The following is the full text of the speech delivered on June 28, 2022, by Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with the Head of the Judiciary Branch and a number of the top officials and employees of the Judiciary.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
All praise is due to God, Lord of the worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master, Muhammad, and upon his immaculate Progeny, particularly the remnant of God on earth.
I welcome you dear brothers and dear sisters. You are influential figures for the important issues of the country. One of the important things that the Judiciary does is influencing the most important issues of the country. This is the role you play. God willing, you will be successful. This is a grace [from God]. I am pleased that thanks to God, this epidemic has become somewhat less now, and we have been blessed with this success of being able to visit you in person.[1]
First of all, I wish to honor the memory of the dear martyr, the late Ayatollah Beheshti (may God be pleased with him), all the martyrs who were martyred along with him, as well as all the martyrs of the Judiciary. May God exalt the degrees of all of them by His Grace. Martyr Beheshti was an outstanding personage. He was truly in all fairness an outstanding person. From the time he came from abroad and up to the time of his martyrdom during the years before the victory of the Revolution, we were continuously working with him from up close. I witnessed that truly he was an outstanding personage.
I witnessed the same thing in the organizations where we worked together. The late Ayatollah Taleghani was elected as the Chairman of the Revolutionary Council. But this same Council unanimously were of the opinion that he needed a Vice Chairman, and Mr. Beheshti was chosen by them to be that Vice Chairman. Mr. Beheshti was in charge of the administration of the Revolutionary Council even during the lifetime of the late Mr. Taleghani. He was an outstanding personage. May God exalt his rank by His grace.
I would like to take a quick look at the situation during that time in this gathering. These events are something for us to learn from. Taking into consideration the situation that existed 41 years ago on June 28 can be enlightening. First of all, in those days the Imposed War had created the worst, most difficult situation. Saddam’s regime had brought its forces close to our large cities in both the south and in the west.
Some of the cities they had taken control of. In some cities such as Ahvaz, Dezful, and some other cities in the west of the country, their forces had come close to those cities. During the first months of the year 1360 AH (1981 AD)–in April, May and June–I was in the western region (of the country). I won’t forget. I mean even now while I am talking to you, the effect of the grief that had spread over the region at that time is still in my heart. A cloud of sorrow had spread over the whole western region. This could be seen wherever a person went.
[One day] we were passing by these mountain heights, which were known as Baraftab and which are close to Kermanshah. As we were driving in the car to go to a specific point, not even one step of this long way was safe. There was the possibility that the enemy’s artillery or mortar shells would be dropped there at every moment. They [the enemy] had surrounded that area to this extent. The environment throughout the area was truly sad. The enemy’s forces were skilled; our forces were unprepared. Our facilities were extremely limited; they had abundant facilities. Our army brigade in Ahvaz needed to have about 150 tanks for example. But I think we had about thirty or twenty. I do not remember the exact number. We had about this many tanks. This was our situation. This is about the war.
Inside the country in Tehran itself, there was a Civil War going on. There was a Civil War going on in these streets of Tehran. The Munafiqin had come out into the streets with everything they could find–from razor blades that were used for cutting rugs to anything else they had at their disposal. They were threatening the lives of the people, the guards in the Local Committees and the guards of the IRGC, etc. There was a war; Tehran was at war. This was the situation on June 28.
The political situation in the country was such that about a week before June 28, the incompetence of the current President[2] had been proven in Parliament and he was removed from office. So the country did not have a President. This was how the situation was. In such a situation, the country lost a pillar like Mr. Beheshti. Mr. Beheshti was a pillar, truly a pillar. The value of such pillars that hold up the Revolution cannot be calculated. Martyr Beheshti was one such pillar, but he went to heaven in the middle of such a situation.
About two months later, both the new President and Prime Minister—Martyr Raja’i and Martyr Bahonar—were martyred together in the middle of a meeting. Many of you may remember these things, but our dear young people did not see these things at that time. They do not have a correct awareness of the history and details of these events. Think about this you dear young people, our dear children! About two months after those events, Martyr Raja’i and Martyr Bahonar, the President and Prime Minister at the time, were assassinated in a meeting and were gone.
