Justice Minister Opposes Imprisonment of Economic Offenders

Mostafa PourMohammadi, Iran's Minister of Justice, has announced the development of 'alternative punishments' for economic offenders in Iran, stating that these individuals should not be imprisoned. According to IRNA, Mr. PourMohammadi said during a speech on National 'Standard' Day that 'social deprivations' should be considered for economic offenders. He added, 'We intend not to assign violations of standards, imports, exports, production, and business to prison in the rewriting of the Administrative Health Law.' The Minister of Justice also mentioned that modern methods should be used in dealing with offenders and that they should be deprived of 'continuing their activities and related fields.' On September 8, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, stated that 'corruption cannot be solved with arrests' and 'unfortunately, we start from the gallows whenever an incident occurs, while it is not like that; regulations and laws need to be reformed.' Mr. Rouhani added, 'In the fight against corruption, we must address the roots; if someone has received an unjust legal right somewhere, it cannot be resolved with courts and whips.' The President of Iran and the Minister of Justice have spoken about the necessity of changing laws regarding 'financial corruption' and 'economic offenders' at a time when conservative critics accuse this government of 'elitism,' 'economic lobbying,' and 'brokering.' The case of astronomical salary slips in the eleventh government has been one of the main issues that critics have focused on in recent months, becoming a basis for attacks on Rouhani's government. On September 7 of this year, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson of the judiciary, stated that no case regarding astronomical salary slips has been presented to the judiciary by the government so far. According to the Court of Audit report, 397 government managers received more than 20 million tomans in salaries and benefits last year, with the total 'excess' amount paid to them being approximately 23 billion tomans. The Court of Audit is a supervisory body affiliated with the parliament that oversees how budgets are spent in government agencies. The head and prosecutor of the Court of Audit are elected by the votes of parliament representatives. Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, also announced that five billion tomans of these salaries have been returned to the government, and the rest will also be returned. Government officials and a committee selected by the President of Iran have also responded to these criticisms by stating that 'unconventional payments' are not limited to the executive branch and that it is 'necessary' for other branches and institutions to investigate this issue within their respective agencies and publish their reports.