Why Are Reformists and Moderates Seeking to Oust Sadegh Larijani?

The Islamic Republic is a dictatorial regime that systematically violates human rights. An independent judiciary is a cornerstone of a democratic system that defends the people against the encroachments of the political regime. The arbitrary interference of the political regime in people's lives is termed domination. Freedom is the absence of arbitrary interference by the political system. The Islamic Republic has granted absolute power to the Supreme Leader to forcibly impose a lifestyle on the people. This lifestyle has been codified into law, and the judiciary, with the help of the military, imposes it on everyone. The criminal punishments are the same ones that Arabs constructed before Islam, which the Islamic Prophet endorsed with minor modifications for the people of that time. However, these laws, belonging to tribal societies, are insufficient for contemporary times; hence, many punishments have been added under the guise of deterrent punishments to Islamic penal law. Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Sadegh Larijani (born 1960 in Najaf) as the head of the judiciary in August 2009 to implement the severe crackdown on the Green Movement and its detainees. Sadegh Larijani has always stated that the entire judiciary and courts are subject to the wishes of the Supreme Leader. Transforming courts into mock courts of the Sultan's court is one of Sadegh Larijani's services to Ayatollah Khamenei. Regarding human rights, Sadegh Larijani, while defending harsh punishments such as retribution, stoning, apostasy, flogging, and other legal limits, has vehemently attacked human rights, rejecting it under the guise of Western human rights. For instance, on June 18, 2014, he stated on the Islamic Republic's television: "Some enter these issues under the titles of human rights, but we do not compromise on retribution and the implementation of limits, and we are not afraid of human rights discussions... We are a country that has had many elections, yet we are accused of not respecting human rights and democracy. We have another issue with the West. They do not accept our ideological foundations and want to impose their values on us; why should we accept these?" Larijani emphasized that we cannot accept human rights and freedom in the Western sense. At one point, in contrast to Hassan Rouhani's statements, he defended the government's duty to forcibly lead people to paradise. However, when criticized, he justified his claim by saying that we are not a liberal democracy, so all powers must use their resources "to promote moral virtues and combat corruption." The government must confront promoters of improper hijab. Larijani has reduced corruption to "licentiousness" and considers it "harm to others." He has forgotten the eight years of "national plunder" during Ahmadinejad's presidency, which was fully supported by Ayatollah Khamenei and the Guardian Council. On August 6, 2014, Sadegh Larijani claimed that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has become "scrap paper." He rejected human rights under the phenomenon of "Western" and "secular" and stated: "The issue of Islamic human rights is not a luxury issue, and the secular Western human rights have caused these crimes in various countries. Western human rights have nothing to defend Muslims; we need an international organization and mechanism to defend the rights of the billion-strong Muslim population." Sadegh Larijani opposes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, he believes that by labeling these rights as "Western," "secular," and "feminist," he has logically and philosophically proven their invalidity. Akbar Ganjilari, with pride, states: "The West thinks that our judicial system is based on Sharia, and we want to hide it, but we take pride in this judicial system and are not ashamed of retribution and even stoning." He has defended gender segregation in all offices and says we should not fear accusations of reactionism and backwardness, as "preventing the mixing of men and women in the workplace is important due to its consequences and is considered a value." Larijani considers "signature rulings" or constructs of pre-Islamic Arabs as "values based on religious texts" and says we should not be ashamed of implementing them. He adds: "We believe that avoiding the mixing of men and women does not mean giving superiority to men over women, and we should not be deceived by feminist tendencies... Defending workplace segregation is an example of standing firm on divine values." Sadegh Larijani is an enemy of intellectuals. He has always attacked them instead of critiquing them, and even when he is at a loss, he accuses them. For example, on March 10, 2012, at a meeting of high judicial officials, he said: "The interest of the Islamic community lies in obeying the Supreme Leader, and throughout history, no jurist has sold the country, but among the intellectuals who have always sought to diminish and eliminate Islam from the lives and movements of the Iranian people, some have sold the country." This false claim has been critiqued and refuted in the article "The Treason of Intellectuals and the Patriotism of Jurists!" Jurisprudence is a shop that has brought him to power. For this reason, attacking intellectuals and selling jurisprudence is his job. When Hashemi Rafsanjani called Hassan Khomeini "Allameh," Sadegh Larijani replied to Rafsanjani: "Are you really the one to determine Allameh? Can those who say such things understand the precise texts of ordinary religious books? Can they grasp the subtleties of books like Wasail and Kifayah by Sheikh Ansari? Do they understand the research of