This morning, His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, emphasised the unparalleled importance of the Judiciary in a meeting with the Chief Justice, officials, and a group of Judiciary employees. He stressed the need for the complete implementation of the Judicial Transformation Document, combatting corruption within and outside the Judiciary, revitalising public rights, ensuring legitimate freedoms, and preventing the occurrence of crimes as some of the crucial duties of the Judiciary, adding, "The primary criterion for evaluating the performance of all institutions, including the Judiciary, is the final result and outcome that reaches the hands of the people."
During this meeting, which took place on the anniversary of the event of the 28th of June 1981, marking the martyrdom of Ayatollah Beheshti and seventy-two of the Imam's companions in the bombing carried out by the hypocrites (MKO), His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei praised Dr Beheshti as a highly knowledgeable scholar of the seminary (Hawza), incredibly hardworking, a shining example of discipline, innovative, patient in listening to others, even the words of opponents, and free from pretence and hypocrisy. He said, "The moral and professional qualities of Beheshti remain an exemplary lesson for everyone even today."
He applauded Mr Mohseni Eje'ei's precise understanding of the intricacies of the Judiciary, and he regarded the Judiciary as one of the most important pillars and main components of the system. He acknowledged that the positive actions of the Judiciary have a tremendous impact on the lives of the people and the advancement of the system's objectives. In contrast, any potential negative actions can disrupt and undermine its vital functions.
The Leader of the Revolution positively evaluated the progress of the Judiciary in addressing some of the issues discussed in the previous meeting with the Judiciary last year. However, he said, "There has been a lack of progress in some fields, and it is important to note that the judgement of the activities of the Judiciary or any other institution should not be based on statistics and quantities; rather, the focus should be on the output and final result of the work that reaches the hands of the people, as it serves as the criterion and source of evaluation."
Once again, His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei, relying on the opinions of experts and specialists, acknowledged the Transformation Document in the Judiciary as an essential and well-crafted document. Referring to the accumulated experiences of the Judiciary in the post-Revolution era, he added, "It is crucial to utilise these valuable experiences, which involves strengthening the positive aspects and eliminating the negative ones."
The necessary organisational changes, potential changes in orientations and certain managers, securing the required budget with the help of the government and the parliament, passing essential laws, and completing and updating the Transformation Document were highlighted by the Leader of the Revolution as requirements for the practical implementation of the Transformation Document to the officials of the Judiciary.
He dubbed the succession and training of a competent and skilled workforce as a necessary element for the development and progress of the institutions, which all officials should give serious attention to.
The fight against corruption, both within and outside the Judiciary, was another crucial point highlighted by the Leader of the Revolution, who said, "The decisive majority of judges and employees of the Judiciary are honourable individuals who, despite their genuinely low income, carry out the most challenging tasks. However, the misconduct of a small minority in any part of the country tarnishes the image of the Judiciary and leads to unfair judgements about the entire institution. Therefore, it is necessary to address any form of corruption within the institution with utmost seriousness."
He regarded the rumours of ill-intentioned individuals against the Judiciary as far more prevalent than reality. Yet, he stated, "Regardless of the little corruption within the Judiciary, it must be uprooted completely."
Referring to the exacerbation of corruption if left unchecked, His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei added, "In dealing with corruption outside the Judiciary, other branches of power and institutions should be active and take serious action against the root causes and sources of corruption within the responsible entities, so that the burden does not fall solely on the Judiciary."
In an important point, the Leader of the Revolution referred to the unofficial transactions of non-movable properties as one of the significant sources of corruption and emphasised, "Such transactions must be discredited, and if there are any objections from the Guardian Council in terms of the legislation passed by the Parliament, the final approval of this law should be based on the definitive interests of the country and the system."
His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei considered the duties of the Judiciary in the Constitution, including upholding public rights, to be of great importance, stating, "Preventing the intimidation and disruption of the psychological security of the people in both virtual and non-virtual spaces is one of the manifestations of safeguarding public rights. The Judiciary must effectively fulfil this challenging duty through planning, discipline, and adherence to principles."
The Leader of the Revolution considered the provision of Islamically legitimate freedoms for the people to be necessary, saying, "According to the precise words of the Constitution, all freedoms permitted by the sharia must be ensured for the people. [However,] the power institutions often become opposed to these freedoms, and the Judiciary must fulfil its duties in this regard."
He considered planning and establishing a well-thought-out mechanism as necessary for the judicial system to fulfil its legal duty of crime prevention, and he said, "Such important tasks cannot be accomplished through individual, sporadic, and ad hoc measures, and they require planning."
Another point the Leader of the Revolution emphasised was ensuring good interactions with the public, and he highlighted, "If someone who visits the Judiciary is met with a scowl, they will leave with a broken heart, even if their case is addressed. Therefore, it is necessary to fulfil the duty of treating people well with patience and tolerance."
In the final point, His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei did not consider the media portrayal of the Judiciary as a good image and said, "The media and advertising are not properly utilised to showcase and communicate the numerous activities carried out by this institution, and part of this weakness is due to the IRIB and media outlets, but another part is related to the Judiciary itself."
He considered the meetings of the head of the Judiciary with different kinds of people to be highly important and added, "Meetings with jurists, political and economic experts, students, young intellectuals, teachers, scholars, clerics, and entrepreneurs are instrumental in expanding new horizons for the Judiciary, and these discussions should be accurately reflected in the media."
At the start of this meeting, Hojjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Mohseni Eje'ei, the Chief Justice, described the interaction and collaboration of the Judiciary with other branches of power as unprecedented, as well as with intellectuals and various segments of the society. He said, "The outcome of these meetings has been identifying and prioritising issues and adopting consensus-based solutions to address the problems."
Mr Mohseni Eje'ei also emphasised the prioritisation of smartification and maximum utilisation of new technologies as part of the goals of the Judiciary, adding, "This approach has had a significant impact on preventing corruption, identifying problems, streamlining processes, and reducing costs."