Under the mullahs’ regime, the judiciary is not the equivalent of the Ministry of Justice. The judiciary isn’t under government’s control : its chief is chosen by the Expedience Discernment Council of the Interest of the Regime, a plenipotentiary organism that is lead by Rafsanjani and then officially appointed by the Guide Khamenei.

It’s important to specify once more that Rafsanjani and Khamenei aren’t adversaries as it may be mentioned into foreign press but longstanding allies. In 1988, Khamenei was a minor mullah without a future into Iranian clergy and Rafsanjani was another minor mullah and he was present at the top because he was Khomeini’s half brother. He used to fear post-Khomeini time. The latter then created for him a position with no interest : into an organism named Expedience Discernment Council, his task was to reason with the Parliament in case it would refuse to submit to the Constitution Guardians Council’s notice : one might as well say that it’s some idler and for life position. Rafsanjani modified this destiny that lacked of interest by falsifying Khomeini’s testament to appoint Khamenei to take over from him. The first decision of the new Guide was to modify the Constitution and give full powers to Expedience Discernment Council of the Regime by implementing the obligation for the Guide to consult this Council before each decision. This is how Rafsanjani became the political boss of the regime. Short time before, in 2006, the Guide transferred it his judicial powers to strengthen its abilities. Then it is the one that appoints the chief of judicial power and not Khamenei himself.

Such detail has a great importance because Sadegh Ardeshir-Larijani, the new chief of judicial power is officially a close relative of the Guide and he is admitted as a sworn adversary of Rafsanjani, i.e. the one who appointed him. We are deep into the dodgy dealings system of the mullahs’ regime. The boss of the regime wants to see at the direction of the judicial power which he controls a man who is not suspected of being under his thumb but close to his adversaries, the conservatives !

Rafsanjani, the boss of the regime, planned some particular task for this custom-made pawn : according to rumours, he required that his arrival to the head of the power should be coupled with the giving up of the charges against the “children of the revolution” into the trial that was officially launched by conservative people. The regime wants to end with a case that is about to turn impossible to manage.

Regarding this trial | Let’s remind that the plenipotentiary boss of the regime, Rafsanjani, could have stopped anytime such trial in accordance with the power he has since October 2006. He didn’t do anything because the regime he leads and its actors who are now moderate and now conservative hoped that the misfortune of the persecuted protesters would initiate some surge of international solidarity –from USA, France or UNO - with the Green movement. This support would have turned illegitimate the elected president and would have made de facto worthless any future negotiation with this Six’s official interlocutor about nuclear issue. This would have permitted the regime to freeze the situation in order to amplify the crisis and to make Westerners accept an arrangement for fear of a conflict.

Aware of the risks for the Six’s unity, Americans and then French and at last Ban Ki-Moon first acknowledged Ahmadinejad’s legitimacy and then criticized the violations of Human Rights.

Thus not only the regime couldn’t get that spurge of solidarity with Ahmadinejad’s feigned protest but also it faced critics that are against its wish to appear as democratic. It could have limited the damages by stopping the trial under the command of the Expedience Discernment Council of the Interest of the Regime in the name of the regime’s interest. However it would have raised the issue of determining why it didn’t do it before. That’s why the previous chief of judicial power, Shahrudi, eventually got the push to leave his position to another one : Sadegh Larijani who doesn’t dispose of the necessary professional background for this job but the adequate political profile to close this inconvenient file.

Such as every plan that was made by mullahs, this choice is a double-sense one : as the trial was officially opened by Ahmadinejad, by making a conservative stop it, the regime maintains alive the scenario of isolation of Ahmadinejad into his own side. It will be then able to dismiss him from his functions to cause all the same some internal crisis about nuclear negotiations.

About the current trial, there are precursors of an anticipated end. In its latest session that was held yesterday, there were no mussavist persons and the defendants who were accused of chanting slogans, attacking bassijis or setting fire to dustbin partially called into question the confessions they’ve been attributed. Even if the authors of such acts were agitators who are at the service of the regime and we saw on images that appeared on pro-Mussavi websites, this is a good sign. Other positive point : the allusions to foreign powers part also disappeared in the procurer’s accusation act. As a direct consequence of this pragmatic reorientation, Clotilde Reiss has been freed and we can hope for her definitive release. This would cool European down because they implied they would consider hardening sanctions in September by cutting Iran’s access to gasoline import. This is an honourable issue for the regime.

However, we should stop dreaming : Tehran won’t become wise even so. It could replace this intention trial with another one : Seven Iranian Baha’i will appear before a revolutionary court because of spying accusation on the profit of Israel !

© WWW.IRAN-RESIST.ORG
The french version of this article :
 Iran : Le nouveau chef du pouvoir judiciaire
 (17 AOÛT 2009)