Shortly afterwards, a number of senior Commanders from the Army and the Guard Corps were martyred in a plane crash: Martyr Fallahi, Martyr Fakuri, Martyr Kolahdooz and the like.[3] So in less than three months’ time, all these bitter events took place, all these terrible tragedies occurred, all these devastating blows struck us! Which country do you know of, which government do you know of, that can stand up to all these events and not collapse? You the Judiciary are part of such a system.
The people stood firmly, Imam stood firmly like Mount Damavand and the caring officials and the revolutionary youth stood firmly. They turned the situation around 180 degrees. They changed continuous defeat in the war into continuous victory. They cleared the Munafiqin from the streets, they helped the Army and the IRGC to become more organized every day, and they returned the country to a normal situation.
There is a point [to pay attention to] in this. When these events took place—whether it was the martyrdom of Martyr Beheshti or in subsequent events—the enemies rejoiced. They were hopeful that the foundations of this Revolutionary system were falling apart. But they were frustrated in this hope. They were frustrated that day, and this frustration and disappointment has been repeated for them many times during these four decades.
At one time, the enemy hoped for something. It hoped for a weakness or for a shortcoming in the system of the Islamic Republic, but they were frustrated in this. This has happened many times. However, the problem of the enemy is that they cannot understand the secret behind their being frustrated. They cannot understand why this happens. What is the reason that the Islamic Republic can get up again from beneath all these pressures, stand firmly and continue on its way. They do not understand this.
They have not been able to understand that in this world, apart from political calculations and contingencies, there are other calculations and contingencies too. These are the divine traditions, which I will now describe in brief for you.
These traditions are laws or rules. The Almighty God has put rules in the material world. He has rules and laws in the human world, “And the sun runs on to a term appointed for it; that is the ordinance of the Mighty, the Knowing. And (as for) the moon, We have ordained for it stages.” [Qur’an, 36:38-39] These are all laws, “Neither is it allowable to the sun that it should overtake the moon.” [Qur’an, 36:40]
These are current laws, and they are in front of our eyes. The law of gravity is a law that is in front of our eyes, and everyone understands it. [But] there are also laws that not everyone can understand. The whole Qur’an is truly filled with verses about these laws. [For example, it says,] “Allah is with those who guard (against evil)” [Qur’an, 2:194] and “And whoever strives hard, he strives only for his own soul.” [Qur’an, 29:6] And there are other such verses, which I will now discuss that are laws too. “And who is truer of word than Allah?” [Qur’an, 4:122] God says that this is a law.
One of these laws is, “Allah will help him who helps His cause.” [Qur’an, 22:40] “Allah will help him” has been emphasized in this verse. Or there is the verse, “If you help (the cause of) Allah, He will help you.” [Qur’an, 47:7] This is one of the divine traditions. If the path you are travelling, the work that you are doing, your direction is helping God–helping God here means helping God’s religion and the divine values—if you move in this direction, you will be victorious and God will help you.
Of course, the condition is that you must move and take action yourself too. Don’t [just] say something. You must take action. This is a divine tradition, “If you are grateful, I will certainly give more to you.” [Qur’an, 14:7] If you use a divine blessing in the right place, God will increase that blessing for you. This is a divine tradition, “(As for) those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is most surely with the doers of good.” [Qur’an, 29:69] All of these are divine traditions.
