Recently, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judicial power of the Islamic Republic, announced the implementation of guidelines titled “Qualification of Repentance” to judicial authorities in order to prevent repeated crimes and reform and educate criminals.

According to this manual, “repentance is a psychological state that involves attention and return of a person to God, after committing a criminal behavior. In a way that the perpetrator of his ugly behavior becomes aware and remorseful, and observes improvement and abandonment of that behavior in the future, and makes efforts to correct and compensate for the damage.”

The root of the word “tawbah” is Arabic and in literal terms means “return”, and in religious terminology it means “the return of a servant from sin to God and the granting of repentance by God to the servant”. Therefore, the ability to determine the validity of a person’s repentance is beyond the capacity of a human being, and the introduction of this term into the legal and judicial dictionary violates the principle of “preserving human dignity” and also gives the position of a judge or Islamic ruler a divine status, allowing them to act like God in regards to a person’s intentions and inner thoughts, and make a final decision based on their own judgment.

As in the 1960s, when judgments were issued by the revolutionary courts based on personal preferences and in accordance with the will and intentions of the ruling authority, the fate and destiny of a human being was in the hands and discretion of an ordinary individual who determined what was right and just not according to the law, but based on their own interpretation of Islam and Shia jurisprudence with the authority of Ayatollah Khomeini.

According to the standards and materials of this protocol, “determining and ensuring practical commitment to religious rituals and obligations” is one of the most important qualifications for the repentance of the mentioned defendants. This means that, according to it, even if a person is not religious or does not believe in carrying out religious affairs, it is necessary for them to comply with what has been commanded in order to preserve their life – which is in the hands of the divine authorities in the position of judicial authorities – and not to engage in hypocrisy and deceit.

Correct recognition of religious duties and rituals is also a place of confusion and questioning, what exactly is its criterion and measure. Perhaps the pinnacle of piety and devotion is a turban on the forehead, a closed collar, and a rosary in hand, and a veil on the waist, lest God’s wrath take hold in the sixties and set fire to the sinners in hell.

Every citizen who has at least once encountered security institutions, the sentence.

“Salvation lies in honesty.”

He remembers very well the honesty that is written with a bold and readable font on the top of the interrogation pages. The honesty that is in clear contradiction with the deceit, fraud, false accusations and lies in the process of interrogation and trial in the judicial system of the Islamic Republic.

The expert or interrogator will tell the suspect during the interrogation process that if they are “honest” and “cooperate” and ultimately “repent” and express their regret, they will be “helped”. The suspect, with their hands bound and head lowered, sitting on a chair facing the wall, must confess to their sins and seek forgiveness from the absolute guardian of the jurist, so that they may possibly receive royal pardon. The interrogator, in this process, will not be a strict officer or a case maker, but rather a companion and helper, in order to prevent any psychological, emotional, and sometimes physical harm to the suspect, as long as they “tell the truth” and then repent.

The accused is always considered a liar and a criminal, unless they confess and show remorse after their actions. In interrogations by intelligence agencies, obtaining a “confession of remorse” and sometimes “forced confession” which is also published and broadcasted by official media, holds a special position. The interrogator promises the accused that if they write a confession of remorse or sign pre-prepared confessions, they will receive a reduced sentence (even before the trial has taken place). However, signing a confession of remorse, repentance or giving in to various forced confessions, is only considered as “accepting the charges” and ultimately leads to a more severe security case.

Recently, a narrative about Mustafa Pourmohammadi has been published regarding the mass executions and killings of the summer of 1967, in which he explicitly states: “If they had repented and showed remorse, they would not have been executed.” Ibrahim Yazdi also recounts in his memoirs that for some of the accused, after their execution, a criminal complaint was issued and it was emphasized that the accused had not expressed remorse. The term “kilo executions”, which is used to describe the atrocities of the courts in the 1960s, is very appropriate. In fact, one of Ayatollah Khomeini’s close associates recalls in his memoirs that even once we put Mr. Khalkhali’s execution order under our control and he signed it! The only criterion and measure for these government killings was “affiliation with revolutionary movements”, and if from the perspective of the ruling religious authority, the accused were “truly” remorseful and considered capable of

During the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, dozens of citizens were forced to publish confessions or appear on television under false accusations, but it had no effect on their case.

The Islamic Republic, which is a combination of totalitarianism and authoritarianism, has been using the systems of “indoctrination” and “intimidation” as the main tools of its operation for years in order to continue strengthening its cult-like control over the people.

Taking forced repentance, even in university disciplinary committees, is common. Usually, after committee meetings, pre-written repentance letters are given to students to express regret for their mistakes and try to make up for them. However, this repentance will not be fruitful and is only done to humiliate students.

Another important criterion of this protocol is “cooperation of the accused in discovering the crime.” In the process of interrogations by security institutions, the accused is asked to write their name and information on each page of multiple forms and sign at the bottom. It doesn’t matter who the person is; they just have to write in order to escape from this incomplete hell and the repeated temporary detentions that are extended by the will of the officer, and find “freedom.” This heinous and common act is called “technowriting.” Obtaining technowriting from the accused has no legal value, but “the more forms there are, the more likely there will be freedom.” This is a phrase that interrogators often use as a “tactic” in interviews, firstly to put the accused under intense psychological and emotional pressure, because they have “revealed their accomplices in committing the crime” and cooperated with the security institution by selling their dignity (even though this is not the case

It is expected that lawyers and concerned attorneys will enter and show a sincere and urgent reaction in the investigation and implementation of this decree, so that the society and international communities witness less immorality and unscrupulous behavior from the judicial system of the Islamic Republic with the accused, especially in security crimes and cases.