Will Rouhani sue critics who insult him?

Al-monitor – With the presidential elections 10 months away and the likelihood that President Hassan Rouhani will come under more fierce criticism over his campaign promises and lack of tangible results in regard to the nuclear deal, members of the administration have signaled that they will soon take action against individuals who insult the president.

AUTHOR
Arash Karami

In response to the latest criticisms of the president by conservative clerics, Hojjat al-Islam Majid Ansari, Rouhani’s vice president for legal affairs, said, “We are witnessing unprecedented insults from those [in clerical robes], which are clothes of morality, leading to the breakdown of morality in the country.”

Ansari’s reference to clerical robes was to Hamid Rohani, the head of the Islamic Revolution Document Center, and Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, Friday prayer leader in Mashhad. Rohani said that the president and his policies are a bigger danger for Iran than the United States and Israel. He accused the president of coming into the office with the intention of destroying “Islamic authenticity” and returning the monarchy. Alamolhoda also called Rouhani “Mr. Gullible” and said that despite the president’s claims that the nuclear deal brought honor for Iran, the only thing it has brought is “Italian modeling companies.”

Ansari argued that the president not only has rights as an individual, but as president of Iran he also has “public rights.” Ansari said, “We have a duty to defend the public rights of the people. Insulting the president as a national symbol of all the people of Iran is in reality an insult against all the 77 million people of Iran and their vote.”

He added, “In the vice presidency office for legal affairs, we have a duty to defend the people from insults, breaking of the norms and desecration of the elected president of the people. He said that clerics who insult the president should be referred to the Special Court of Clergy to pursue the matter. In Iran, insulting a government official is illegal under Article 609 of the constitution, which carries a prison sentence of up to 3-6 months, 74 lashes and a fine. It is unlikely conservative critics will face such penalties; rather, Ansari’s comments suggest that the president’s team intends to use the law to push back against criticism that is insulting.

While there are conservative critics of the nuclear deal — and they will certainly become louder as the elections approach — some of the officials involved in the nuclear negotiations have also begun to express concern about the rate of implementation and the lack of results. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran who led the technical negotiations with his US counterpart Ernest Moniz, complained that large European banks are still not willing to work with Iran due to “US pressure.” This is not the first time that Salehi has warned about the US banking sanctions on Iran and their impact on the nuclear deal. In July, he addressed criticism he received from the president for going public with objections to the way deal is being implemented by the Americans.

Salehi also said that the president has given the order to build two nuclear power plants with a $10 billion investment. In an unusually harsh assessment, the soft-spoken scientist said that ultimately the problems between Iran and the United States are not arms, science, trade, economy or technology, but “America’s concern that Iran will disseminate its message of the Islamic Revolution to the world.” He added, “We have shown in the last 37 years that this philosophy can be effective and we can resist and stand against the storms.”