Head of the Iranian judiciary, Sadiq Larijani, criticized former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his recent statement against Iran’s Religious Leader Ali Khamenei. Ahmedinejad accused Khamenei of betraying the revolution to subvert the regime by trying to evade judicial rulings issued against him, Asharq al-Awsat reports.
Without naming him, Larijani asked Ahmadinejad to resort to legal methods to challenge verdicts issued against him.
Ahmadinejad criticized Khamenei for his direct role in appointing Larijani. The president of the judiciary is not accountable to the government or parliament because according to the Iranian constitution, the Religious Leader is the only person who can hold the Head of Iranian judiciary accountable.
“To whom we complain, even the leader says that Larijani cannot be held accountable for the judiciary and says he is not interfering in his work,” Ahmadinejad said earlier.
Last week Ahmadinejad said in a statement posted on his website that brothers Ali and Sadiq Larijani, presiding the judiciary and the parliament, are seeking to attain the positions of supreme leader and president.
Larijani accused the former Iranian president of attacking the judiciary, regime and Religious Leader after judicial rulings that were not in his favor. He called on Ahmedinejad to resort to courts to protest the verdicts. Larijani indicated:
“We do not say that the judiciary is not subject to criticism, but vandalism is different than criticism.” He pointed out that those who “destroy the regime are betraying Islam and revolution.”
Larijani asked officials on the Ahmedinejad case to “stand firm and pursue the legal process”. He also said that the judiciary system will publish some details about the accusations against Ahmadinejad later. He warned of “Western attempts, especially the US and its regional allies” of infiltrating into Iran.
Based on these warnings, Larijani revealed a new approach of the Iranian judiciary in attempts to contain civil activists when he warned against “espionage under the guise of civil activity.”
Last week, following the controversy over the death of environmental activist and sociology professor Kavous Seyed Emami, Iranian authorities announced that he had been detained by Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence for spying on Iran’s missile activities.
The death of Emami at the Evin prison sparked controversy in Iran, where parliamentarians called for an investigation into the circumstances of his death. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that three officials had been assigned to investigate the case. Tehran’s prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi criticized reports doubting the “suicide” of Emami.
“The Revolutionary Guard cannot be held accountable for the case of Emami,” Deputy Speaker Ali Mutahri said on Saturday.
Former chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi said the arrests of environmental activists happened because they sent samples of lizards in Iran.
“We found out that their skin attracts atomic waves and that they were nuclear spies who wanted to find out where inside the Islamic Republic of Iran we have uranium mines and where we are engaged in atomic activities,” he claimed.
Political activist Saeed Hajarian criticized Firouzabadi saying he does not know the most basic security standards because he provides an excuse for the West and Israel that Iran is carrying out nuclear activities in the deserts of central Iran, including nuclear tests.