Arash Aramesh

At Friday prayer in Tehran, hard-line Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of the Guardian Council, praised the execution of two young detainees: “There is no room for compassion. We should not have mercy on those who bring corruption on earth. We will face problems if we show weakness from now on.” Jannati claimed that the demonstrations in December by the opposition were due to the government’s weakness. He pledged there would be no more signs of weakness in dealing with the “enemy.”

According to the pro-government Fars News, which has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Jannati praised Chief Justice Sadegh Larijani and said, “Ayatollah Larijani has a revolutionary…spirit”, which favors justice and the concept of supreme clerical rule. “In order to please God, he must deal with the rest of those who instigated the riots, as he did by ordering the execution of two rioters.” He added, “We know Ayatollah Larijani and we are convinced that his ambition is to serve.”

Jannati said that the enemy has tried to derail the revolution for thirty years but has failed to do so. He asserted, “We cannot be excessive or too soft in punishment,” referring to the Judiciary’s responsibility to punish those responsible for what he called “sedition” and “riots” in the past seven months.

Yesterday, the Iranian judiciary announced it executed two members of the opposition who were allegedly involved in a bombing that took place in a mosque in Shiraz, killing thirteen people in April 2008. Mohammad-Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were hung in the early hours on January 28 for being “enemies of God.” There are nine other detainees all sentenced to death for being mohareb, or enemies of God, according to the Iranian judiciary. They are accused of taking part in anti-government demonstrations that were characterized by the government as “counterrevolutionary and norm-breaking riots.”

Government security forces and the judiciary are preparing for possible demonstrations by the opposition during the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, scheduled during a 10-day period starting on February 1, and ending on February 11. These ten days mark the crucial period when Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran on February 1, 1979, and engineered the final victory of the revolution on February 11, 1979.

The government is worried that the opposition is going to hijack the state-sponsored rallies during this time to stage anti-government demonstrations. Many members of the opposition interpreted the judiciary’s recent actions and Jannati’s statements at the Friday prayer as signs of weakness by a government, which is trying to intimidate the population in order to prevent future demonstrations.