Ahmad Sadr Haj-Seyedjavadi, a prominent Iranian political activist and lawyer, has released an open letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, calling for the dismantling of the Revolutionary Courts and a review of the files of all political prisoners.
Haj-Seyedjavadi once defended Ayatollah Khamenei, prior to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when he was held as a political prisoner during the reign of the Iranian monarchy. Now the lawyer writes that the Revolutionary Courts are a “big lie” and their sentences have forced many people to spend their “precious lives” behind bars.
He adds that since Ayatollah Khamenei has legal “dominance” over the political and judicial system, it is up to him to remove this “big lie” from the face of Islamic Iran and clear the way for the release of prisoners jailed by the order of the Revolutionary Courts.
He goes on to propose that all files processed by the Revolutionary Courts be sent to the Supreme Court in order to reveal the “great lie.”
The Revolutionary Courts were formed after the 1979 Iranian Revolution by order of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, to prosecute government officials of the previous regime who were considered to have committed crimes against the people.
Over the past three decades, Revolutionary Courts have prosecuted government dissidents. Charges commonly dealt with by the courts include : “espionage, acting against national security, propaganda against the regime, insulting government officials, Moharebeh [enmity against God] and apostasy.” They also process drug, armed robbery and kidnapping charges.
