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A thug is a thug, whether or not he opposes or supports a particular issue. A Nobel Peace Prize does not undo the thug character of Yasser Arafat, wearing a gun to address the UN. Nor does murdering a hated jurist undo the nature of the thug who committed the crime.

Freedom is a moral, not an ideal, and it is a universal moral–for everyone–including especially for those with whom we disagree. In this deadly contest of ideas during the past five hundred years, if freedom becomes simply utilitarian (our jurist killer) or an ideology (Napoleon), then the moral is tarnished, perhaps lost into the myths of idealism.

First principles are just that: they are FIRST, which means that expediency has no place in the moral principles of freedom.

Michael
It is bureaucracy that is basically non-moral. Like a machine.
I ended up working for government after a lifetime of working in advertising and real estate investments. Gawd, it was awful. I hated it because nothing could be accomplished.
Years later now I think bureaucracy is used because it can not act and accomplish anything.
I also strongly believe that even as an arm of our democratic government, it is totalitarian!
My best,
Tom Shannon

ML:

Yes, as Max Weber said, bureaucracy has won; it is a dominant feature of our world. I have all my kids read Parkinson’s Law, which is a great masterpiece that has virtually disappeared nowadays.

First, it’s nice that you are back posting on your blog.

On the other hand, I’m shock to see among SO MANY WELL-JUSTIFIED Iranian political refugees, you’ve selected this case as one worthy case to at least be allowed this executed man come to U.S. for trial.

Assassinating any scum that are against people and democracy is in no way justified and should not be supported. And as you and I know killing this judge is different than killing someone like Hitler.

Neither assassinating a judge is moral and justified nor his execution without a just trial, with a defense lawyer that complies with international laws.

I find U.S. State Dept. visa policy the most bi-polar, WEIRD, RETARD and loaded with overdoes Prozac or lack of it. However, in this case, this bi-polar, sick, unjust, inconsistent, poor-managed Dept. has done the right thing in not giving him visa.

Imagine what would happen AFTER people in Iran learn that the guy who killed this judge was given visa to come to U.S. and he will be reviewed and tried in a U.S. court, according to Dr. Ledeen ideal situation.

I guarantee you within the first week of this news, at least 10-50 other officials will be assassinated and all of those killers will run to Dubai with passport in hands to have their visa for court time in U.S.!

I can also vision a huge line of people just created for assassins to handle their visa cases in Dubai! For sure we then might hear complain that other U.S. consulates should have dedicated staff to handle just assassin cases, since so many Iranians hate Iran’s power holders. It sounds funny but in Iran case it becomes reality.

Is this the way to promote democracy FOR Iran and in Iran? If this path was right, then MEK did it 1500 times more deadly from killing so many officials in the 80s, which I think many of those killed were indeed criminals.

Yet, in no way a wrong action justify another wrong action and then the whole deadly cycle of death, revenge, death and let’s kill more and then more and wow… lets kill more and for sure we’ll arrive at the democracy and human right station in no time!!!!!

Killing that criminal judge was CRIMINAL and UNJUST and more criminal is executing that assassin. And giving visa to him to come here to defend himself is one of those wacky ideas as well.

ML:

People are trying to escape Iran every day, and if there were open borders we would see a replay of the mass exodus in the last days of the Soviet Empire. Once again, you avoid the real issue, which is the evil nature of the regime.

Alireza, you miss the point totally. How is that judge Mortezavi, wanted by the Canadian government for killing Zahra Kazemi, gets a visa to travel across Europe totally unbothered and the morality does not come into it, and yet Kavoussifar is not just refused asylum but handed over to his murderers?

I am so fed up with all this queensbury rules nonsense only being applied to mullahs and their executors. Does anyone remember Zardar the dog, the Afghan warlord and successful asylum seeker from UK? He was known as the Dog because he used to unleash a hungry dog on his captured victims. He had also personally raped a British journalist, who identified Zardar in a documentary outside his council house in South london. Now suddenly when it comes to Iran, everyone like Mr. alireza get on the high moral ground!

Perhaps Mr. Alireza has also heard of Abu Hamzeh of the Finsbury mosque. Has he been squeaky clean Mr. Alireza?

