Tehran Lawyers Say Iranians Do Not Want The Islamic Republic

Forty Iranian lawyers have issued a statement saying most people no longer want the Islamic Republic and called on their peers to speak up and defend the people.

In a statement about the ongoing protests, 40 Iranian solicitors on Wednesday said confronting “the illegitimate will [of the government] and its decisions and laws” is the right of the people adding that “at the moment our concern is freedom and judicial justice.”

Iran has been gripped by protests since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin who had been arrested on September 13 for allegedly breaching the Islamic dress code and died three days later from severe head trauma. Protests spread fueled by public outrage over a crackdown that led to the deaths of other young men, women, and children. Now in their seventh week, the protests show no sign of ending.

Referring to Supreme Leader’s autocratic ruling system, the Iranian lawyers strongly criticized the “absolute guardianship of a jurist,” stating “the legitimacy of any law depends on public will and consent, and no one has the right to decide for them.”

Absolute Guardianship of a jurist or Velayat-e Faqih is a system of governance that has underpinned the way Iran operates since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. At its most basic, the theory, which is rooted in Shia Islam, justifies the rule of the clergy over the state.

The statement also accused regime military officials of having “positioned themselves as the representatives of the unseen (God)” and with this “delusional” perception has locked up the will of the majority of the people within the establishment’s laws.”

The signatories argued that this usurpation of power is the cause of the street protests noting that the protesters came to “take back the seat of governance from these racist and incompetent rulers.”

Protest slogans in the past weeks were mainly targeted Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who considers himself the “representative of God on earth.” Angry demonstrators say, “Cruel Khamenei, We Will Bury You!”

Elsewhere in this statement, the lawyers warned that Iranian citizens “have become familiar with the nature of the ruling clerics and will no longer be deceived by their lies and promises, and in different ways they are asking the Mullahs to leave.”

Clerics have been the target of many protests in the recent uprising of Iranians against totalitarian rule. Videos on social media show young people knock turbans off Mullah’s heads and chant, “Clerics Must Get Lost.”

In this statement, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic is described as a “tool to suppress and stabilize autocracy” that has “non-independent and corrupt officials” and as a result “a corrupt network has ruled to shape the country’s destiny.”

On Sunday, the Iranian regime charged six people in Tehran with “waging war,” “corruption on earth,” “assembly and collusion against national security” and “confronting the Islamic Republic” for participating in the protests. “Waging war” and “corruption on earth” are charges that can lead to a death sentence.

The attorneys, who signed this statement considered it their duty to “defend the fundamental rights of the nation against the regime’s abuse and violation” and expressed hope that they would be able to fulfill this responsibility.

Mehrangiz Kar, Arash Ki Khosravi, Mousa Barzin, and Mohammad Moghimiare among the ones who signed this statement.