In a meeting in this Hussianiyah[4] [several years ago], I once talked about the story when Moses (pbuh) saved the Children of Israel. He led them toward the sea in the middle of the night so that they could escape. The next day or the day after, it’s not exactly clear in history—Pharaoh realized they had left and followed them. They [the Children of Israel] were walking and moving along with difficulty, while these [Pharoah’s army] had horses and they were riding. When Pharoah’s army approached and could see the people, “…but when the two parties came in sight of each other…” [Qur’an, 8:48], the people of Moses (pbuh) turned to him and said, “Most surely we are being overtaken.” [Qur’an, 26:61] The people of Moses who were cowardly and had little faith told Moses (pbuh), “Most surely we are being overtaken.” [They said,] “They will now come and get us. That’s the end of us!” Moses (pbuh) told them, “By no means; surely my Lord is with me.” [Qur’an, 26:62] Moses told them that God is with him. This is a divine tradition. All of these are divine traditions.
The divine traditions are laws. How do laws work? The law is about a certain situation, and it has a decree or a result. If you put yourself in that situation, the result will definitely come. “If you help (the cause of) Allah, He will help you.” [Qur’an, 47:7] Helping the cause of God is the situation in this verse. If you help God, the result and decree is His helping you. If you put yourself in this situation, the result will surely come. There is no doubt in this.
These are divine promises. The Qur’an contains God’s explicit commands to us. There is not even a single bit of exaggeration, contradiction or the like in them, God forbid. However, the condition is that you must put yourself in that situation. If you do, that result will be given to you. The Islamic Republic moved forward in this way at that time. We were victorious whenever we moved in this way. [That is] whenever we put ourselves in a situation to which one of the divine traditions applied, the Almighty God gave the result. “And that if they should keep to the (right) way, We would certainly give them to drink of abundant water.” [Qur’an, 72:16] [God says that if] you stand firmly, He will quench your thirst and satisfy your need.
We stood firmly; God satisfied our needs. The opposite is also true. The divine traditions are of different kinds and types. In one place he says, “If you are grateful, I will certainly give more to you.” In another, He says, “And if you are ungrateful, My chastisement is truly severe.” [Qur’an, 14:7] This is a tradition too. Being ungrateful means being ungrateful for God’s blessings. If you are ungrateful for the blessings, you do not use the blessings, you misuse them, you abuse them, if you do these things, “My chastisement is truly severe.” That is one of the divine traditions too. If we put ourselves in that situation [being ungrateful], that result will come upon us. So both of these results are based on divine tradition, and it can work either way.
Well, there are two cases referred to in Chapter Al-Imran. It is strange that these two cases are both referred to in one chapter and are related to one event. Of course, there are two cases, but the two cases are related to one another. Two kinds of traditions are referred to: the tradition of victory and the tradition of defeat. One is in verses 173 of Chapter Al-Imran, “Those to whom the people said: Surely men have gathered against you, therefore fear them, but this increased their faith, and they said: ‘Allah is sufficient for us, and He is an excellent trustee.’ So they returned with favor from Allah.” [Qur’an, 3:173-174] You have probably heard his story. The Battle of Uhud had finished. Someone like Hamza, Sayyid al-Shuhada, had been martyred in this battle. The Prophet had been wounded. The Commander of the Faithful had been wounded. Many people had been martyred. Tired, worn out and wounded, they returned to Medina.
The Quraysh, the same enemy who had failed to do anything, had struck a blow, but they had not been able to defeat the Muslims. They gathered outside Medina just a few kilometers away from Medina and said, “We will attack tonight. They are tired and won’t be able to do anything. We will finish them off.” Their agents went into Medina and started frightening the people, “Those to whom the people said: Surely men have gathered against you, therefore fear them.” [Qur’an, 3:173] They came and asked the people, “Do you know [what’s happening]? Have you heard? The enemy has gathered and has prepared an army. They want to put an end to you! They will attack tonight, and they will do this and do that!”
They [the enemy] was intimidating the people. Those who were the target of this intimidation said, “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is an excellent trustee.” They said, “No, we aren’t afraid of them. God is with us.” The Prophet asked those who had been wounded in Uhud that day to gather and they did. He told them to go confront them [the enemy]. They [the Muslims] went, defeated them and returned. “So they returned with favor from Allah.” They obtained a large amount of spoils from the battle, and no problem arose for them. They defeated the enemy and returned. This is a divine tradition. So, if in the face of the enemy’s intimidation, you truly have faith that, “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is an excellent trustee,” and if you do your duty, this will be the outcome [victory]. This [part of] Chapter Al-Imran tells us this tradition. This is what happened after the Battle of Uhud. Perhaps this was about a few hours after the end of the Battle of Uhud.
