The Refusal of Rule of Law in the Islamic Republic

The violation of law is a daily practice among the officials of the Islamic Republic and most Iranian citizens. The situation is such that an ordinary citizen can hardly continue their daily life for even a day without violating the law. About 70% of Iranians have satellite reception equipment and use it daily, even though this is against the law. There are approximately 1.5 million draft dodgers in Iran. Articles 19 to 42 of the Constitution (the rights of the people) are violated daily. Iranian women must observe Islamic hijab, but millions of Iranian women violate this law by leaving part of their hair uncovered in public. Hundreds of laws, which are essentially the decrees of the clergy disguised as laws, are constantly violated by citizens and even by the officials themselves and their close associates. In principle, laws in the Islamic Republic are written in such a way (for the benefit of a small group) that millions of people constantly violate them. It can even be said that there is a kind of competition to violate the law in Iran. Coordination of disharmony! In the laws of the Islamic Republic, institutions such as the Press Supervisory Board, the Party Commission, and the Expediency Discernment Council are formed with representatives from the three branches and representatives of the leader to prevent disharmony among institutions. However, since there are groups that are above the law, even the decisions of these institutions are disregarded. For example, the Press Supervisory Board, which also includes a representative from the judiciary, orders the suspension of the Yalatharat publication, but this publication is published after the suspension order with the permission of the judiciary. Abdolhamid Mohtasham, the editor-in-chief of Yalatharat and the secretary-general of Ansar Hezbollah, states about the renewed publication of this magazine: "We have a temporary judicial permit for the publication of Yalatharat, and this permit is from a court that is above an institution like the Press Supervisory Board." (Jomhouri, August 4, 2016) The spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture states: "From our perspective, the publication and distribution of this magazine is illegal, but the distributing organizations are not official organizations... One of our problems today is the disharmony between the Press Supervisory Board and the judiciary. Of course, the representative of the judiciary is present in the supervisory board, and when the order to revoke the permit for Yalatharat was issued, the representative of the judiciary was also present at the meeting." (ILNA, August 4, 2016) Self-written laws: Institutions in the Islamic Republic write their own related laws. In this case, there is no room for the rule of law. For example, the Assembly of Experts is an institution that does not perform its duties (such as overseeing the leader of the Islamic Republic according to the Constitution) and does things it should not do, such as supporting 58 of its members for Raisi's candidacy in the 2017 presidential election. Another interesting example is the interference in the work of credit institutions, the judiciary, and banks. After a group of depositors from Caspian (most likely from insiders and relatives of officials) presented their problems to Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Assembly of Experts, and requested his assistance in resolving their issues and unblocking their accounts, he instructed the head of the Central Bank to follow up on the problems of Caspian depositors. In a letter that Kodekhodai, an advisor and head of the presidency of the Assembly of Experts, wrote to Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank, it is stated that the Central Bank should take necessary actions to resolve the problems of Caspian depositors. (Tasnim, April 17, 2017) This action is generally outside the jurisdiction of the Assembly of Experts. Officials of the Islamic Republic themselves violate their own resolutions. For example, Facebook and Twitter and millions of websites are filtered in Iran according to a resolution of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, but the leader of the Islamic Republic, the president, the foreign minister, and thousands of other officials have accounts on social networks and use filtered sites. Managers and many institutions have access to unfiltered internet. The government has resolutions and restrictions regarding the salaries of managers, but they circumvent them. Abuse of position and state resources during elections is a common and widespread practice. There is no institution in the Islamic Republic where corruption and abuse of power have occurred, and its senior managers have been dismissed for this reason. Government management in Iran is lifelong as long as loyalty to the Supreme Leader is maintained. There is no difference in this regard between conservatives and reformists. Groups exempt from the law: Ali Motahari, the deputy speaker of the parliament, regarding the lack of legal action against motorcyclists by traffic police, states: "The then head of the traffic police reacted to these follow-ups by saying that a plan for organizing motorcyclists was being prepared and was in progress, but an order came from an institution to let them go because motorcyclists are from the underprivileged classes of society." (ILNA, October 3, 2017) Being underprivileged here is a cover for groups that the government sees as close to or supportive of itself. A significant portion of Hezbollah and Basij elements in large cities are Basijis and mosque-goers. The government exempts these groups from obeying traffic laws, while motorcyclists are one of the main causes of disorder in traffic in Iranian cities. Other groups such as clerics, members of the IRGC, mourners, judicial officials, and managers are also exempt from obeying various laws in our country. Laws related to carrying weapons, auditing, drug trafficking, government expenses, auctions, and beatings are mostly not enforced against these groups. Most importantly, the Supreme Leader is above the law. It is very unlikely that anyone can be shown in Iran and said, "Look, this person has achieved these successes by obeying the laws." Those who have achieved economic, social, and political success have always been those who knew how to violate the laws and not get caught. Some groups also have no fear of getting caught because they are above the law. The more powerful individuals are in Iran, the less they are monitored. The enforcement of the law has no benefit. The violation of the law is not limited to officials. The people also have a hand in this matter, but for different reasons. The most important reason that ordinary people do not benefit from the enforcement of the law is that when the powerful can achieve all their demands by violating these existing laws (which are approved by a corrupt government and an elite class), and the enforcement of the law leads to hardship and regression in society, there is no longer a place for the enforcement of the law other than incurring heavy costs. Today in Iran, with a few million tomans, one can determine the military service of individuals or create a few months of Basij files for individuals to reduce their military service. Those who have financial means, why should they refrain from this while the ruling class escapes from all civic duties with power and financial resources and gets whatever it wants? In the chaotic market of statuses, the cost of obtaining a diploma has reached about 500,000 tomans and a master's degree has reached about 14 million tomans. It is very unlikely that anyone can be shown in Iran and said, "Look, this person has achieved these successes by obeying the laws." Those who have achieved economic, social, and political success have always been those who knew how to violate the laws and not get caught. Some groups also have no fear of getting caught because they are above the law. The more powerful individuals are in Iran, the more they are free to violate laws (even these discriminatory and unfair laws) and not pay the price for it. In this society, what motivation remains for compliance with the law? The people are angry. The conditions are not conducive to people behaving according to the law. People who are stressed from morning to night find it difficult to comply with the laws. For example, "The average time spent in our country for refueling at stations is between 15 to 20 minutes... This index in the global standard is five minutes." (Deputy Director of Commerce of the National Oil Products Distribution Company, IRNA, April 16, 2017) There are dozens of other instances that irritate people in daily life, such as children and addicts wandering among cars in squares and streets, late arrival of buses and metro wagons, underweight and overpriced goods, government employees' indifference to the requests of clients, and the inability of the majority to meet their minimum needs for themselves and their families. All of these cause individuals to become angry and violate the law in abnormal psychological conditions.