Iran calls political opponents enemies of Islam

[toomuchtime_]

A traditional Islamic concept about protecting the faith and its followers has become a judicial weapon for Iran's rulers: charging opponents as so-called enemies of God with the threat of possible death sentences.

Iran's accusations of "moharebeh" — literally "waging war" in Arabic — have opened deep rifts between ruling clerics and Islamic scholars questioning how an idea about safeguarding Muslims can be transformed into a tool to punish political protesters.

The outcry increased last week after an appeals court reportedly upheld the death sentence for Mohammad Amin Valian, a 20-year-old student convicted of moharebeh crimes, which Iran's legal code defines as "defiance of God" — or the state — and punishable by hanging.

Valian's case has become a new rallying point for the opposition as authorities try to further rattle protesters after crushing demonstrations last month.

Valian has only admitted to throwing stones at security forces during anti-government protests in December, according to opposition Web sites. On Sunday, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said the student still can appeal.

The case also highlights the huge perception gap in Iran. Opposition groups have declared Iran's leadership politically bankrupt after alleged vote-rigging and violence. But hard-line supporters of the Islamic system consider it answerable only to God.

"Using moharebeh to defend the regime is an extremely cynical ploy," said Abdullahi An-Na'im, a professor of Islamic jurisprudence at the Emory Law School in Atlanta. "It's a total manipulation of the concept."

Valian is among a dozen people convicted of moharebeh offenses, said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Hundreds more are in detention and have yet to face the courts, which are directly controlled by the ruling theocracy.

On Sunday, Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency reported that a former Tehran University dean, Mohammad Maleki, was charged with moharebeh for alleged contact with unspecified foreign groups and working to undermine the Islamic system.

In January, Iran hanged two men on moharebeh offenses — convicted of plotting to overthrow "the Islamic establishment" and planning assassinations and bombings. They were arrested months before the June election, but were brought before judges last summer in a trial of more than 100 pro-reform activists and politicians. Some were sentenced to death, while more than 80 received prison terms ranging from six months to 15 years.

A hard-line cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, described the executions in ominous terms in a nationally broadcast sermon in January.

"If you show weakness now, the future will be worse," Jannati said. "There is no room for Islamic mercy."

The Associated Press: Iran calls political opponents enemies of Islam

 

[Kalam]

Abu Dhar narrated that he heard the Prophet saying, "If somebody accuses another of depravity or accuses him of disbelief, such an accusation will revert to him if his companion is innocent." - Sahih Muslim, Good Manners, no. 71