That other case was related to the Battle of Uhud itself. In the Battle of Uhud, the Muslims were victorious in the beginning of the battle. First they attacked and crushed the enemy. But when they neglected the strait because of worldliness, the situation became reversed. Again in Chapter Al-Imran, the Qur’an states that, “And certainly Allah made good to you His promise.” [Qur’an, 3:152] God fulfilled His promise to you. He had said, “We promised that we will make you victorious if you struggle on the path of God.” He carried out His promise, “When you slew them by His permission.” [Qur’an, 3:152] You were able to put pressure on them [the enemy] and to defeat them due to God’s grace. You succeeded in the beginning of the battle.
So God did what He had promised in this part. God kept His promise to you, but what did you do next? Instead of being thankful for this divine promise and giving thanks for this divine grace, “…until when you became weak-hearted,” when your eyes saw the spoils of war and that some people were collecting the spoils, you became weak-hearted and you “disputed about the affair.” You started to argue and disagree with each other. You see, you must look at these Quranic phrases from a scientific sociological viewpoint. See how a country, a state, a government can progress, [and on the other hand,] how it can be stopped and how it can fall. Find the answer to these situations in these Quranic verses, “Until when you became weak-hearted and disputed about the affair and disobeyed.” You had rebelled and disobeyed.
The Prophet told you to do something, but you didn’t do it. Then, when that happened, “After He had shown you that which you loved,” and after God had given you what you wanted, which was divine victory, and you were achieving complete victory, you behaved like that. So, “Of you were some who desired this world and of you were some who desired the Hereafter; then he turned you away from them.” [Qur’an, 3:152] The Almighty God acted in accordance with His divine tradition and “turned you away from them.” He prevented you from defeating them, and instead you were defeated. This is another divine tradition.
In the beginning, the divine tradition was that you stood up to the enemy’s intimidations and moved forward. Then, the divine tradition [that applied to the situation] was that due to your worldly desires, worldliness, seeking your own well-being, not working, not struggling, seeking the spoils of war and the like, you brought misery upon yourselves and others. Two verses that are close to each other in Chapter Al-Imran talk about these two different traditions.
And the Qur’an is full [of divine traditions]. I said this that from the beginning of the Qur’an to the end of the Qur’an, as you can see, the divine traditions are continuously being explained and repeated. They have been mentioned in different places in the Qur’an, “Such has been the course of Allah that has indeed run before, and you shall not find a change in Allah’s course.” [Qur’an, 48:23] There are four or five such cases where God says the divine traditions are immutable. [This is because] the divine laws are perfect laws.
God is not family with anyone. To say that we are Muslims, we are Shi’a and we are the Islamic Republic, so we can do whatever we want is not right. We are no different from anyone else. If we put ourselves in the situation of those first kind of traditions, the result will be that. If we put ourselves in the situation of these second kind of traditions, the result will be this. This is definite.
In the year 1981, in the face of all these events and all these severe attacks, we were able to stand on our own feet and frustrate the enemy. And we are able to do this today too. God in the year 2022 is the same God He was in 1981. God is the same in times of difficulty and at all times. And all the divine traditions remain in place. Let us try to put ourselves in the situation of the divine traditions for progress.
Now let’s talk about the issues relating to the Judiciary. Mr. Mohseni-Ejei presented a good report. Let me mention some of these points that I wrote down. He told us in his report that this and that has been done. I would like to say this again.
