We Have No Political Prisoners

In an exclusive interview with Rooz, the chairman of the legal and judiciary affairs committee of Iran’s parliament the Majlis said that Iran has no political prisoners. According to chairman Alahyar Malekshahi, so long as the political crimes bill that was sent to the legal committee yesterday has not been passed into law, there are no political prisoners.

As part of its examination of the bill, the Majlis committee has granted the judiciary the right to extend 2 leaves to prisoners who meet certain conditions. Malekshahi said that these two leave periods are in addition to the three days per month that are currently given to prisoners.

Read on for the details.

Rooz: Do political prisoners also qualify for the recent ruling on leaves?

Alahyar Malekshahi: In principle, we do not have political prisoners. That is because our laws do not have a category called political crime and these have not been defined.

Rooz: If that is the case, then how come some 12 political prisoners were released amid much fanfare recently?

Malekshahi: There are some people who do not speak in legal terms. There are no political crimes in our laws. When there is no such crime, there can be no political prisoners. In fact, in the legal and judiciary committee of the Majlis we are examining a bill that will define what a political crime is. If this is approved, then whoever commits these crimes will be categorized as a political criminal and a political prisoner.  Examining political crimes will be different from the way normal crimes are examined and will be somehow similar to the way press crimes are examined, in the presence of a jury. If someone is convicted of these, the person will have greater amenities. But as I speak with you right now, we do not have such a law. We neither have a law on political crimes, no criteria for this, no political prisoners, no political convicts, and no political detainees because as a principle we have no such law.

Rooz: So what is the category of those prisoners who were arrested after the 2009 election?

Malekshahi: Security prisoners. They have been convicted on charges of disrupting order or other general crimes.

Rooz: Is disrupting order not a political crime?

Malekshahi: This has not been defined so in law. It must be first defined.

Rooz: But the lack of the definition of political crimes can be a good excuse for disregarding the rights of political prisoners?

Malekshahi: When we have no political prisoners under the law, they do not have any special treatment either and are viewed like other prisoners.

Rooz: I am not talking about special treatment. Take this very issue of prisoners’ leave. According to law, prisoners have the right to benefit from it but currently many political prisoners are deprived of this.

Malekshahi: Security prisoners like others, are subject to the same general laws and regulations regarding leaves. In the recent law that we are working on in the committee which must yet to go to the Guardians Council to become law, there are more benefits for prisoners. We are enacting provisions to allow the head of the judiciary to give two leave periods to prisoners per year on national and religious occasions. This provision does not differentiate between prisoner types and is a general provision and all prisoners can benefit from it.

Rooz: You say these benefits are for all prisoners and they do not differentiate between prisoners.  Many prisoners that you categorize to be security prisoners are deprived of leaves.

Malekshahi: Currently all prisoners can benefit from leaves through the same criteria. The new regulations will give more leave benefits. Meaning that these benefits are in addition to the two leave periods that exist now and there is no difference between prisoner types.

Rooz: Mr. Dehghan, a member of judiciary committee of the Majlis has said that prisoners who qualify for this are those whose close relatives have passed away or are ill or those who have terminal illnesses. They can benefit from this 3 day prison leave. Hossein Ronaghi Maleki is a political prisoner whose health is bad but his request for leave has been turned down. Who determines whether a prisoner qualifies for this leave?

Malekshahi: The prosecutor or judge can pass such a judgment regarding the three day leave. The two-time leave is the prerogative of the head of the judiciary branch.

Rooz: The first article of the bill in your committee has raised many concerns and because of it all Iranian people will be qualified as political criminals.

Malekshahi: Which article?

Rooz: The first article that says, “Any action with the purpose of criticizing the performance of the regime or attempt to attain power even if the person lacks the intention to harm the principles or foundations of the Islamic republic of Iran will be deemed a political crime.”

Malekshahi: This bill has not yet been passed into law. It is only a draft. This bill came to our committee only yesterday and will be sent to other subsidiary committees. The committee will invite experts and jurists to review the bill article by article. When that committee passes it, it will then go to the judiciary committee where members of the relevant ministries in the government such as the ministry of security, ministry of justice and the Majlis research center will examine it. The committee too has prominent jurists and 8 or 9 members are from amongst long-time judges. God willing, it will be a good law.

Rooz: What is your own view on this article?

Malekshahi: The law must define a crime in a way that not any criticism is deemed to be a crime but that it must be a crime in law in general. We say that if a person who has a specific motivation or purpose commits a crime, that can construed to be a political crime. It is not that we conclude a crime based on the inherent nature of something.  Crimes are defined in the Islamic criminal law, and others. Some of those crimes are the same as political crimes.