Mohaghegh Na'ini, Iraqi Mohaghegh, and Isfahani Mohaghegh? With this situation, can these people be the ones to determine Allameh? This is acting; this is mockery of the seminaries; this is laughing at the intelligence of the people." Sadegh Larijani rejected the oversight of the Assembly of Experts over the Supreme Leader on December 14, 2015, stating: "Unfortunately, sometimes such words and expectations are written and raised by some individuals and personalities; which is unexpected since they should be aware of the constitutional law. Oversight of the Assembly of Experts over the leadership is like saying that individuals in the position of imitation of the sources, because they must meet conditions such as (being the most knowledgeable or being a complete jurist) or justice in the source of imitation, therefore they have oversight over him! A statement whose falsity is clear. Because the duty of the imitator is to identify the characteristics and attributes of the source of imitation. In summary, what is stated in the constitution is the 'determination' of specific characteristics or their absence in the leadership, and determination does not entail oversight." This incorrect claim by Sadegh Larijani has been critiqued and refuted in the article "Khamenei, the God of Ash'arites." Sadegh Larijani knows that if he is completely obedient to Ayatollah Khamenei and executes his commands exactly, he will be one of the potential candidates for his succession. Larijani has played a very important role in the crackdowns in the years following the Green Movement. After the protests of the 2009 elections, thousands were arrested, tortured, and sentenced to long prison terms in mock trials. Dozens were killed by military forces in the streets, and three died in prison under torture. The leaders of the Green Movement have been under house arrest for over five years on the orders of Ayatollah Khamenei. Regarding the illegal imprisonment and lack of trial of Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard on December 30, 2014, Larijani stated that the 2009 sedition was a conspiracy by Western governments to overthrow the Islamic Republic. He then spoke of the mercy and patience of the Supreme Leader: "During the sedition, we witnessed the forbearance, patience, mercy, and at the same time the steadfastness and firmness of the Supreme Leader. Unfortunately, the enemies of the regime do not highlight the compassionate behavior of the Supreme Leader during that event, while the Supreme Leader patiently and fatherly provided unprecedented opportunities for the leaders of the sedition to return to the embrace of the regime, but the seditionists did not take advantage of this opportunity and caused a disgrace to the Islamic regime." The head of the judiciary accused the leaders of the Green Movement of "treason" and said they claim that the judiciary is afraid to try the leaders of the sedition because it has no evidence against them. Akbar Ganjilari, the head of the judiciary, accused the leaders of the Green Movement of "treason" and said they claim that the judiciary is afraid to try the leaders of the sedition because it has no evidence against them. He then boldly stated: "The judiciary is much more powerful than this to fear the trial of the leaders of the sedition." However, this courage quickly waned, and he emphasized that due to "the explicit remarks of some sedition agents that they have said the outcome of the trial is not important to them and they want a platform to express their views," the trial of the leaders of the sedition will not be held. And if it does happen, "the court will not be a place for the leaders of the sedition to express their grievances and spread their words and stir people's emotions; these individuals must defend themselves and their actions in court, and their files are sufficiently filled with accusations." Sadegh Larijani, as one of the main perpetrators of systematic human rights violations in Iran, harbors ambitions of leadership. In the Assembly of Experts elections on February 26, he is a candidate from Mazandaran province. Mazandaran province will have four representatives in the Assembly of Experts. Eight candidates have been approved for this province: 1- Sadegh Ardeshir Larijani. 2- Seyyed Sadegh Pishnamazi. 3- Seyyed Rahim Tavakkol. 4- Ali Akbar Seifi Kenari. 5- Noorollah Tabarsi. 6- Mohammad Hassan Goli Shirdar. 7- Ali Malemi. 8- Allahverdi Moghaddasi. Given the threat of Sadegh Larijani's removal, Allahverdi Moghaddasi withdrew in favor of Sadegh Larijani. The list of candidates from the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary for Mazandaran province: 1- Noorollah Tabarsi. 2- Sadegh Larijani. 3- Ali Malemi. 4- Ali Akbar Seifi Mazandarani. Despite seven candidates, reformists, moderates, and other allied forces still hope to remove Sadegh Larijani through protest votes. They invite everyone to participate in the elections and tell participants that if they vote for the four candidates excluding Sadegh Larijani, he will be ousted. If the reformists and moderates succeed and Sadegh Larijani does not receive votes, not voting for Sadegh Larijani will carry significant symbolic meaning. Larijani is a symbol of "Sultanic suppression." He embodies harsh criminal punishments (stoning, retribution, flogging, amputation, etc.) from pre-Islamic tribal societies. Domestic opponents say that they oppose Sadegh Larijani, Khamenei, and the Velayat-e Faqih and a government that commits crimes in the name of Islam. In their view, demonstrating dissent and the desire for democracy has various avenues, and toppling the symbols of "religious despotism" is one way to express dissent and the desire for democracy.