The Judiciary is like the other executive branches, because one of the fundamental pillars in the country is the Judiciary. Not just in our country, this is true everywhere. Your successes and failures are both doomed to the rulings of the divine traditions, and they affect the whole country. This holy verse from Chapter Hajj clarifies the duty of all of us, “Those who, if We granted them power in the land, will maintain the prayer, give the zakat, and enjoin good and forbid evil.” [Qur’an, 22:41] “Keeping up prayer means offering prayers. This verse says that a divine, Islamic government should increase worshiping, attention to God and attention to spirituality among the people.
The offering of prayers is for this purpose. So the spirit of worship must increase in the Islamic Republic. “And giving the zakat,” means paying the poor-rate. We all know what zakat is. The point about this reference to “giving the zakat,” which has been mentioned in various places in the Qur’an, is this that spreading justice is desirable in the Islamic society. This is how it is.
Now what about “enjoining good”? In prayer, zakat and the like some things have been done, but we are lagging behind in “forbidding evil.” What is “good”? Justice, fairness, brotherhood and Islamic values are “good.” We must enjoin good. In our Constitution, one of the duties mentioned in Article 8 is the issue of enjoining good and forbidding evil.
“Forbidding evil” means evil should be forbidden. What is evil? It is oppression, it is corruption, it is discrimination, it is injustice, it is disobedience to God. These are all kinds of oppression. These are evils, which should be forbidden. So these are duties. Enjoining good and forbidding evil are duties just like prayer and zakat are duties. According to a tradition, enjoining good is higher than all other divine duties, even higher than jihad. [Nahj al-Balaghah, Wisdom 374] We do not want to go into these details at this time. In any case, this is a duty. It is also one of the duties of the Judiciary. If we do not carry out this duty, it will be a blow to ourselves.
You have the opportunity to do this now. In referring to the Judiciary, I mean the Judiciary of the country. The court system of the country is in your hands. This is your opportunity that you should make the best use of. You should use it in the best way to “keep up prayer and give zakat and enjoin good and forbid evil.” If you do not do this and do not use this blessing, you have wasted God’s blessing.
Powers are usually hurt from two areas: one area is the abuse of power, and one area is a lack of the use of power. Sometimes a person has a power, and he abuses it. [This means] he uses it for his own personal whims, for their own whims as part of a group, for corruption and the like. This is one kind of wasting power. Another way of wasting power is not using this power. A person may procrastinate, which is also a waste of strength. This is being ungrateful for a divine blessing. There is no difference between these [in that they are both wrong behaviors]. Laziness and negligence cause this authority to be wasted.
The Judiciary is an important element of authority in running the country. I have always made recommendations to them. I have made recommendations during this current period, in the meetings that I have had with two or three people along with Mr. Mohseni-Ejei, and also in the public meetings when we have met with the respected members of the Judiciary many times. Fortunately, Mr. Mohseni-Ejei, the Head of the Judiciary, is a faithful, revolutionary person. Indeed, he is truly faithful, revolutionary, diligent, with the people and he avoids extra ceremony. These are all very important.
He is someone who is among the people. As he said here [today], he is close to the people and goes among them. He is also familiar with the different aspects of the Judiciary. He has been in the Judiciary for many years, is familiar with the various parts of the Judiciary and has a listening ear. He listens to the critics and the like, and he hears whatever they say. These are some of his outstanding features. So, the recommendation that I make—whether to his esteemed person or to you, dear brothers and sisters—should be implemented, God willing. This shouldn’t be limited to just me giving some advice and preaching you [without the appropriate action being taken afterwards].
The first point is with regards to the Document on Fundamental Transformation that he talked about. This Document on Transformation is one of the most progressive documents for change. First, it was prepared. Later, it was revised during the time of Mr. Raisi. Important points were added and it was completed in that revision. So this document should be acted upon. The esteemed Head of the Judiciary is committed and he follows up on things, but matters must be followed up on at different levels. Judges, staff and managers must follow up on matters too. But based on the reports that I have received, some are not doing completely the things that one thinks should be done in this area. According to this document, a workforce should be trained. As has been frequently said, personnel need to be trained.
