Meydan 72, which first published the audio file and text of Motahari's speech in Mashhad, indicates the rarity of such criticisms from the conservative faction against the leader and his affiliated entities. This website noted at the end of the transcript that due to certain legal obstacles, it cannot reflect parts of this speech in writing, and if legal authorities issue a warning, the content will be immediately removed from the site. The importance of Motahari's statements lies not only in the public expression of the harshest and most explicit criticisms of the Assembly of Experts, whose members have officially changed their legal duty of oversight over the leader to protection of him, but also in deeming Khamenei's continuation of the house arrest of Karroubi and Mousavi as unjust. According to a jurisprudential theory from Ruhollah Khomeini, 'justice' is one of the main and essential conditions of the Supreme Leader. Khomeini stated that an Islamic ruler must be just in granting the rights of Muslims and must observe justice in the implementation of laws. Although there is no evidence to suggest that Motahari, by deeming Khamenei's order to continue the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi as unjust, intends to question his conditions for continuing as the leader of the Islamic Republic, raising this criticism could encompass such a topic. The significance of this issue increases as, according to Article 109 of the Islamic Republic's Constitution, the necessary conditions for holding the position of the Supreme Leader must exist until the end of the leadership, and the removal of any of these conditions will lead to his dismissal from his position. Following Motahari's speech in Mashhad, several members of the Assembly of Experts warned that one cannot 'play' with this body and express 'audacity' towards it in the form of words, as such 'insulting' remarks will harm individuals. Hassan Mamdouhi, one of the members of the Assembly, criticized Motahari for speaking 'frankly' without being aware of the internal discussions of this Assembly and for making 'very unmeasured' remarks. Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari, another member of the Assembly, deemed Motahari's statements as 'extremely unfair,' while Mehdi Koochakzadeh, a hardline representative, accused him of having mental and emotional issues, and Hossein Tala, another representative, stated that if the original text of Motahari's remarks is what has been published, 'logically' the representatives will decide on how to deal with him. However, the harshest reaction to Motahari's statements so far belongs to Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad and a member of the Assembly of Experts. Alamolhoda responded to Motahari's remarks by saying that no one claims that Ali Khamenei is infallible, but he implicitly suggested that this matter should not be stated. He said, 'If I were to say that the Supreme Leader has made a mistake and is not infallible, I do not have the right to say that he has made a mistake in everything that I think is wrong. Because the Supreme Leader, while not infallible, is wise.' Alamolhoda, without mentioning Motahari by name, addressed his audience by saying that anyone who heard 'the leader who is not infallible' should know that 'it is a continuation of enmity with the Prophet.' The Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, in statements that inadvertently confirmed Motahari's claims about the deviation of this institution from its duty, said that although the members of the Assembly are jurists, they are not 'overseeing the performance of the leader, because the authority that the leader has over the entire society also applies to the expert individual.' He introduced Khamenei as a political, social, and intellectual 'elite' and added that 100% of the members of the Assembly concluded in their latest assessment that 'the leadership of the Islamic community on the planet is exclusively in the position' of Khamenei. Criticisms of the Assembly's performance have been expressed following warnings from several conservative clerics close to Ali Khamenei, such as Ahmad Jannati and Kazem Sediqi, regarding attempts by some to 'capture' this Assembly in the next Assembly elections and create problems for Ali Khamenei. Although conservative media have tried to create a narrative against Motahari following his speech, it seems that due to his public criticism of Khamenei, major conservative media outlets have preferred to at least currently overlook these remarks.