The mullahs are ravaged by the struggle of the wings, judges are the latest victims

Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar

The mullah regime in Iran continues to violate the fundamental rights of the people on one hand, as citizens fall prey to the struggle of the wings within the state. On the other hand, conflicts have affected the judiciary, whose new president seeks to get rid of the old guard by accusing them of bribery.

The Iranian authorities announced on Tuesday, October 1 the arrest of one of the most prominent judicial investigators in the country, Bijan Qasimzadeh, on charges of financial corruption.

Qasimzadeh had issued a decision to block the instant messaging app Telegram in May 2018, even though it is used by millions of Iranians. He has also initiated many other controversial issues previously, including the case of Hamid Baghaei, the personal assistant to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Accusations of corruption

The arrest of a prominent judge has attracted the attention of broad sections of the Iranian people, who saw his arrest as a repeat of the judiciary’s corruption, prompting the government to respond. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said on Tuesday, October 1 that the former interrogator was arrested with another judge after being involved in a previous case that was not made public.

Esmaili noted that several other judicial elements have been suspended by the security authorities, considering that such prosecutions may affect other persons in the judiciary.

Systematic campaign

The mullah regime could not tolerate the presence of a group of judges opposed to it, so the new head of the judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, who is close to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, took office in March 2019 to succeed Sadeq Larijani and then launched a fierce campaign against some of the country’s leading judges.

Dozens of Iranian judiciary officials have been arrested on charges of obtaining financial bribes, especially those who investigated famous cases inside the country, which is part of the systematic corruption within the judiciary.

The Iranian judiciary announced in June 2019 that it dismissed 60 judges from their work in recent months, under the pretext of countering “rampant corruption within the institution.”

Many observers believe that what is happening within the mullahs’ current system is only a conflict between the conflicting wings in the country, with each side seeking to take full control of everything within the country.