Action should be taken in accordance with this document. That is, the Judiciary must not be passive in the face of rumors, talk, opposition to it and the like. There is a straight path in front of it, and it should follow and move along this path with strength. The Judiciary should not be influenced by rumors and whether some people like what it has done and some people dislike it. This is the first recommendation.
My second recommendation is that the issue of fighting corruption should be taken seriously. Corruption exists. Mr. Mohseni-Ejei told me something good in one of these recent meetings. He said—apparently this is what he meant—that they had decided to first fight corruption within the Judiciary itself. Yes, that’s a good action to take. It is not true to say that no corruption exists within the Judiciary. Of course, the majority of judges are honest, noble, faithful, hardworking and truly honorable people. There is no doubt about this. But if there are ten bad people in a group of a thousand people, they can harm the rest of the group in terms of their reputation, in terms of work and the like. You have to look for those ten [bad] people.
However, the main task is to confront the structures that bring corruption. Sometimes in some places—whether they are in the Judiciary, the Executive Branch, or elsewhere—there are some structures that naturally bring corruption. Those structures must be eliminated. Look for these structures, find them and get rid of them. This is the second point.
The third recommendation is about strengthening judicial knowledge. Judicial knowledge needs to be increased. Some of these rulings are either weak or distorted— sometimes by chance, according to a report or something, we have heard of certain rulings like this. If you look at these, some of these rulings are very weak. [For example,] the ten arguments that a judge presents for making a decision. [At times,] most of the arguments that have been presented are flawed and weak. Arguments must be convincing; they must be strong.
Even in the prosecutor’s office, not just in the courts, the reasons presented by the prosecutor in an indictment must be convincing reasons and he should be able to defend his reasons. This does not mean that whatever the prosecutor says will automatically be accepted. But his reasons must be logical and defensible. In the case of the judge and the court, this is much more important. This is what I wanted to say about the topic of having enough scientific, judicial knowledge, both with regard to cases and about decrees. So, it is necessary for judicial knowledge to increase.
The fourth point is the issue of encouragement and punishment within the Judiciary. We’ve already talked about punitive and corrective measures. They [judges, staff…] should be encouraged too. You see, there truly are some—one can see this, although we are informed from far—and we know that they truly struggle, they really work, in some cases they even take their breaks to look into legal matters. Well, these examples should be identified and such cases should be encouraged with all kinds of encouragements. When I say encouragement, this does not just mean monetary encouragement. There is encouragement for the person’s reputation. There is encouragement by introducing these people and other such encouragements. These people should be encouraged, and this is the next point.
The fifth point is that no part of the powers or legal duties of the Judiciary as defined in the Constitution and related laws should be suspended. No part of them should be suspended. For instance, the Attorney General has certain duties in the field of public law. He should have full knowledge of public law—I will discuss one case of this later—so that he can be sure that public rights are not violated.
This should be taken very seriously, and the law must be resorted to wherever it is felt that public rights are being violated. But I do not agree with the use of emotions and slogans in these cases. Rather, these matters should be taken care of in accordance with the law. This is an important task. There is also the issue of crime prevention. This is one of the duties of the Judiciary and has been included in the Constitution. This matter must be taken seriously and not neglected at all.
In the case of ordinary, everyday laws, the so-called conventional laws of the Judiciary, I mean these laws that are about lands and which determine who each meter of land is owned by in cities and villages, these cases must come to a conclusion. They must be followed and finished up. If this is done, these land-grabbers, these people who are taking parts of the mountains and the like will cease to exist. Land-grabbing itself is another source of problems.
The sixth point is that the type of relationship between the Judiciary and the executive officers in the Judiciary is very important. This must be considered from different angles. One aspect is that the conduct of the officers must be monitored and supervised. Well, he just gave an order—I heard on the television about some of the things the officers are doing. These things should not be done to the suspects. This is one of the things that needs to be taken care of. The behavior of the officers should not be exaggerated, excessive and the like.
Another aspect is that the Judiciary should not be influenced by the opinion of the executive officers. It is true that executive officers are effective, important agents and they have certain powers. They have opinions about people and about cases. But the Judiciary must act independently and not be influenced by their views. This is also one aspect.
