The following is the full text of the speech delivered on June 27, 2012 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a meeting with the officials of the judiciary. The meeting was held at imam Ridha's (a.s.) shrine in the holy city of Mashhad.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
This annual meeting, which is arranged on the occasion of Judiciary Week, is a valuable opportunity for us to commemorate our honorable and dear martyr, Shahid Beheshti, and those who were martyred on the 7th of Tir. Thankfully Judiciary Week coincides with this significant and meaningful occasion. This annual meeting is also an opportunity for us to express our gratitude for the widespread and continued efforts by the honorable people who are active in the judiciary: the honorable judges, the employees, the outstanding managers and the head of the judiciary, Mr. Amoli, who is thankfully an outstanding personality in terms of his thoughts, knowledge, dynamism, innovation and many other important characteristics that senior managers should enjoy. We commemorate those honorable martyrs, particularly our magnanimous Shahid Beheshti, and we pay homage to their memory. Shahid Beheshti was a truly great and outstanding personality. He built strong foundations during the limited time that he was in charge of the judiciary and his name will be remembered for this. This is a lesson for us: through innovation and hard work, we should try to accomplish great and permanent achievements in the limited time that we have. I would like to join the honorable head of the judiciary in thanking you honorable employees and senior and middle managers and the esteemed and noble judges of the judiciary, and I hope that your efforts result in administration of justice, which is the essential issue of the country.
If we wanted to summarize all our wishes about the issues of the country in one phrase, the phrase would be "the improvement of the judiciary branch". We should constantly try to improve the judiciary branch. I would like to express my gratitude for all the encouraging reports that were presented in today's meeting and the verbal and written reports that I receive, but what is expected is the improvement of the judiciary, in the sense of adequate administration of justice in the country. And this will not be possible until the time we see the outcomes. The purpose of all these preliminary steps is to administer justice in our society. If we are successful in administration of justice, the sources of corruption will be eliminated, corrupt people will not be able to take control of the vital centers of our society and righteous people will be placed in the centers they are qualified for. All these things depend on the improvement and perfection of the judiciary. If the Islamic Republic can build and organize the judiciary the way Islam wants and the way our religious and fiqhi sources have recommended, the majority of the problems in our society - or any other society - will be eliminated. The problems that are rooted in ingratitude to God, selfishness and transgression will be eliminated. Therefore, the improvement of the judiciary should be the goal. We should not be satisfied with any level of achievement until we have reached the level we want. We need to reach the level we want. I believe although there is a long way to go, the goal is achievable. We are not calling on people to fulfill an unrealistic wish. No, the goal is achievable. You have the capability. We have the necessary capacities in the country. By employing the facilities and individuals who have the capacity for achieving this goal, we need to move forward on this path with tireless efforts and innovation.
In order to achieve this general goal, there are certain preliminary steps that should be taken and the honorable head of the judiciary referred to some of these preliminary steps. I am happy to see that these essential points receive attention. And certain efforts have been made in this regard, which was clear from the report. It would be very good if such reports were presented to the people and they found out about the things that have been done or are being done. Now I would like to highlight a few points.
One point is the need to have a comprehensive plan, which was mentioned by the head of the judiciary as well. If the judiciary does not have a comprehensive, complete and accurate plan for the goal that it wants to achieve, it will be either impossible or very difficult to achieve the goal because of the contradictions that the judiciary will encounter. Therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive plan. This is a great undertaking, a point which was mentioned by the honorable head of the judiciary when he accepted this responsibility. At the end of the report that was given to me, it was said that recently the organizations in charge have been ordered to implement the five-year plan, but the head of the judiciary said in his statements that the order has not been issued yet. This work must not be delayed. It is very important. Having a comprehensive plan is one of the most essential things that should be done.
The essential point is that preparing a comprehensive plan is one thing and preparing the way for the implementation of such a plan is something else. We must not feel relieved as soon as the plan is announced to the organizations in charge for implementation. We must not feel that the most important part of the work has been taken care of. No, a comprehensive plan is a prescription. The prescription should be written and different things should be specified in it. Then it is necessary to follow the prescription in different sectors so that the comprehensive plan is operationalized and implemented.
I believe it is necessary to speed up things as far as operationalizing the comprehensive plan and its parts are concerned. I will mention a few points in this regard. I am not recommending hasty action. Accelerated action is different from hasty action. It is necessary to be patient and careful, yet it is also necessary to be quick. That is to say, avoidance of delay should be accepted as a principle. It is necessary to avoid delay. It is necessary to avoid putting things off. It is necessary to take action. As soon as we have finished researching, we should take action and avoid delay.
