Perspectives: The Outlook of Ebrahim Raisi's Presidency over the Judiciary

Ebrahim Raisi was finally appointed as the head of Iran's judiciary by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic on Thursday, March 7. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Raisi's appointment as the beginning of a new era that should be 'worthy of the second step of the revolution.' He deemed Raisi's 'Judicial Transformation Document' as 'useful' and 'effective,' urging him to neither rush nor delay in its implementation. Among the recommendations from the Supreme Leader to the new judiciary chief are the eradication of corruption within the judiciary, judicial actions without consideration for others in utilizing youth for positions within the judiciary, and cooperation with the legislative and judiciary branches. Ebrahim Raisi, a member of the principlist Assembly of Combatant Clergy, lost to Hassan Rouhani in last year's presidential elections. He is the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi and a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. Additionally, he has held positions such as head of the General Inspection Organization, prosecutor and attorney general of Karaj, attorney general of Tehran, deputy of the judiciary, and prosecutor of the Special Clerical Court. His long history of work within the judiciary and complete familiarity with it are among the reasons the Supreme Leader cited for this appointment. The 57-year-old Raisi, who is under European Union sanctions, was a member of a four-person committee in 1988 that decided on the execution of political prisoners. Human rights organizations estimate that over five thousand political activists, most of whom were sentenced to imprisonment and some awaiting release after serving their sentences, were executed. (These executions were the ones that Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the then-deputy of Ayatollah Khomeini, attempted to halt midway and described as 'the greatest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic,' stating that history would condemn those involved.) Ebrahim Raisi is the sixth head of the judiciary in the history of the Islamic Republic, following Mohammad Beheshti, Abdul Karim Mousavi Ardebili, Mohammad Yazdi, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, and Sadegh Amoli Larijani.