Shayan Ghajar
Update: Since the publication of this article, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani announced September 15 that he has helped negotiate the release of the two American hikers with Iranian officials. According to Reuters, Talabani interceded on the hikers’ behalf after being asked to do so by their parents. The transfer is intended to take place early next week at the Swiss embassy, which has represented U.S. interests since the severing of diplomatic ties following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
While Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attempted to garner credit for the announcement that the two remaining American hikers detained in Iran will be freed, the actual decision remains within the power of Iran’s judicial branch, as its statements on September 14 indicate.
The judiciary’s contradiction of Ahmadinejad’s declaration that the hikers would be freed once more confirms Ahmadinejad’s political defeat following his attempts to annex the powers of other branches of government and demonstrates that the legislative and judicial branches of Iran’s government, headed by the Larijani brothers, remain determined to keep the executive branch marginalized.
In an interview with the Washington Post published September 13, Ahmadinejad referred to the release of the hikers as a “unilateral humanitarian gesture.” When pressed for a guarantee for the release of the two hikers, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, Ahmadinejad enigmatically replied, “I hope so. I hope I will do that,” according to the Post.
Ahmadinejad’s seemingly puzzling inability to know what he will do next is due to the fact that Iran’s judiciary, not its executive, presides over the fate of the two American men. Having recently lost a fierce, drawn-out battle against the loyalists supporting the Supreme Leader, Ahmadinejad is anxious to appear relevant on the world stage and simultaneously reluctant to admit he has not had the final say, historically, in the two hikers’ case.
The Iranian judiciary denied Ahmadinejad’s statements on September 14 and asserted their primacy in determining the fate of the two American hikers. In a statement published to many Farsi news sites, the judiciary emphasized that only press releases from within the judiciary can be trusted. “Any official reporting on this case will take place by the judiciary and any other information announced by others is not permitted,” the statement in Farsi announced. This statement is another publicly humiliating rebuke against Ahmadinejad resulting from his claims about the hikers.
The Iranian judiciary was one of the main factors in Ahmadinejad’s political defeat during his attempts to annex certain key government ministries into his control. The judiciary began corruption proceedings against a number of high-ranking pro-Ahmadinejad officials within the executive’s highest levels in order to reign in Ahmadinejad’s rebellious faction, terming them the “deviant movement.”
Consequently, the judicial repudiation of Ahmadinejad’s unilateral pardon is likely an additional attempt to humiliate him on an international stage–especially considering that reports published both in Iranian and international news media assert that the courts have already begun the process for posting bail for the two American men.
Ahmadinejad’s humiliation is not without precedent–in September 2010, Ahmadinejad announced that Sarah Shourd would be released for humanitarian and health reasons. However, shortly after, Tehran Chief Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi announced that the judicial procedures surrounding her case had not been completed, and her release would be completed only when the proceedings were finished in Iran’s courts. Days later, the proceedings complete, Shourd was released on $500,000 bail and returned to the United States.
The incident, much like the latest faux pas, proved damaging to Ahmadinejad’s credibility on the hikers’ cases and highlighted one of Iran’s most public political feuds: the rivalry between the traditionalist faction spearheaded by the Larijani brothers, and the unorthodox faction led by Ahmadinejad and guided by his controversial in-law and confidant, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaiee. Sadegh Larijani, head of the judiciary, and his brother Ali Larijani, head of the legislature, are both inveterate critics of Ahmadinejad and his camp. Consequently, when Ahmadinejad acted as if he held authority in the hikers’ cases, Sadegh Larijani was eager to remind Ahmadinejad that the judiciary is not subordinate to the executive branch.
In addition to the judiciary’s statements, a prominent member of the Iranian parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee asserted that Iran should demand concessions from the United States before freeing the hikers. The MP also slammed Ahmadinejad for meddling in other branches of the government: “According to the [Iranian] Constitution, the executive branch of government has no right to make decisions about the people charged with espionage,” the MP declared, quoted by the semi-official news site Mehr.