Iranian people are fed up with seeing one rule for mullahs and their lackeys and another for those who are fighting them.

Judge Moghaddas did not just punish Kavoussifar, he had ruined the lives of the entire Kavoussifar family who had nothing to do with what he was accused of.

Alireza, what would have done with the 18 year old youngster who assassinated Lajavardi, the butcher of Evin, who used to send revolutionary guards to the homes of executed girls, to tell their families that their daughter was executed but also they had become grooms of the family the night before. Do you know what that means? Imagine telling a family not only that their daughter was executed but they had been raped as well! So get real, you are not impressing anyone with your high moral ground, and know what we are dealing with.

When I read comments like those made by k Nowbakht and Ardeshir, while their points about how brutal this regime is true, yet, I find their solution of REVENGE KILLING, and KILL for KILL ends to nowhere.

Let’s assume for a moment Mortazavi was killed. THEN WHAT? Have you resolved the issue? Will Iran be blessed with democracy then? Oh, OK, let’s kill Khamenei. Then what? Oh, OK, let’s kill many of them like those 72 in the early revolution. Then what?

People like you are the ones, with all the good intentions end up SCREWING, and DESTROYING the whole idea of what this struggle is all about.

Your types are the ones who typically end up trashing the whole system, just like those in power in Iran. What are your differences? Well, those in Iran don’t wear tie. They might not like U.S., but you love U.S.

If allowed and nurtured, given your potential, BOTH OF YOU will be future managers of Evin prison, under the new regime. You have ALL the potential, DESIRE, and all is needed is the opportunity. People like you and those with this regime ARE NO DIFFERENT. If you are shock for what I’m saying, then for sure I’m right.

Michael,

It doesn’t appear that any country on Earth would have saved this guy. You blame only one country for a fate that the whole world laid out for him.

Why only blame America?

By the way, somehow I doubt this was a clean, up-standing citizen the day before.

And while I am here, isn’t Tehran U the Berkeley of Iran? Why do student protests matter to you there, when you could have cared less about the largest protest in the history of the world, Feb 15th, 2003?

To me, not knowing you very well, it seems like you take mutually exclusive arguments to advance your claims, an opportunist.

ML:

For starters, no European country would have executed him. You may have noticed that Italy is now in a spat with Iran over the rampant wave of executions.

So I think you are mistaken in your general claim that nobody would have saved this man. Most countries would have saved him.

I try hard to restrict comments here to substantive discussions, and exclude personal insults, so please try to do that in the future. If you don’t know me, you are hardly in a position to judge my motives, are you?

While I disagree with Dr. Ledeen on various aspects of how to approach Iran’s issue, he is one of those people who wrote about Iranian people sufferings long before it becomes trendy to write about Iran. So I think that’s why he is well known in Iran and among Iranians around the world.

ML,

No European country would have executed him, but he was looking for asylum, which no European country would have granted. That would leave him stuck in Abu Dhabi. And although UAE-Iran diplomatic relations are strained (UAE recognizes the Taliban, Iran arms the Northern Alliance, and the three islands issue) UAE is also Iran’s largest trading parner, and has been for many years.

It is doubtful any country, European or otherwise, would have granted him the asylum he sought.

I should not have said I don’t know you. “I’ve never met you,” would have been far more accurate. I’ve reading your articles for years, and, and I think this is more important, watched you on C-SPAN numerous times.

Alireza, you stil miss the point. Of course revenge killing does not solve the problem. But does handing over Kavoussifar which consequently results in his public execution and that of his nephew solve anything?

What kind of message is sent to the Iranian people when they see Kavoussifar is handed over by US officials but other criminals connected to the regime travel freely and are granted visas?

It tells the Iranian people you are on your own.

Many Islamic militants with criminal backgrounds have been given asylum in UK, just on the basis that if they are returned to their country of origin, they will face torture and unfair trial.
Think about the message that sends to Iranians not whether what Kavoussifar did will liberate Iran or not which is not the issue here.

