Conversation with Morteza Hamounian

Seyed Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, a first-degree judiciary lawyer, is one of the lawyers who has represented many important and controversial cases in recent years, including the case of Mehdi Hashemi, the son of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

In an interview with the peace line, Ali Zadeh Tabatabai, as the lawyer of Mr. Mohammad Ali Taheri, talks about his case and evaluates it as “fair”. He also expresses hope for Mr. Taheri’s release and complains about the behavior of the judicial authorities towards him, saying that they are fighting against the accused on ideological grounds and do not act under the orders of the judge.

The explanation of this interview is passing from your esteemed and dear readers’ perspective.

Please tell us a little about the current status of Mr. Taheri’s case; what is the current situation of this case?

“We have completed the proceedings for this case and are waiting for it to be referred to the Supreme Court of the country. In the follow-ups that I have done [before the day of the interview], it was determined that such action has not yet been taken. They are currently counting the pages to send the file to the Supreme Court after completing the formalities. The branch responsible for handling the case in the court has also not been identified yet.”

Is the caretaker of this case the Pasdaran Corps or the Ministry of Intelligence?

The case trustee is the court. The officer is also under the command of the judge and it doesn’t matter who the officer is. The court determines who the officer should be. In this case, both the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards were present.

What are the documented cases of apostasy and corruption on earth in their case?

In the previous law, fighting and corruption on earth were foreseen in one case. The courts also stated that fighting and corruption on earth is a crime and should be dealt with armed action against the system. In 2013, they separated them and defined corruption on earth separately in Article 286. In this Article 286, the legislator states that anyone who takes widespread action against the system. Among these actions, it was predicted that anyone who spreads lies would be considered a corruptor on earth. Here, the court referred to this and stated that they have caused widespread deviation in the beliefs of the people. We went and defended ourselves. We argued that it was not the case that they have caused widespread deviation in the beliefs of the people and also this article was passed in 2013. For this reason, the court overturned the previous ruling and did not accept the court’s argument. The court has once again argued that since the crime defined in Article 286 is vague, it should

Mr. Alizadeh Tabatabaei; Do you consider the handling of Mr. Mohammad Ali Taheri’s case fair according to the current judicial laws in Iran?

I believe it has been unjust, because the higher authority has violated the vote. This means that when an unfair, illegal, and incorrect vote is issued in the Revolutionary Court, it is sent to the higher authority – which is the Supreme Court of the country – and there, by accepting our argument, the vote is overturned. And then an unfair, unjust, and wrong vote is issued. We should see what result will be achieved in the Supreme Court with the same argument they have made. In the previous vote, the Supreme Court explicitly stated that part of this case is still open. In your investigations and indictment, you have stated that Mr. Taheri has committed blasphemy, insulted the Prophet, become an apostate, denied the necessities of religion, collaborated with the Fedayeen Khalq in the early days of the revolution, and carried out armed activities, and a large number of people have suffered serious injuries as a result of Mr. Taheri’s treatments, which could be considered

As a lawyer and attorney, what rights do you think Mr. Taheri has been violated as a defendant during the trial process, from the moment of arrest until today?

They had been sentenced to five years in prison in the initial court, which this five-year sentence has ended a year and a half ago. They were supposed to be released from prison with a non-custodial order as a suspect. The order was not issued and they were kept in prison. The judge claims that because the charge is corruption on earth, we can keep them for up to two years. And there are only a few months left until the end of these two years. In this part, their rights have been violated. In addition, the initial verdict that they were sentenced to five years in prison for insulting sacred beliefs was not fair and during this time, they should have been transferred to a public prison. But they were kept in detention and their rights have been violated here as well. These are cases where their rights have been violated. Also, cases against them have been raised in the media, especially on radio and television. They do not have the right to discuss issues about a

What is the reason for the strong sensitivity of security institutions to this case?

One reason for this widespread and rapid development is that it makes security institutions sensitive. But we have always said that they have no political thinking, no security issues, and we have also provided reasons for this and hope they will be convinced. But in any case, they are also pursuing their own work.

You have repeatedly expressed hope for a good outcome in this case. What do you think will finally happen to this case? Is there any hope for Mr. Taheri to be saved from this judicial system?

Those who are involved with Mr. Taheri are fighting with him on ideological grounds. Officers are supposed to follow the law and act under the judge’s orders. But they are not doing so. They consider Mr. Taheri an anti-security element and are seeking to destroy him. However, we hope that the proceedings have been fair so far. See, the four serious charges in the case have been dropped at the initial stage, despite all the efforts of security officials to prove them. Therefore, I hope and believe that these charges will not be proven against Mr. Taheri, and his death sentence will be overturned. God willing, he will be released from prison soon, before his two-year temporary detention is over.

As a final question, please tell me about Mr. Taheri’s physical and health condition. When was the last time you saw him?

We met them about two months ago. Their physical condition was very good and they had no problems. We also had a phone call with their wife (the night before the interview), and she had no physical problems and said she was feeling well.

Thank you for the opportunity you have given us to use the peace line.