Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, routinely makes pro forma visits to Iranian institutions and professional organizations, which provide him an opportunity to present his views on the day-to-day running of the Islamic Republic. Often, he will hear adulatory or anodyne speeches from members of the public. But on July 2, 2016, while addressing students and student organizations at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran, Khamenei heard an unusually critical speech from a 33-year-old PhD student, Ali Kamfiroozi. Kamfiroozi presented himself as a loyal petitioner, wholly devoted to the Islamic Revolution, but concerned with legal abuses of citizens' rights through the authority of institutions under Khamenei's supervision. Khamenei listened silently and appeared to take notes. He used the occasion to emphasize his tolerance of loyal criticism, remarking afterward, "I have repeatedly said that criticizing the leadership is not a crime and no action against it is taken."
Kamfiroozi's speech, which he read from prepared papers, has since appeared online. Below is a full translation.
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In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Greetings.
“Let there arise out of you a nation inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: They are the ones to attain felicity.” [Quran, Al-i-Imran Surah, Verse 104]
I thank God that today I had the good fortune to express in your presence my views as a member of a revolutionary family. Mr. Khamenei! I am the son of one of the thousands of Basijis who set out for the battlefields to realize the ideals of the Islamic Revolution and sacrificed their lives in the path of righteousness to play their part in nurturing the sublime Tree of Revolution.
We learned from our fathers that the people and the revolution are the two integral parts of our identity. We learned that they departed so that the people would experience security, independence, liberty and justice thanks to an interpretation of Islam that would never stand against people’s liberty and social justice. Now the country enjoys security and independence thanks to the fortitude of our fathers and their fellow combatants. Nevertheless, I, as one of the children of the martyrs for the revolution and the Sacred Defense [Iran-Iraq War], see dangers in the road ahead and with all sincerity, I want to share them with Your Excellency. I hope that your exhortations would lead to the betterment of the authorities’ conduct and the general atmosphere.
As a minor member of the country’s law profession, I learned this lesson from my teachers: “Defending people’s rights does not mean defending what they say and what they do, but it is an indisputable necessity.” Therefore, I see it as my duty to express my apprehensions about the violation of certain rights that are specified in the constitution: rights such as freedom of expression, having a job, the inviolability of the individual’s right against any unlawful attack, equality of all individuals before the law, protection against [unlawful] search, the founding of and the participation in [political] parties, political and professional societies, the freedom of assembly, free education and equal enjoyment of educational opportunities, the right to freely choose a lawyer, the freedom to elect and be elected and the right to a fair trial. Our country’s legal system is based on important principles such as the presumption of innocence, the legality of punishment for a legally-defined crime, the prohibition against depriving any individual, even if he has been convicted of a crime, of his reputation and dignity.
Today, after 37 years of the proud existence of the Islamic Republic system, in certain areas, the exceptions have replaced the principles due to unjustified interpretations of these principles. For example, criticisms of certain institutions under Your Excellency’s supervision, or the questioning certain of Your Excellency’s views, have resulted in actions against the press that have sent the managing editor, the editor-in-chief, and the writer into the maze of prosecution and the courts.
Scientific and expert studies have been interpreted as defamation and have led to actions against the press. Certain judiciary officials consider their authority so high that they have in effect replaced the legislature in violation of Article 24 of the constitution, and restrict or violate the rights of the people.
Another example is the ever-increasing restrictions on the founding or the activities of certain student professional, cultural and artistic societies with different political and social or critical tendencies. In universities, they exploit unjustified labels to violate the social rights of the students and create obstacles to the cultural excellence of the universities. For this reason, even this meeting does not reflect all the ways of thinking or tendencies at the universities. Therefore, it seems necessary to devise legal and administrative methods to secure important rights such as the founding of or membership in organizations, groups, parties or societies with different cultural, political and social tendencies. It is below the dignity of a society of laws for outside entities to take unlawful disciplinary actions or even sometimes threaten professional associations and the students’ protests. A university must be a cradle of freedom and free-thinking.
Unfortunately, experience shows that many legal principles and basic civil rights like the presumption of innocence, the right to defend oneself, the right to freely choose a lawyer, protection against unreasonable search and so on are repeatedly violated by agencies such as disciplinary committees or the Press Supervisory Committee. Other instances of illegal violations of the citizens’ rights include the passing of restrictive and unjustifiable security bylaws pertaining to employment and higher education and the discriminatory policies of charging money for tuition and accepting only local students. Still other noteworthy examples include the restriction of the people’s right to elect freely, and the libelling of individuals from certain official tribunes or in national or other media —without giving them a chance to respond — such as insulting them or attributing lies to certain political and social figures, and especially to a number of former government officials who, due to illegal restrictions (as evidenced by articles 20, 36, 37 and 39 of the constitution), are not even able to respond.
In short, it appears that the concept of “revolutionism” towards the social and political rights of the critics -- a concept that Your Excellency has emphasized -- is not well understood by some. Your Excellency’s repeated statements about the permissibility of criticizing yourself and the institutions under your supervision, the necessity of free thought at the universities, and of tolerating the opposition without attacking them in anger, and of avoiding security actions against the students, have not been heard by a group of officials who describe themselves as revolutionaries. This is how it becomes possible to confuse the positive concept of “revolutionary” with the negative concept of “extremism.” If Your Excellency provides guidelines for how to treat the critics of certain of your views, or of the institutions under Your Excellency’s supervision, then the grounds will be laid for the refinement of the concept of “revolutionism” to incorporate other noble concepts such as tolerance, moderation, supporting freedom, and recognizing the rights and the freedoms of critics.
As a revolutionary ideal, justice is a sacred and comprehensive word that goes beyond the economy to cover political and social spheres. Of course, today the necessity of economic justice is felt more than ever before. It does not look good for the system when, on one hand, people witness financial corruption and lack of financial transparency in various government agencies and, on the other hand, learn about the flogging of workers and the violations of the rights of the downtrodden.
The result of the concentration of power and wealth in the absence public and judicial oversight is poverty, corruption and discrimination! It is inevitable that we should witness systematic corruption in the country when both the universities and the society at large are short of groups, parties, popular organizations, independent media, and critics. The increase in financial corruption is the inevitable outcome of this one-dimensional viewpoint, and of ignoring the necessity of observing the social and political rights that I mentioned.
But allow me to finish. Your Excellency, the Leader of the Revolution! I was three years old when my father was martyred at Shalamcheh in the course of Operation Karbala 5. God forbid that a time should come when a foreign power has any sinister plans for the land of Iran. I would not hesitate to defend the integrity and sovereignty of the Islamic Republic.
I believe in Your Excellency’s views about fighting arrogance [imperialism], and about economic justice, but I differ from certain of Your Excellency’s positions on domestic policies and the practices of certain institutions under your supervision. For those of us who are emotionally attached to the Islamic Revolution, one of the most important factors that distinguish this system from the reactionary Islam dominating some other countries in the region is the treatment of critics. Your Excellency, the Leader of the Revolution! I know that there are people in the society who are in the same situation as I am. We consider expressing our opinions and criticism as our duty, and as the promotion of virtue, but unfortunately, this has been used as an excuse for narrow-minded restrictions in the political and social landscape.
Mr. Khamenei! My father’s blood was spilled on this land! I cannot turn my back on this land. I cannot remain indifferent. I beseech you to say how I, and people like me, should be treated.
Wishing you peace and the mercy of God!
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