The other side of the issue is that these same officers sometimes have expert opinions, which are based on their research, these expert opinions should not be ignored. The Judiciary should use these expert opinions. Whether this is in the police force, in the Ministry of Intelligence or elsewhere, the officers who are present sometimes have professional, expert opinions. Pay attention to their opinions.
Another issue is something that the officers often complain to us about. For example, they say that when they object that why hasn’t a certain matter been dealt with, they are told that matter has been dealt with. They’re told, “We gave it to the Judiciary, and the Judiciary didn’t do anything.” So they ask the Judiciary why they haven’t done anything. They are told that a law about this case doesn’t exist! But if you do not have a law about this matter, who should write that law? You must write it. Make a bill, write it, give it to the Parliament to approve it for you. This should not happen that an officer struggles, makes an effort, does something, and then he comes to the Judiciary and is ignored by them due to the negligence of the Judiciary or a lack of expertise on the part of the judge in that particular case. In such a situation, his effort will be wasted. So this is the sixth point, a comprehensive approach of the relationship between the Judiciary and the officers is needed.
The seventh point I would like to make is the issue of the psychological security of the people. This is a right of the people that I said I would talk about. The people have a right to psychological security. What does psychological security mean? It means every day a rumor, a lie or a frightening statement should not be spread to people’s minds. Only newspapers were doing such things until yesterday. Now the internet is doing this too. Once in a while, every few days, or sometimes every few hours, a rumor, a lie or something bad is said by a specific person or an unknown person, and this is published in the internet. These statements worry people and ruin their minds.
Some people tell a lie, or they spread a rumor. Well, the people will no longer have psychological security in such a situation. One of the duties of the Judiciary is to deal with these instances. Of course, I have heard people say that we do not have a law about this. First of all, the existing laws can be used about this, and based on these laws the related ruling can be reached. But if you do not have a law [for a certain situation], quickly make a law. These are important things and is another issue. Of course, sometimes the Judiciary itself is the source of some of this news. Sometimes a member of the Judiciary mentions something about a person or about an organization, and his statements affect public opinion.
The last thing I would like to recommend is for you to follow up on the files you open and to finish them. Finish the various cases involving public affairs that the judiciary has started, [for example,] about some factories, some illegal seizures, and the like. You shouldn’t open a wound, then not finish it up. Of course, there is usually a big commotion in the beginning when something like this is being done, then it is slowly forgotten. Whatever you start, whatever issue it is—he mentioned central issues, central issues are very good—especially pursue these because of their priority. Finish the matter and complete the case, then you can move aside.
Your work is hard, truly hard! Indeed, the work of the Judiciary is one of the jobs that is very difficult. I have been in the ongoing executive affairs of the Revolution since the beginning of the Revolution. I have always said that I am afraid of accepting to be in charge of matters related to the Judiciary Branch and I have avoided doing so because this is a very difficult job and it is very demanding. You have taken on much work on yourselves. Well, the reward for this is just as much. That is, in proportion to the amount of the work that is done, the divine reward that is given is also just as much, God willing.
Follow up on the work that is being done for the sake of God. Follow up on work while benefitting from divine guidance. God willing, you will be given the divine reward. You may do a good action at times and no one realizes it, not even your manager or your boss. Your subordinates may not understand what you have done either. For example, you may have worked a few hours overtime. Or maybe you did a job carefully. Or perhaps you fought diligently with corruption and dishonesty. No one may realize what you have done, but God’s scribes realize. Furthermore, the Almighty God is present and watching over all of this Himself. God willing, your reward is with God.
I hope that God, the Almighty, will make the pure soul of the great Imam [Khomeini] happy and unite the pure souls of the martyrs with the Friends of God. May God unite the soul of dear Martyr Beheshti with the Friends of God, God willing. And may He bless all of us with a good end to our lives.
May God’s greetings, mercy and blessings be upon you.