Another point that I would like to mention regarding the improvement of the judiciary is firmness of verdicts. The verdicts that are issued by our courts should be absolutely free of negligence and weakness. As a judge, when you issue a verdict, you should feel confident that you could defend your judgment if you were questioned by legal experts and Islamic jurisprudents. A judge who enjoys the necessary knowledge and is careful about his verdicts - such a judge should be prepared to defend his verdicts in front of legal experts. This is how firm verdicts should be. When issuing verdicts, the slightest negligence and weakness can harm the entire structure of the judiciary system. Once I pointed out that the repeated contradictions between the verdicts issued by our trial courts and our court of appeals or the Court show that either the verdicts issued by trial courts are flawed and shaky or that the law has been violated. The entire judiciary should pay attention to this point and everybody should accept that the verdicts which are issued by our courts must be firm.
Regarding the issues related to the judiciary, the issue of imprisonment is among the important issues. Prison is a punishment. Locking up a person in prison and restricting him is one of the punishments that has been specified in our criminal laws. In certain cases, this punishment has been specified in Islamic jurisprudence as well and nothing is wrong with it. First and foremost, we should try to imprison people only when we are punishing them. Of course, in certain cases, the law has specified that people might be temporarily held in custody when they are charged with certain crimes. However, in such cases, it is necessary that people be held in custody "temporarily" in the true sense of the word, which has been specified by the letter of the law. One might argue that five, six months can also be considered "temporary". Yes, even ten years is temporary in a sense, but the laws which have specified temporary custody have defined what temporary means. That is to say, sometimes we have no choice but to hold people in custody for certain reasons in the case of certain charges. Sometimes temporary custody is the only option, but it should be as short as possible and the judicial conditions should also be observed in the process. It is necessary to pay attention to this point.
In the cases where the problems are financial in nature and a person is incapable of paying his debt, we should not put him in prison because he has not committed a crime in the strict sense of the word. One of the things which I discussed with the friends is whether it is necessary to prove that a person is incapable of paying his debt before releasing him. If we wanted to prove such a thing, we would face certain problems. Do everything in your power in order to limit prison to the bare minimum. This requires acumen. Of course, certain measures have been adopted in this regard: some are appropriate and some are not, but I do not want to discuss the details in this meeting. The important point is that prison is an unfavorable method of punishment because of the problems caused by imprisonment and the consequences that prisoners, their families and society have to deal with. Therefore, this should be the policy of the judiciary. Reflect on the issue. Try to find new ways and options. One of the issues is that the issue of prison should be resolved. This is because first, the punitive aspect of prison should not turn into something else and second, imprisonment as a method of punishment should be minimized and replaced with other methods of punishment so that the consequences do not harm our society.
Safeguarding people's honor is another important issue that is related to the judiciary. Of course, this point is not just addressed to the judiciary. It is mostly addressed to our media outlets. It is necessary to be extremely cautious when it comes to people's honor. Sharia has equated the honor of believers with their life. The judiciary and the organizations, courts and bureaucratic systems affiliated with it should not be influenced by media hype. In this regard, media outlets are truly a source of problems, especially now that these internet-based media have been launched. That is to say, many of the things that must be observed are not being observed. This is really the case. This is among the problems that we are suffering from. There is a remedy for this, but finding a solution for the rumors that are spread by the media and the printed press is a separate issue. The important point is that the judiciary must not be affected by these things. If all the printed press and all the websites that create hype and shape public opinion join hands to create a certain atmosphere, the judiciary or a particular public prosecutor's office that is in charge of following up a certain case must do its work without being influenced by media hype. They must not be affected by such things in the slightest way. This is an essential point. It is wrong to directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the accused. Such things will definitely create problems for the improvement of our judiciary system. This is another point that we must pay attention to.
Another issue that is related to the judiciary is the issue of training the necessary manpower for high-level managerial positions in the judiciary - building righteous individuals, especially for high-level managerial positions, which is an absolutely necessary and essential issue as far as the judiciary is concerned. Today I realized that this issue has attracted the attention of the honorable head of the judiciary as well, but it is necessary to do more serious work in this regard. It is necessary to use the help of universities and Islamic seminaries. Thankfully there is no shortage of outstanding personalities. There is no shortage of talent in our society. This is another issue that we must pay attention to. By Allah's favor, efforts, investments and plans will be made in this regard.
Another point - which I believe is essential - is cooperation among the three branches of government. This point does not concern the function of the judiciary, but it is related to the general path of the judiciary. Today our country needs this cooperation.
