Iran’s Judiciary Seeking Vengeance from People Instead of Justice
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the Head of Iran’s Judiciary, has called on the judicial system to pursue “decisive and effective vengeance” against protesters, while hundreds of human rights victims in Iran continue to perish silently.
The recent protest movement in Iran, which took shape with the presence of millions of people across the country and slogans against repression and government corruption, has entered a bloody and ruthless phase. While millions of Iranians have taken to the streets at the risk of death and arrest, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the Head of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic, made explicit statements declaring: “We must seek vengeance for this spilled blood” and demanded “decisive and effective” implementation of this vengeance. He also ordered that trials and punishments be accelerated for those he has identified as “key elements” of the protests.
The state-affiliated Tasnim news agency, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has claimed that more than 100 security personnel have died during the suppression of protests, with the highest numbers in Isfahan Province. Mohseni Ejei called the protesters “terrorists” and instructed judges to show no “mercy or leniency” toward them. He also accused the United States and Israel of “inciting” the protests and claimed that the unrest has been directed by “agitators” from abroad.
However, released videos and reports from human rights organizations demonstrate that the actual violence has come from government forces. Additionally, released reports and videos indicate that large numbers of bodies of deceased protesters have been accumulating at the Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Organization.
The organization has so far confirmed 544 citizens killed, and more than ten thousand have been arrested. The actual number of those killed may reach thousands, and some estimates, including by a group of Iranian academics abroad, have put the death toll at as high as six thousand.
A protester in Shiraz who spoke with TIME and used the pseudonym “Louis” for his security said: “This time the protests are much more organized and much more persistent. Police attacks are also much, much more violent.”
The “One Word” Lawyers Network, in releasing a statement, warned of “the danger of repeating the scenario of show trials and extrajudicial executions of protesters” and emphasized that the silence and procrastination of international bodies and governments will come at the cost of losing more lives. “Helia Nair,” Executive Director of the human rights organization “UN Watch,” criticizing the inaction of this body, called for an emergency UN session and recalled that no resolutions or investigations have been held regarding these protests.
This situation demonstrates that the Islamic Republic, in facing its own people, is pursuing revenge and vengeance instead of administering justice, while the international community and international bodies, through their silence, are effectively enabling the continuation of this repression and violation of human rights.
