Rohani: No One Should Be Summoned or Arrested Without Evidence

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, emphasized the necessity of having an "independent and impartial judiciary" on Sunday, July 2, stating, "No one should be summoned or arrested before having evidence." Speaking at a nationwide judiciary conference in Tehran, he added, "First, there must be evidence before we summon someone, not that we summon someone and then bring evidence. This is also stated in the Constitution that the judicial officer must be a judicial officer and not more than that. A person cannot be held for more than 24 hours without a judge's order." In recent weeks, Hassan Rouhani and some members of his government have criticized the detention of managers of several Telegram channels close to the government and reformists. Rouhani further stated, "We do not have the right to tarnish people's reputation and summon or arrest someone without sufficient evidence. There must first be sufficient evidence to consider the accused's charge." Activists and human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized human rights violations in Iran over the past decades. Their criticisms have focused on the issuance of death sentences, security and judicial actions against political activists, journalists, and civil activists. These criticisms have also been confirmed by Ban Ki-moon, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, and special rapporteurs of the organization, but officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the judiciary, have repeatedly rejected these criticisms. In his remarks, Rouhani emphasized the need for impartiality in issuing judgments in the judiciary, stating, "If a judge differentiates between two people in court based on ethnicity, religion, political inclinations, or party affiliation, is that judgment commendable?" The President of Iran pointed out, "An impartial judge means we do not have right or left, Kurdish, Turkish, Baluch, Persian, Arab, or Turkmen; we do not have Shia or Sunni, Christian or Muslim. This is our Constitution. All individuals of the nation are equal before the law, equality before the law." He stressed that the judicial officer, including the Ministry of Intelligence and the police, should not be partisan, saying, "If our judicial officer benefits from a case, public opinion will question the impartiality." The President's remarks come at a time when his government's Ministry of Intelligence has faced criticism for its actions against several political and civil activists. The Ministry of Intelligence has remained silent in response to these criticisms. Rouhani called for both judges and judicial officers not to benefit from any party or faction throughout all judicial stages, adding, "All agencies must act transparently before the people and be accountable. Why shouldn't the judiciary do this? Why shouldn't the media help all of us in terms of constructive criticism? It doesn't matter whether it's the executive, legislative, or judiciary." He also stated, "If one of the duties of the President is to implement the Constitution, part of it concerns the judiciary and the principles related to this branch. If the President is concerned about the government and its implementation, he should have the same concern for the judiciary because the President is responsible for implementation, and if he sees a deficiency in the implementation of a principle, he should come forward and stand alongside the other branches." In another part of his speech, Rouhani referred to the long-term effects of war and sanctions, saying, "Solving some of the problems is not desired by the enemies of the revolution... to distract our minds from the main issues and engage us in secondary matters, they produce a series of stories for us; one series after another." He announced that "the problems we face will not be the problems of the twelfth government but the problems of the system, the country, and the nation." He added, "If we have an environmental problem, if dust paralyzes the normal lives of people, if polluted air threatens the health of the people, if water shortages put pressure on people's lives, if unemployment pressures families, and if poverty and economic problems disrupt people's livelihoods; are these problems of the government or the nation and the system? These are everyone's problems." Rouhani pointed out that the executive branch has "never sought to undermine the judiciary or other branches" and added, "Of course, other branches have not sought to undermine the executive branch either." In recent months, officials from both the executive and judiciary branches have criticized each other's performance several times. For instance, Rouhani stated on May 7 during the presidential election campaign in Hamadan that "the people of Iran declare that they do not accept those who have only known execution and imprisonment for 38 years." These remarks prompted reactions from judicial officials, with Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General, criticizing what he called "the undermining and weakening of the judiciary" on Saturday, July 1, stating, "If it is said that for 37 years you have done nothing but kill and imprison, we say the job of the judiciary is to deal with crime. If there had been no action from the judiciary in the 1980s, the roots of hypocrisy would not have been eradicated." A day earlier, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesman for the judiciary, referred to the "destruction" against the Revolutionary Guards, Basij, and the judiciary, stating that "a new sedition is ahead." His reference was to Rouhani's remarks on July 1, where he implicitly criticized the activities of the Revolutionary Guards, saying a part of Iran's economy has been given to a "government" that "has both guns and media" and "no one dares to compete with them." Regarding Iran's foreign policy, Rouhani stated that we should not give "excuses" to the enemy, saying, "If we can do something in foreign policy that leaves our enemies and ill-wishers alone, is that better, or should we behave in a way that others also side with our enemy? Which is better?" The President of Iran also described Tehran's foreign policy as an effort to establish "peace and stability in the region and to shorten the enemy's hand and take excuses from the enemy." Meanwhile, Iran has been repeatedly accused of supporting terrorist groups and interfering in the affairs of some regional countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Nonetheless, officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran reject these criticisms. Rouhani also stated, "Being revolutionary means isolating America; being revolutionary means speaking to the world in a way that the world can understand and accept our words." The foreign policy of Hassan Rouhani's government has faced repeated criticism from supporters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and they have accused his government of compromise and shortcomings in the nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group. Hassan Rouhani and his government members have denied these accusations.