
The Guardian Council; Blocking People’s Sovereignty and Continuing Religious Fundamentalism!/ Hossein Raeesi
“مردم به دنبال آرامش و سکوت نیستند، آنها به دنبال زندگی وجودی واقعی هستند.”
“People are not seeking peace and quiet, they are seeking a true existence.”
Hossein Raeisi
The Guardian Council is one of the non-elected institutions in the Constitution that is established to safeguard the principles of Islam and the Constitution, as stated in Article 91 of the Constitution. This council plays a specialized role in promoting Islamic principles and upholding the Constitution. According to this provision, whenever there is a deviation from the Islamic nature of the system, it is necessary for the council to take necessary action. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Secretary of the Guardian Council, Mr. Jannati, has objected to the acceptance of religious minorities as candidates in the upcoming elections for city and village Islamic councils.
The position that the Guardian Council has in the Constitution and has gradually increased for itself, such as supervising the qualifications and monitoring the candidates in elections instead of the principle of elections, on one hand, and the lack of interference of the people or the parliament in the selection of the Guardian Council’s jurisprudence members affiliated with the Leader and the possibility of holding the position for all terms in the Council, on the other hand, has created a special position for the Guardian Council in front of the people. This position is solely in service of the Islamic system, although in the sixth principle of the Constitution, the administration of the country is based on public votes.
The mentioned position above elevates the Guardian Council to a position similar to that of the Constitutional Court in France or a qualified judicial body such as the Supreme Court or Senate. It cannot be attributed any democratic role or defender of democracy or the rights of the nation; rather, in the writer’s belief, the position of the Council can be attributed to that of a fatwa council or legal authority.
The Shi’a religion, which is the foundation of the Iranian constitution, cannot possibly continue without the support of the Guardian Council. Therefore, it serves as the arm of the Supreme Leader and oversees the preservation of Islamic values in the government.
The question that comes to mind is: with this description, where is the place for people and their right to vote in this structure, or why was this same constitution chosen for people to have the right to be chosen and choose through political participation (voting) in various elections? The answer must be that what is derived from this constitution from a legal perspective is that the constitution is designed to protect the Shia Twelver Islam, not to govern society based on the people’s opinion. The people’s vote is only a tool to select between scholars, religious political figures, devout believers of Islam, and those who believe in the absolute guardianship of the jurist, to choose the pillars and managers of society based on their votes. Look at the law on the conditions for selecting a judge in the Islamic Republic or other employment laws; women, non-Muslims, and those who are not committed to the system and the guardianship of the jurist can never become judges. Therefore, the ballot box
Different principles of the Constitution, including the second and fourth principles, depict the Islamic Republic of Iran as relying on Islam and recognizing the management of society solely based on the beliefs of Shia Twelver Islam. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary for the Guardian Council or the Guardian Council to fulfill the objectives of the Constitution. This raises the question again, what is the need for the people’s vote and opinion? It can be continued; on one hand, the Constitution was ratified when the people had not yet experienced the rule of religious leaders; their perception was of a society based on just standards; and on the other hand, the Guardian Council did not have the same power in the first decade after the revolution for various reasons. With the beginning of the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei, extremist religious tools gradually impose the authority of the Islamic leader on the people instead of individual authority; meaning that the responsibility of the Guardian Council during the lifetime of Ayatollah Khome
The elections for the Islamic councils of cities and villages are subject to the direct supervision and control of the Guardian Council as a manifestation of the Islamic nature of the system; the role of these councils in managing city affairs is of particular importance; therefore, the Islamic nature of the system cannot be ignored by the religious leaders. As a result, the reaction of the Guardian Council to control the elections of city and village councils is considered as the realization and stability of the Islamic nature of the government in this sector.