I would say that today the bullying powers of the world have reached the conclusion that they must do everything in their power so that they can deal a blow to the Islamic Republic. That is to say, Satan has deployed all its forces to counter the great movement that the Islamic Republic has started in the world through its survival and progress. They understand this although they are not prepared to announce it. The awakening that has started in the world of Islam, the enthusiasm that the people have developed for Islamic ideals and goals - they have realized that these things are due to the influence of the Islamic Republic over public opinion of the Muslim world. Every time you accomplish an important scientific achievement, every time you make a social or political achievement, every time you launch a great social movement in the country such as vibrant national elections and every time the Islamic Republic's resistance against the bullying of the arrogant powers is reflected in the world of Islam, nations find a new incentive to go after independence on the basis of Islam. The Iranian nation held up Islam as the flag of national progress. The enemies understand this. Therefore, they have focused their efforts on this center of activity. All this media hype that is created - in the case of human rights, in the case of nuclear energy and in different other cases - is because they are determined to confront the Islamic Republic. They call themselves "the international community". They are not the international community. They are only a handful of bullying powers. It is only America and a few of its followers in different corners of the world.
They are doing everything in their power to confront the Islamic Republic and their goal is to deprive the holy Islamic Republic of the great popular support that it enjoys. This is the main purpose of the sanctions that have been imposed on us. Of course, they falsely claim that the people are not the target of their sanctions: "We want to avoid harming the people." And this is a lie and a trick, just like the rest of their claims. Contrary to what they say, their main target is the people. The purpose of the pressures is to frustrate the people and cause problems for them so that they break their bond with the Islamic Republic, so that they sever their heartfelt connection with the Islamic Republic. Of course, by the power and grace of God, they will be defeated in this arena as well. They do not know our people. They do not know our government officials. This plot has been exposed to the people. Our people know that today the enemy's goal is to make them tired. Therefore, you see that the presence and persistence of the people is more enthusiastic in different arenas. And our government officials are working hard. Our government officials are really doing their best in order to confront the enemy's efforts.
Today America has deployed all its forces to impose an economic siege on the Islamic Republic. It is they themselves who have been besieged. It is they themselves who are faced with problems. Today Europe and America are suffering from serious and insoluble problems. Their problems are indeed insoluble. Their situation is different from our situation. Thankfully we have everything. We have facilities. We have national sources of wealth. We have a good population. We have financial resources. We have human resources. We do not have debts to pay. Our country enjoys very good facilities. The purpose of the efforts that the enemy makes is to limit the Islamic Republic's access to these facilities. And our government officials have focused their efforts on foiling this plot. By Allah's favor, our government officials will be successful in their efforts. They are really working hard.
In such conditions, what is definitely needed in the country is that all the organizations in charge should join hands in order to confront these concerted efforts by the enemy. They should focus their efforts on the righteous goal. Any divergence among our forces and any divergence among the three branches of government will harm the country and the Islamic Republic. Everybody must cooperate with each other. Everybody must help each other. The executive branch, the Majlis and judiciary are all on the same side. They are in the same camp: the camp of defending Islam, the camp of defending the honorable Iranian nation, the camp of defending national independence, the camp of defending the identity of the Revolution, which gave an identity to our people and even to the Islamic Ummah. These are our main goals today. Therefore, there is a need for cooperation.
In our cooperation, it is completely possible to do away with some of the unnecessary debates and some of the criticisms that we level against each other's work. It is not the case that these debates and criticisms are fundamental problems. The majority of the perceived problems are illusions. As the judiciary branch, you should do your share of work in this regard.
If every sector bases its work on the work of other sectors, nothing will be done in the country. It is wrong to stop working and neglect our responsibilities simply because other sectors do not fulfill their responsibilities. We must try our best to fulfill our duties and by doing so, not only do we fulfill our divine obligations, but we also help others do their share of work. This is my advice.
I hope Allah the Exalted gives all our government officials the blessing of fulfilling their great responsibility towards our people and towards Islam. And I assure you that you will be successful. Allah the Exalted has promised this and divine promises are inviolable. Divine promises will definitely be fulfilled. Allah the Exalted has promised to support the righteous people. Allah the Exalted helps those who make efforts for a divine cause. He guides them. He assists them. He has promised to help them achieve their goals. And today our people and government officials are making efforts for a divine cause. Their intentions are really good and their efforts are truly sincere. And I hope Allah the Exalted blesses their efforts.
I pray to Allah the Exalted to bless all of you and to open up new doors of spiritual blessings for you so that you can fulfill the responsibilities that lie on your shoulders in the best possible way.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings