The 'Preferred Candidate' of the Guardian Council and Judiciary for the Presidency

According to Article 99 of the Constitution: "The Guardian Council is responsible for overseeing the elections of the Assembly of Experts, the Presidency, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and public votes and referendums." According to Article 98 of the Constitution: "The interpretation of the Constitution is the responsibility of the Guardian Council." Based on this, after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Guardian Council extended "oversight of elections" to "supervisory oversight," under which opponents, critics, and rivals are disqualified. Although the Guardian Council is an anti-democratic institution and supervisory oversight is also anti-democratic and violates the political participation rights of citizens to have candidates and vote for their preferred candidates, nevertheless, a reasonable and legal expectation is that after using all these tricks, the Guardian Council should be impartial towards the individuals it has approved. The Guardian Council and the elections of 2005 and 2009 In the presidential elections of 2005 and 2009, members of the Guardian Council not only openly and officially defended Ahmadinejad's presidency but also invoked the Mahdi to encourage the masses to vote for him. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati went so far as to call for the teaching of Ahmadinejad's letter to George W. Bush—the then President of the United States—in schools and universities. In his Friday prayer sermons in Tehran, he described this letter as extraordinary, strange, and divinely inspired, adding: "The president has written a letter to his counterpart, and this letter is truly a strange letter. In my opinion, this letter should be read by all children, should be read in schools and universities, should be repeatedly read by the media, and should also be included in textbooks in the future. This letter is not simple; it has a message, and no one in the world dares to express such issues and concerns. This letter states that the current problem of America is not economic and political, but rather a distance from monotheism and the teachings of the prophets. The Western society is collapsing and has reached a dead end and will reach it. This man (Ahmadinejad) is truly a brave, religious, and powerful man who believes in his words. This man is the pride of the country and Islam. Ahmadinejad's letter has found its place in the world... This letter is inspiration, and God has grace and wants to increase the power of this country and inspires in this way. Where in the inside and outside has such a letter been written that has astonished everyone? In my opinion, we should appreciate this man." In the 2009 presidential election, the jurists of the Guardian Council also officially defended Ahmadinejad's presidency. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said: "My support for the president is partly due to the support of 'Agha' [Ayatollah Khamenei] and partly because I generally like the positions and characteristics of the president; such as simplicity, humility, hard work, sincere justice-seeking, interest in serving the deprived, courage and bravery in undertaking heavy and sometimes dangerous tasks, fighting against oppression and corruption, and the arrogant oppressors to the point of humiliating them and confronting them from a position of power, and innovation in action where innovators always lead. This set of characteristics is something I like in anyone, and I support them, and these characteristics were either absent or less present in previous individuals, and for this reason, the people gave him those high votes." Ayatollah Mohammad Momen said: "I consider Mr. Ahmadinejad better than the other three candidates. A person should be elected by the people who has the necessary qualifications to manage the country and fulfill the wishes and orders of the Prophet (PBUH) and the Imams (AS)." Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi issued a statement saying: "Mr. Ahmadinejad, compared to other individuals, has paid more attention to Islamic values and adheres to the criteria desired by the Imam and the leadership. My personal opinion as a member of the Society of Teachers has been previously announced, and I reiterate that we have never given a religious permit to pass over Mr. Ahmadinejad, and of course, this is my personal opinion." At this time, Sadeq Larijani was also one of the jurists of the Guardian Council and, given his membership in the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary—whose candidate was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—he was also a formal supporter of Ahmadinejad. A few months later, he took over the presidency of the Judiciary and, along with Ebrahim Raisi, carried out a very brutal crackdown on the Green Movement (refer to the article "The 'Ayatollah of Mass Execution' and the Suppression of the Green Movement and its Leaders"). Given these positions and the widespread protests of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and the Greens based on the occurrence of significant fraud in the 2009 presidential election, on May 17, 2014, Mohsen Ismaili, a legal expert of the Guardian Council, said in an interview with the Shenasnameh program regarding this matter: "Without beating around the bush, I must say that some members of the Guardian Council (of which I was not one) were enamored with Mr. Ahmadinejad and had good expectations of