Leader’s judicial guidelines, calls negotiation with enemy “deception” (1)

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, granted audience to the head and officials of the Judicial Branch on Wednesday June 26.

At the meeting which was held on the occasion of Judiciary Week marking the martyrdom anniversary of Chief Justice Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussaini Beheshti, the Leader gave guidelines on promoting social justice in society on the basis of the dynamic teachings of Islam, and ruled out the notion of negotiations with the US on the international nuclear accord which the Donald Trump administration has lawlessly breached.

Now we have part one of our two-part article in this regard.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution praised Allah Almighty for His Favours, and saluted the Master of all Divine Messengers, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), as well as his Infallible Progeny and Righteous Companions. Then he greeted the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (AS) – may God hasten his reappearance for establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice.

He paid tribute to Martyr Beheshti, calling him “A blessing for both the Revolution and the Judicial System of the Islamic Republic”. He added: “Martyr Beheshti was a broad-minded, determined, disciplined, diligent and enthusiastic man. We honour his memory and may God exalt his position. I also appreciate the services of other esteemed Heads of the Judiciary that succeeded him.

“Well, many things have been said about the importance of the Judicial Branch. I have raised certain points in this regard. Others have spoken about the significance of the Judiciary as well. This is obvious. The pivot of this significance is justice which has been mentioned by God Almighty in ayah 58 of Surah Nisa of the Holy Qur’an: “And, when you judge between people, to judge with fairness.”

“Justice is thus the basis of decent human life. When you pray for hastening of the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (may our souls be sacrificed for him), you beseech God to expedite his advent for the sake of administering justice. As a famous hadith says that through him “God will fill the earth with justice as it would be brimming with corruption and oppression.”

“Despite the fact this great personality will infuse the society with spirituality, piety and morality as well as justice, you do not say, that through him, God will fill the earth with religion. Rather, you say, “with justice.” This shows that justice is the main need of a decent human life.”

Ayatollah Khamenei told the gathering: “You represent the Judicial Branch. Your organization deals with justice and your main mission is to administer justice. This is where the significance of the Judiciary lies. Of course, there are other points in the Constitution which I will mention later.

“The Judiciary was a new foundation in the Islamic Republic. It was like a seedling and it was entirely different from the so-called judicial system in Iran before victory of the Islamic Revolution. Well, this seedling should grow on a daily basis. Every era should witness new achievements compared to previous ones. A new era has begun today and therefore, it should offer a new virtue, a new advantage and a new achievement – as well as what others, the predecessors, offered to it.

“What is this achievement? It is transformation: transformation in the Judiciary. What does this “transformation” mean? Well, you have specific and clear principles on the basis of Islam, the Holy Qur’an and the Islamic Republic which you are obliged to observe. You should be committed to these principles and move forward on the basis of them. These are the main missions of the Judicial Branch and they will not change. These principles existed from the beginning and they exist in the present time and they will exist in the future as well.

“Therefore, transformation means that you should create new, innovative, efficient and highly influential methods in order to attend to these principles, fulfill these missions and reach the ideals. You should benefit from these methods. This is the first point. Moreover, you should make up for the shortcomings and flaws of the past. This is what transformation means.

“We have an organization with operational procedures and executive plans as well as some shortcomings and flaws. When you want to bring about transformation, you should optimize those methods so that they turn into smoother and more efficient and functional methods for eliminating obstacles and problems. This is transformation.

The Leader said: “Of course, this endeavour requires planning. Without planning, transformation is not possible. We cannot move in a routine and habitual manner. A broad-minded and intellectual team should sit and devise a comprehensive plan in writing to make decisions on the basis of it. This has thankfully been done. This part of the work was requested from the new honourable head of the Judiciary – Hojjat al-Islam Ibrahim Raisi – before he undertook this responsibility and he prepared a comprehensive and satisfactory transformation plan. This part of the work has been done.

“This is very good, but planning involves conceptuality. If we want to put it into practice, it requires work. So, my first word of advice to the esteemed Head and honourable officials of the Judicial Branch is to continue this good plan that you have prepared and presented, according to your timetable and without any other considerations. You should not let it be disrupted. You should not fear anything and you should move forward: rely on Allah the Exalted, take action and put this plan into practice!

“You should act in a way that after an acceptable period of time – of course, short-term and monthly plans are not considered as operational measures and tasks – everyone completely feels that the Judiciary has undergone a transformation. This will be done with your move. Of course, short-term plans are important as well. So, you should prepare a plan.

“At times I thought that preparing the plan constitutes 50 percent of the work, but as long as this 50 percent is not linked to the subsequent 50 percent, it appears as if it has not been done at all. When you want to pull water from the bottom of a well which is 100 meters deep, for example, you work hard and you pull it up, up to 50 meters, but you leave it there. Well, it looks like you have not pulled it up at all and it does not make any difference. If you want to achieve the result, you should work on the other 50 percent which is dynamism, action, implementation and other required criteria so that you can, God Willing achieve the desired result.

“And I am hopeful. When I look at the Judicial System of the country, I become hopeful that you will be able to accomplish this task, God Willing.”

Ayatollah Khamenei noted: “I have written down some points about the Judiciary. The points that Hojjat al-Islam Raisi raised were very good points. My points are related to the same matters. I will discuss certain issues.

