Iran judiciary chief defends internal corruption probe

Iran's head of security and intelligence for the judiciary Ali Abdollahi defended the sweeping corruption probe within the country’s judiciary system, saying that it is being done at the request of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “It is with the command of [Khamenei] that the cleansing within the judiciary is taking place,” Abdollahi said Aug. 14. He added, “The management of the judiciary has begun this operation from within the judiciary, and there will also be no delay in cleansing the outside [of the judiciary].”

In March, Khamenei appointed conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi to head the judiciary. The previous judiciary chief, Sadegh Larijani, had served for 10 years. Raisi, who harbors political ambition and lost to incumbent Hassan Rouhani in the 2017 presidential election, immediately embarked on what he described as an anti-corruption campaign.

During an Aug. 15 speech to clerics in the Kurdistan Region, Raisi vowed that the judiciary’s anti-corruption campaign would continue. “Officials of the judiciary will not allow corruption to nest in any location within the system, and on the agenda must be finding the best way to recognize these [corrupt] individuals,” Raisi said. “Anywhere within the administrative, judicial, economic, cultural or political system that becomes infected with corruption, we will confront it.”

Raisi continued, “These individuals should know that the end of their lives has arrived, they will be given no permission, and this seriousness and firmness is not an isolated act but will come in waves to rid all corruption.”