him." Of course, the legal experts of the Guardian Council—especially Gholam Hossein Elham and Ebrahim Azizi—were also defenders and admirers of Ahmadinejad. Elham's wife published the book "The Miracle of the Third Century" in praise of Ahmadinejad's status. At the end of Ahmadinejad's eight-year presidency, on July 19, 2013, Ayatollah Jannati said in Friday prayers in Tehran about his performance: "In this government, we witnessed the revival of many revolutionary slogans. The culture of the revolution, simplicity, and the slogans of the Imam were raised in this government, and the revolution was revived... The very things that the people wanted were raised, and that is why the youth participated with love and enthusiasm in the first round and even spent from their own pockets to achieve high votes, and that is worth it. Unprecedented hard work that was truly tireless in the real sense. The integrity that was present in the work is commendable, and they were not ashamed to raise revolutionary slogans in international forums. The fact that Islam was raised, the holy name of the Awaited Imam (AS) was mentioned at the United Nations for the first time, and I do not know when it will be mentioned again. References to the Quran, references to the Ahl al-Bayt, references to Islamic backgrounds were issues that were raised in this government, and we also appreciate it in our own way and hope that the next government will continue this path." The Guardian Council and Hassan Rouhani Members of the Guardian Council—especially Ayatollah Jannati and Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi—have repeatedly openly attacked Hassan Rouhani and denied his political, cultural, social, and economic positions. Even Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi announced that the Society of Teachers wrote a confidential letter to Hassan Rouhani and warned him about his performances. In 2015, Mohammad Yazdi warned that if Rouhani did not heed the warnings of this society, "the Society of Teachers might officially warn him about the matters that were confidential and highly confidential." In the spring of 2016, the Society of Teachers sent a second protest letter regarding the cultural policies of the government to Hassan Rouhani. On October 27, 2016, one of the members of the Society of Teachers informed the media that "the president has responded to the confidential letter of the Society of Teachers, but the text of this letter or his response to it is not to be published in the media." Sadeq Larijani—the head of the Judiciary—has also repeatedly engaged in open media disputes with Hassan Rouhani. Mohseni Ejei has also been fully alongside Sadeq Larijani in these disputes. There is no doubt about the firm opposition of the jurists of the Guardian Council and the heads of the Judiciary to Hassan Rouhani. However, according to the laws of this regime, they must be impartial in elections, which they have never been. The Guardian Council and Judiciary Candidate for 2017 On April 27, all media outlets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—including Fars News Agency, Tasnim News Agency, etc.—announced that the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary introduced Ebrahim Raisi as their "preferred candidate." Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, Ayatollah Momen, Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroodi, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Reza Modarresi Yazdi, and Ayatollah Mahdi Shabzendeh are the six current jurists of the Guardian Council. These six jurists are simultaneously members of the current Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi is the head of the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary and was re-elected as the head of this organization on April 6, 2017. The introduction of someone who has been involved in the mass execution of political prisoners as the "preferred candidate" for the people to vote for is a blatant violation of the law and the impartiality of the overseeing authority with full power in elections. Sadeq Larijani—the head of the Judiciary—is also one of the current members of the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary. Shouldn't the head of the Judiciary be impartial in elections? That is, the same authority that addresses electoral crimes. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, and others are also current members of the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary. Beyond the issue of impartiality and violation of the law, considering someone who has played a direct role in the massacre of thousands of political and ideological prisoners as "preferred" and whose entire record has been nothing but repression, murder, and crime, clarifies the thoughts, words, and behaviors of the court scholars. They considered Ahmadinejad the candidate of the Mahdi, and now they consider Ebrahim Raisi the candidate of Imam Reza. Most of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ministers are current allies of Ebrahim Raisi and form his campaign headquarters. He, like Ahmadinejad, has made populist promises. The difference between the two is that Ahmadinejad's repressive background was one to a thousand compared to Ebrahim Raisi. The simultaneous activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for Ebrahim Raisi's presidency raise concerns that they may have a plan similar to the elections of 2005 and 2009 (refer to the article "The Open Project of the IRGC and Basij for the 2017 Presidential Election").