Ejei Confirms Ibrahim Raisi's Appointment as Head of the Judiciary

The spokesperson for the judiciary announced the confirmation of Ibrahim Raisi's appointment as the head of this branch, with a member of the parliamentary judicial commission stating that Mr. Raisi will replace Sadegh Larijani on March 8. According to ISNA news agency, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, said on Sunday, March 3, in response to a question about remaining in his position: "I owe a debt to the system and must serve it, and I will certainly help the new head of the judiciary, Mr. Raisi, in the next term." Meanwhile, Yahya Kamali Pour, a member of the parliamentary judicial commission, stated that it had been previously announced that Mr. Raisi would replace Sadegh Larijani on March 8. Hassan Norouzi, the spokesperson for the parliamentary judicial commission, had previously confirmed the certainty of Ibrahim Raisi's presidency over the judiciary and mentioned that changes to the "Dispute Resolution Council Law" would be postponed until his presidency. He stated, "We realized that he has a specific opinion regarding this law, and we had to extend it for another year." Ibrahim Raisi, who is the custodian of the Astan Quds in Mashhad, was the runner-up in the 2017 presidential election, receiving 38% of the votes. He is subject to EU sanctions and was a member of a three-person committee that decided on the execution of political prisoners in 1988. In response to reports about the potential appointment of Ibrahim Raisi as the head of the judiciary, the Iran Human Rights Campaign stated on March 20 that even mentioning his name as a candidate for this position is a "catastrophe for the rule of law and the enforcement of justice in Iran." Hadi Ghaemi, the director of this campaign, emphasized that Mr. Raisi should be "prosecuted, not appointed as the head of the judiciary." Ibrahim Raisi, 57, was born in Mashhad. He began working as a deputy prosecutor in Karaj in 1980 at the age of 20 and was later appointed as the prosecutor of that city. In 1982, he was appointed as the prosecutor of Hamadan while retaining his position. Raisi was appointed as the deputy prosecutor of Tehran in 1985 and four years later as the prosecutor of that city. He served as the head of the General Inspection Organization of the country for ten years from 1994 to 2004. He also served as the first deputy of the judiciary for ten years from 2004 to 2014 and was the attorney general from 2014 to 2015 until he was appointed by the Supreme Leader as the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi after the death of Nasser Vaez Tabasi. He has also been appointed as the special prosecutor for the clergy since 2012 by the Supreme Leader. In addition to his judicial positions, he has been a member of the conservative "Society of Combatant Clergy" since 1997 and is also a representative of South Khorasan Province in the Assembly of Experts. He is set to replace Sadegh Amoli Larijani, who has been the head of the judiciary since August 2009 and was appointed to the Expediency Discernment Council in January of this year.