Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution met this morning with the head and high-ranking officials of the judiciary. Speaking at the meeting, which was arranged to mark the martyrdom anniversary of more than 70 senior government officials who were assassinated on 28 June 1981, Ayatollah Khamenei criticized the efforts to undermine public trust in government officials and added: "It is wrong to undermine public trust by questioning the efforts and official reports of our high-ranking officials working for the three branches of the government, and all government officials and owners of media should pay attention to this important point." His Eminence said that certain reports and statistics may contain mistakes, but he stressed: "We must not undermine public trust by generalizing from these mistakes and creating doubts."
Ayatollah Khamenei stated that public trust and authority are the two main pillars of the judiciary and stressed: "The judiciary can increase its authority by building appropriate human and technical infrastructures."
His Eminence added that training a competent and trustworthy workforce, being innovative and passing appropriate laws will prepare the way for the judiciary to increase its authority.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that winning public trust is a necessity for establishing justice and reiterated: "Turning justice into a comprehensive and permanent current in the judiciary requires piety, impartiality in big and small issues and observing the law in a careful and wise way."
Elsewhere in his statements, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution referred to the issue of discussing allegations in the media and stated: "Being accused is not the same as being convicted. Therefore, as long as an accusation has not been proven, nobody - including those inside and outside the judiciary and those who work for the media - has the right to make it public."
Ayatollah Khamenei criticized the pressure mounted on the judiciary to expose certain people and added: "There is no need for such exposure, and nobody has the right to disgrace a Muslim."
His Eminence stressed that except in certain cases Islamic laws do not allow making punishments public or identifying the convict by name. "Even when somebody has been convicted in a court of law, it is wrong to mention his name in the media because his family would be pressured and persecuted."