“One point is that you should refer to the Constitution and see the duties of the Judiciary within its framework. The duty of the Judiciary is not only to judge and to preside over a court. The duties of the Judicial Branch are beyond these. According to the Constitution, reviving public rights are among the duties of the Judiciary. Reviving public rights is very vast in scope: it ranges from the economy, to the issue of security and to the international arena. Defending the rights of the people in the international arena is a very important issue. This is one of your duties.

“Another duty is to expand justice and freedom. Well, the expansion of justice goes along the expansion of freedom. By “freedom” we mean legitimate freedom on the basis of the Constitution. The expansion of freedom is one of your duties as well. How will you do this? With what method? As I mentioned, the methods that you choose should be new and creative methods. All these issues are required.

“Another duty is crime prevention. The issue of prevention is very important. Of course, you assign part of the Judicial System to crime prevention. Well, this is good and necessary, but crime prevention is very vast in scope. You should understand criminology. You should identity the causes of crimes and the factors that lead to them. You should know what measures can prevent crimes. This is very wide in scope. And each and every one of these tasks requires an executer. We cannot merely assign a committee – as we say “hey’at” – to these tasks. This should not be the case. Each of them should be pursued separately.

“Another duty is efficient law enforcement. Who violates the law? The law not only includes driving regulations but all other rules that such and such a wrongdoer violates. The law is sometimes violated in a collective and systematic manner. Here, the Judiciary should step forward. The purpose of saying these things is that the more one looks at the Judicial Branch, the more one can see the greatness and vast scope of its work. This is in your hands. This belongs to you. You have shouldered this heavy responsibility. If, by Allah’s favour, you can do something and succeed, it will be a great accomplishment and you will certainly please God. If you carry out your duties in a satisfactory way this will be a uniquely good deed.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said: “Another point, which was also touched on by Hojjat al-Islam Raisi, is the issue of combating corruption. Combating corruption is a point of our discussion both inside and outside the Judicial Branch. The priority, however, is inside the branch. Well, there are thousands of honourable and virtuous judges and trustworthy employees throughout this Branch and they are working hard. Then, a corrupt element shows up in the judicial court and does something wrong which leads to damaging the reputation of these honourable persons. Is this a minor incident? Is it a trivial matter? Perhaps, those corrupt elements which exist in the Judicial Branch make up a very small percentage compared to those who are at the peak of honourability or compared to ordinary judges, who work in a trustworthy and sincere manner.

“We have certain judges who lead a difficult life while very important cases are assigned to them. They, however, do not commit any wrongdoing whatsoever. If they were into wrongdoing, they would probably lead an affluent life, but they do not commit anything wrong at all. The ratio of those corrupt elements to these people is very low, but this low ratio and small percentage can have a very destructive impact. I will expand on this when discussing the public portrayal of the Judicial Branch.

“You should be strict about corruption inside the Judiciary. The reason is that this branch is in charge of eliminating corruption. If the Judicial Branch itself is corrupt, its sins will be unforgivable. The higher one’s personal and legal status is, the more significant one’s work becomes: both in positive and negative ways. Notice that in the Holy Qur’an, Allah the Exalted says in ayah 30 of Surah al-Ahzaab: “O wives of the Prophet! Whoever of you commits a gross indecency, her punishment shall be doubled, and that is easy for Allah.”

“It says that if any of these ladies do something wrong, they will be punished twice as much. In other words, if another woman does something wrong the punishment is a hundred lashes, but if a wife of the Prophet commits that wrongdoing, the punishment is 200 lashes. Why? It is because they are the wives of the Prophet. As ayah 31 of Surah al-Ahzaab says: “But whoever of you is obedient to Allah and His Prophet and acts righteously, We shall give her a twofold reward, and We hold a noble provision in store for her.”

“It means when they do something good, the reward is twice as much too. This is because of the importance of one’s status.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said: “Many times, I feel pity for Prophet Jonah – or Yunus (peace upon him). What had he done that made him say, as related in the last part of ayah 87 of Surah Anbiya, “There is no god except You! You are Immaculate! I have indeed been among the wrongdoers!”

“Allah the Exalted meted out a heavy punishment to him. Well, his people did not listen to him no matter how hard he tried to invite them to the truth. As a result, he did not speak to them anymore and left the city. That was all that he did. Well, if a scholar offers some words of advice to the people of a certain city and they do not listen to him, and if he decides to leave, this is indeed a bad conduct. But should he be punished by being sent into the sea and being swallowed by a whale?

“And then Allah the Exalted says about Prophet Jonah in ayah 144 of Surah as-Saaffaat, “he would have surely remained in its belly till the day they will be resurrected”.

“It means he was supposed to stay inside the whale until the Day of Judgement! Is this the right punishment for such a person? However, Allah the Exalted punished him in this manner. Why? Because he was a Prophet! The Arabic word “naqder” means to be hard on somebody. As we read God’s words in ayah 87 of Surah Anbiya: “And the Man of the Fish, when he left in a rage, thinking that We would not put him to hardship. Then he cried out in the darkness, ‘There is no god except You! You are immaculate! I have indeed been among the wrongdoers!’

“It is clear that Prophet Jonah considered himself a wrongdoer and he confessed as is evident in ayah 87 of Surah Anbiya, In the next ayah of the same Surah, the All-Merciful God says: “So We answered his prayer and delivered him from the agony; and thus do We deliver the faithful.”

“This is how it is. You (judicial officials) are different from ordinary people. Should you commit a wrongdoing that is committed by an ordinary person, you will be blamed twice or several times as much. It makes a difference. You should have such an outlook towards the crimes committed inside the Judicial Branch.

AS/ME