The Guardian Council and the Islamic section of the government have no right to practice discrimination in appearance; just as if a law is passed in the parliament that is based on equality between men and women or equality between Muslims and non-Muslims, the Guardian Council considers it against Sharia law; as it has behaved in such a way. How is it possible for Baha’i, Zoroastrian, or Christian citizens to nominate themselves in city and village councils!? According to the ruling of the Islamic Republic, the nomination of these citizens will be in agreement with democracy and in contrast with the Islamic system. The key issue here is that in the belief of Islamic fundamentalism, the leadership of the Islamic society should not be entrusted to non-Muslims or those who do not believe in Islam.
From this perspective, the Guardian Council is the council of jurists. These jurists can take any action to ensure the Islamic nature of the system. Discrimination and injustice are natural in this path, whether the people tolerate it or not. For Ayatollah Jannati and other jurists of the Guardian Council, the people or the ruler, strange words are used. The Guardian Council, responsible for preventing the rule of the people and the continuation of the rule of religion, must be committed to eliminating all aspects that go against their beliefs and are based on the free vote of the people. If this is not the case, a significant portion of civil, criminal, and electoral laws will be clearly based on unfair discrimination and will not be realized in society.
The Assembly for Determining the Expediency of the System, in the first decade of the establishment of the government, was first introduced by the order of Ayatollah Khomeini and then by the recommendation of reviewing the Constitution, to the literature of legal and legislative in Iran, in order to prevent the Guardian Council from expanding legal discrimination. However, in practice, we see that it has only been used by the Assembly for matters such as confiscation of people’s property and some economic laws, such as the law on banking operations without interest, which are contrary to jurisprudence; in ensuring the rights of the people and expanding fundamental freedoms, the Assembly for Determining the Expediency of the System has not had any valuable and noteworthy decisions in the past thirty years. Therefore, the government has relied more than ever on the Guardian Council to guarantee the Islamic nature of the system.
Therefore, city and village councils, as a manifestation of people’s sovereignty, are meaningless without the control of the Guardian Council and it is predicted that in the future, the regulations governing it will be amended based on the orders of Mr. Jannati.
As the law of councils has been delayed (since the first government of Mr. Khatami) and has not been implemented, and by chance, in Article 99 of the Constitution, the right of the Guardian Council to intervene in the elections of councils has not been considered, this religious guardian who sees no way to enter this section and guarantee the Islamic nature of the government, uses control, rejection, or approval of the qualifications of individuals to prevent any harm to the principles of Islamic-Shiite fundamentalism and impose their own Islamic-Sunni beliefs in this area (read: dictatorship of law). They have entered the arena of approving or rejecting the qualifications of candidates for council elections through this window.
The Guardian Council, in order to open the window to all matters of the country, including interference and engineering in the elections of councils, considers itself to have a position beyond what it is. A position similar to that of the Fatwa Council in Saudi Arabia or some other Islamic countries. Therefore, all matters of religious people in the Islamic government must be in accordance with Islamic fatwas, otherwise the command of God will be delayed and the jurist and the guardianship of the jurist will become disobedient to God; whether people suffer from their jurisprudential orders or not; whether the order is to cut off hands and feet based on their thoughts, or execution; or their actions lead to unjust discrimination and religious minorities are deprived of their fundamental rights, it is unacceptable; because they consider it a duty and that is to act according to Islamic orders based on their fundamentalist thinking. Fortunately, in recent years, not only the people but also the parliament do not even protest against the extra
Continuation of this belief, with the tools provided by Articles 191 to 199 of the Constitution for the Guardian Council, and the lack of supervision of the Guardian Council in matters of legislation and in many cases, elections in the country, has ultimately led to the denial of women’s rights, inequality between men and women, injustice towards recognized and unrecognized religious minorities in the Constitution, the prevalence of inhumane punishments, the humiliation of people, and the disregard for all human values in a healthy society. Additionally, in the matter of elections, religious candidates must prove their level of religiosity; as a result, Islamic flattery or selling of religion has also become prevalent.
Although this statement may not be easy for the preacher of this city.
Until one practices and is sincere, one cannot become a Muslim.
ه
Memory
“من به دنبال عشق و عشقم به دنبال من است”
“I am looking for love and my love is looking for me.”

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