{"id":73887,"date":"2019-03-06T12:23:39","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T17:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/persian-heritage.com\/wordpress\/?p=73887"},"modified":"2019-03-06T12:23:39","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T17:23:39","slug":"us-rights-activists-slam-irans-appointment-of-new-judiciary-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2019\/03\/06\/us-rights-activists-slam-irans-appointment-of-new-judiciary-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Rights Activists Slam Iran\u2019s Appointment of New Judiciary Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The United States and rights activists are criticizing Iran for selecting as its new judiciary chief a conservative cleric allegedly involved in mass executions of dissidents in the 1980s. An Iranian judiciary spokesman confirmed in a Sunday news conference that Ebrahim Raisi will succeed another conservative cleric, Sadeq Amoli Larijani, as judiciary chief on Friday. Iranian media had predicted the move since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promoted Larijani to the role of head of Iran\u2019s Expediency Council in December. The Expediency Council advises the Supreme Leader about whether to approve or reject parliamentary legislation in cases of irreconcilable dispute between lawmakers and the Guardian Council \u2013 a panel of 12 unelected jurists tasked with vetting all legislation.<\/p>\n

Raisi has served as custodian of one of Iran\u2019s holiest Shi’ite shrines in the northeastern city of Mashhad since 2016, when Khamenei appointed him to the post. The following year, Raisi competed in Iran\u2019s presidential election but came in a distant second to incumbent President Hassan Rouhani.<\/p>\n

International rights groups accuse Raisi of involvement in the apparent executions of thousands of Iranian dissidents in 1988, when he served as deputy prosecutor general of Tehran. Iran\u2019s Islamist leaders have ignored or denied the existence of such mass executions.<\/p>\n

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Ebrahim Raeesi, involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead #Iran<\/a>\u2019s judiciary. What a disgrace! The regime makes a mockery of the legal process by allowing unfair trials and inhumane prison conditions. Iranians deserve better!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Robert Palladino (@StateDeputySPOX) March 5, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman Robert Palladino sharply criticized Raisi\u2019s appointment. In a Tuesday tweet, Palladino echoed the accusations of Raisi\u2019s role in mass executions and called the cleric\u2019s promotion a disgrace, adding that \u201cIranians deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Monday interviews with VOA Persian, two exiled Iranian rights activists said they believe a Raisi-led judiciary will do nothing to resolve perceived widespread human rights abuses in Iran.<\/p>\n

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR), said the judicial appointment is a show of defiance by Khamenei toward his international and domestic critics and an effort by him to sustain Iran\u2019s Islamist system.<\/p>\n

Speaking from London, Justice for Iran (JFI) group director Shadi Sadr said that as long as Raisi is judiciary chief, he will be immune from international prosecution in connection with Iran\u2019s 1988 mass executions. But, she said the international community still can label Raisi a human rights violator and ban him from foreign travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the very least, the United Nations and other international institutions should condemn the appointment of a man accused of one of Iran\u2019s greatest crimes to the highest judicial post in the country,\u201d Sadr said.<\/p>\n

Several prominent Iranian reformist politicians expressed support for Khamenei\u2019s move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States and rights activists are criticizing Iran for selecting as its new judiciary chief a conservative cleric allegedly involved in mass executions of dissidents in the 1980s. An Iranian judiciary spokesman confirmed in a Sunday news conference that Ebrahim Raisi will succeed another conservative cleric, Sadeq Amoli Larijani, as judiciary chief on Friday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}