Iran’s Top Judge Orders Serious Action against Vandals

Addressing a gathering of senior Judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday, Ayatollah Amoli Larijani stressed the need for measures to prevent rioters from damaging the public and private properties.

He also called on the prosecutors across the country to monitor the situation closely, steer those pursuing legitimate demands towards the lawful methods, and get tough with the vandals and arsonists destroying public and private properties and violating the rights of others.

The judicial executives would not tolerate acts of vandalism like attacks on mosques, banks, and government buildings, the Judiciary chief added, reiterating that chaos will never help the pursuit of demands.

Denouncing the “opportunistic” individuals for taking advantage of the protests to create chaos and vandalize the properties, Ayatollah Amoli Larijani blamed the officials of the US, Britain and a number of other countries for repeating the past mistakes and supporting unrest in Iran.

He finally reminded the US, UK and the others voicing support for rioters in Iran that the vigilant Iranian nation will take strong action if the country’s security is threatened.

Some cities of Iran witnessed rallies over the past days in protest at price hikes and economic woes.

Police arrested a number of demonstrators who were trying to damage public property in the gatherings.

According to Article 27 of the Iranian Constitution, “public gatherings and marches are allowed so long as the participants do not carry arms and are not in violation of the fundamental principles of Islam.”

Following the civil rallies, some Western and Arab media outlets tried to portray the protests as a political uprising against the Establishment.

On Monday evening, a number of Iranian cities saw anti-riot public demonstrations, with people calling for calm and an end to sporadic urban unrest.