Sadeq Larijani
Head of the Judicial system of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office  August 25, 2009
Deputy	Ebrahim Raeesi
Preceded by	Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Born	1960 Najaf, Iraq
Political party	Combatant Clergy Association
Residence	Tehran, Iran
Religion	Shia Islam

Iran

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Sadegh Ardeshir Larijani (born 1960, Najaf, Iraq) is an Iraqi-born Iranian hard-line cleric, politician and current head of the judicial system of Iran.

Larijani served as one of the 12 members of the Guardian Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran for eight years.^[1] Described as "inexperienced cleric with close ties to Iran's military and intelligence agencies"^[2], he was appointed head of the judicial system of Iran by supreme leader Ali Khamenei on August 15, 2009.^[3] Larijani condemned protesters and those who expressed doubts in the 2009 presidential election results, calling the protests as "illegal" and any doubts "baseless".^[4]

Contents 1 Early life and family 2 Scholarship 3 Remarks and Opinions 4 Judiciary System 5 References 6 See also

[edit] Early life and family

He is the son of Ayatollah Hashem Amoli and the brother of Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament.

[edit] Scholarship

According to leading Iranian human rights defense lawyer^[5] Mohammad Seifzadeh, the head of the Judicial System of Iran is required to be a Mojtahed with significant experience in the field. Larijani, however, was neither an experienced jurist nor a highly ranked cleric and carried the title of "Hojjat-ol Eslam" up to a few months before his appointment to the post.^[6]

[edit] Remarks and Opinions

Sadegh Larijani, a member of the Guardian Council, says the government does not derive its legitimacy from the votes of the nation.^[7]

He is a well-known critic of ex-president Mohammad Khatami and his reforms. He also criticizes the views of people, such as Abdolkarim Soroush, who say that there is no such thing as an Islamic society or an Islamic civilization, but the society of Muslims or the civilization created by Muslims. Soroush maintained that Muslim radicals were trying to use Islam as an ideology, while Islam is a spiritual and individual way of life.^[8]

[edit] Judiciary System

• Shortly after his appointment, he promoted Saeed Mortazavi to the post of deputy prosecutor general of Iran. Mortazavi was prosecutor general of Tehran for more than seven years during which he was involved in murdering and torturing a number of Iranian civilians and activists. One of the high-profile deaths attributed to Mortazavi is that of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.

• On September 7, 2009 Iranian police with a permission from Judiciary system and Tehran General Court unexpectedly entered the office for support of political prisoners and siezed all the documents, computers among others. The police refused to give a receipt of the items. The office was organized by Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi for supporting the victims of torture in Iranian prisons.^[9]

• In September 2009, the authorities from the Judiciary System began targeting the children of leaders of the opposition groups. For instance, Atefeh Emam, the daughter of jailed activist Javad Emam, the Chief of Staff of Mousavi's campaign, has been imprisoned and is being pressured to make a "confession" in order to implicate her father. Iranian Judiciary arrested the 18 years old girl and released her after a few days in South of Tehran in an inappropriate condition.^[10]
• On September 8 2009, Iranian Judiciary, unexpectedly closed and sealed the office of National Confidence Party and arrested Morteza Alviri and Alireza Beheshti and several of the closest allies of opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi.^[11][12]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Islamic fundamentalism in Iran

Preceded by Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Head of judiciary of Islamic Republic of Iran 2009-

Succeeded by Incumbency