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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
Article 156 of the Constitution provides for an independent
judiciary. According to Articles 157 and 158, the highest judicial
office is the High Council of Justice, which consists of five
members who serve five-year, renewable terms. The High Council of
Justice consists of the chief justice of the Supreme Court and the
attorney general (also seen as State Prosecutor General), both of
whom must be Shia mujtahids (members of the clergy whose
demonstrated erudition in religious law has earned them the
privilege of interpreting laws), and three other clergy chosen by
religious jurists. The responsibilities of the High Council of
Justice include establishing appropriate departments within the
Ministry of Justice to deal with civil and criminal offenses,
preparing draft bills related to the judiciary, and supervising the
appointment of judges. Article 160 also stipulates that the
minister of justice is to be chosen by the prime minister from
among candidates who have been recommended by the High Council of
Justice. The minister of justice is responsible for all courts
throughout the country.
Article 161 provides for the Supreme Court, whose composition
is based upon laws drafted by the High Council of Justice. The
Supreme Court is an appellate court that reviews decisions of the
lower courts to ensure their conformity with the laws of the
country and to ensure uniformity in judicial policy. Article 162
stipulates that the chief justice of the Supreme Court must be a
mujtahid with expertise in judicial matters. The
faqih, in consultation with the justices of the Supreme
Court, appoints the chief justice for a term of five years.
In 1980 Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti was appointed by Khomeini
as the first chief justice. Beheshti established judicial
committees that were charged with drafting new civil and criminal
codes derived from Shia Islamic laws. One of the most significant
new codes was the Law of Qisas, which was submitted to and passed
by the Majlis in 1982, one year after Beheshti's death in a bomb
explosion
(see The Rise and Fall of Bani Sadr
, this ch.). The Law
of Qisas provided that in cases of victims of violent crime,
families could demand retribution, up to and including death. Other
laws established penalties for various moral offenses, such as
consumption of alcohol, failure to observe
hejab (see Glossary),
adultery, prostitution, and illicit sexual relations.
Punishments prescribed in these laws included public floggings,
amputations, and execution by stoning for adulterers.
The entire judicial system of the country has been
desecularized. The attorney general, like the chief justice, must
be a mujtahid and is appointed to office for a five-year
term by the faqih (Article 162). The judges of all the
courts must be knowledgeable in Shia jurisprudence; they must meet
other qualifications determined by rules established by the High
Council of Justice. Since there were insufficient numbers of
qualified senior clergy to fill the judicial positions in the
country, some former civil court judges who demonstrated their
expertise in Islamic law and were willing to undergo religious
training were permitted to retain their posts. In practice,
however, the Islamization of the judiciary forced half of the
former civil court judges out of their positions. To emphasize the
independence of judges from the government, Article 170 stipulates
that they are "duty bound to refrain from executing governmental
decisions that are contrary to Islamic laws."
Data as of December 1987
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