In general, The Islamic Republic routinely executes political prisoners under the pretence of
common criminals. Last week Maysam Lotfi, a student activist was hanged/executed as a “gang member”. Iran’s judiciary habitually manufactures trumped up ludicrous charges (including forced confessions) or tag on extra charges like ‘rape’ or ‘murder’ to sow confusion amongst local and international human rights campaigners.

The process and methods by which these verdicts are arrived are extremely dsyfunctional and arbitrary. The judiciary, legal system and courts, in general, in Mullah ruled Iran are absolutely dysfunctional.

Two different people can be sentenced to two different punishments for exactly the same crime depending on how much each one is favored by those in charge of passing the sentence. If murder, kidnapping, thievery, adultery, torture and rape was to be applied across the board, then many of the ruling mullahs and their cohorts should have been stoned or hanged to death long ago. Not to mention that many of the articles which currently exist in Islamic government constitution are not adhered to or are generally so vague and codified that one can interpret them any way one wants to and is expedient. Basically, if you’re part and parcel of the regime’s elite (IRGC, Basij, Reformers), you can get away with murder and much worse.

The laws are intentionally vague and highly subjective. Capital offenses are actually mentioned in IR constitution including articles 83, 102 and 104??and others.

Basically, if you’re a Basiji, IRGC or a Reformists (e.g. Last year murderer/rapist Basiji freed after spending a few days in jail see: Iranian.com) , you can get away with anything but if you’re not part of the regime’s cabal, then you’re out of luck.

And we have the some people mindlessly talking of “Capital Punishment in Iran” and compare it to the the medieval republic’s religious laws of sharia with the laws of a democracy.
Many in the West might argue that if he was in the U.S., he would probably be executed too. However, there is a huge difference between the sharia laws in a theocracy and the democratic laws in a democracy. According to our laws many of these corrupt mullahs (see Khatami, Rafsanjani, Ahmadinjad, Mesbah-Yazdi, etc. all are either killers and wanted by interpol in Argentina, Canada, Austria ?Germany) and judges should have been executed or put in jail. In fact, unless you have your hands bloodied in some ways, you won’t be able to move up the ladder in the Islamic Republic’s hierarchical klepotacracy/torcharocracy

The Islamic Republic in no fashion represents, enforces, or reinforces the true will of the people, who are the true source of all sovereignty, and the only rightful and legitimating base for any state or government. The Islamic Republic is an oligarchal theocracy run by a bunch of criminals and brutal thugs who will kill anyone who will stand on their way; hence the *public* executions. A public display of hatred has only one purpose, to signal to the citizens of the state that their government is willing to kill anyone to stay in power. End this practice and you take away that power.

Democracy vs. Theocracy al Khomeini’s velayte-fahigh:

Democracy, can be defined in terms of “the elected representatives of the people” and their role as “the legislators”. But Theocracy relies on the legislative power of Allah. In other word, “the legislator is Allah through his prophet”. (Religous rights aretthe only rights recognize; human rights are irrelevant in a theocratic system)

Democracy: permits modifications of laws according to the “conditions and needs of the time”. But, Theocracy does not recognize such modifications and accordingly treats the “laws” as “absolute, and unalterable”.

Democracy: treats every man, all subjects, as equal in the eyes of the law. But Theocracy does not recognize such “equity” and declares that, “in the eyes of the law, Moslems are above Non-Moslems”, just as ‘men are above women”, and accordingly, “religious minorities” are “second-class citizens”. And on top of that, “Non-believers, and non-recognized-religions” are excluded from “civil” treatments.
Democracy: allows ‘limited power’ and of course, ‘accountability for the head of the state’. (For the sake of these definitions, we need not argue as to whether these criteria are being met at the hands of a democratic system or not, for it does not effect the aforementioned statements)Theocracy: thrives on “unlimited power’ as well as justifies and validates ‘unaccountability’ for the head of the state, the Vali-e.(as if the citizens of the nation are incpacitated mentally or minors who need a guardian)

This is no good. Actually these things strengthen the absurd idea among the Iranian people that US government is somehow in bed with the mullahs. The US government by declaring “REGIME CHANGE” can shut these conspiracy theories that have existed among the Iranian people for the past few decades.