Mohammad Javad Larijani

Iran’s High Council For Human Rights

Javad Larijani is the head of the Human Rights Council in the judiciary and a top adviser to the supreme leader.

Additionally Larijani has been the Director of Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics in Tehran. Previously, he has been a Majlis representative and the director of Majlis Research Center, and a Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Mohammad Javad Larijani is the son of Ayatollah Hashem Amoli and a brother of Ali Larijani, the current Chairman of the Parliament and Sadegh Larijani, the current Chief Justice.

In November 2010 travelled to the USA to try and prevent the UN from passing a resolution condemning Iran's human rights record. He was unsuccessful.

Javad Larijan's brothers are Ayatollah Sadegh Ardeshir Larijani, head of Iran's judiciary, Ali Ardashir Larijani, speaker of the Majlis (Iranian parliament) and former nuclear negotiator, and Mohammad Javad Larijani, Dr. Mohammad Bagher Larijani, head of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and one time deputy health minister, and Fazel Larijani, previously Iran's cultural attache to Canada.

Politicization of Human Rights

Wall St Journal

November 19th 2010

NEW YORK—Iran's top human-rights official gave a robust defense of his country's right to engage in the stoning of criminals and imprison lawyers viewed as threatening the stability of the Islamic Republic, as a United Nations committee censured Tehran for what it said was an accelerating crackdown on its opponents.

Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a senior envoy and chief of Iran's Human Rights Council, said in an interview that the U.N.'s actions were engineered by the U.S. and its allies as part of a campaign to confront Tehran and undercut its drive to develop nuclear technologies.

"We think this line of action is neither fair, nor contributes to the promotion of human rights," Mr. Larijani said at Iran's U.N. mission in New York before the vote by the committee, which comprises all U.N. members. "This resolution is stemming from American hostility towards Iran. … It's a politicization of human rights."

Mr. Larijani, a U.S.-trained mathematician, comes from Iran's most powerful political family and is a key member of Tehran's foreign policy establishment. His brother, Ali, is the president of the Iranian parliament, and his second brother, Sadegh, heads the Iranian judiciary.

Mr. Larijani said Tehran remains willing to hold talks  with the international community on the nuclear issue and is willing to cooperate with the U.S. in stabilizing Afghanistan. But he stressed that his government wouldn't retreat from its program to produce nuclear fuel—a key demand of the U.N. Security Council.

"We are the only country in the Middle East…that has the capability to produce the fuel," Mr. Larijani said. "Nobody should ask us to dump this capability."
'Iran has a legal system that's quite open.… This U.N. human-rights resolution is stemming from American hostility toward Iran.'

'If they think this kind of sanctions will shrink Iran, to weaken Iran, this is absolutely wrong.…I think it doesn't serve the Americans. This is the reason why the Americans are becoming a bit hysterical about it.'
'Stoning means you should do a number of acts, by throwing the stone in a limited number, in a special way.…In the eyes of some people, stoning is a lesser punishment than execution because there is a chance you should survive.'
Mr. Larijani denied Iran's government is seeking to silence attorneys. He said these lawyers had violated their oaths by speaking to foreign media and attacking the credibility of Iran's judicial system.

"Everybody can speak to the foreign media, but it depends upon what they want to say," Mr. Larijani said. "If they [are] defaming the legal system...they should be responsible for that."
Ms. Ashtiani's case has gained particular attention because she was sentenced to be stoned.

The U.N. resolution called for Iran to end this practice, as well as the use of amputations and strangulations in meting out justice.
Mr. Larijani said his commission was working with Iran's legal system to save Ms. Ashtiani's life. He said this could be the case if the family of her husband agreed to drop the death sentence.
He also defended Iran's right to utilize the threat of stoning, saying it hasn't been applied for years because of a moratorium, and served as an important deterrent. "More than 50%…may not die," if stoning is employed, he said.

COMMENTS ABOUT SHANE AND JOSH

November 19th 2010 - NBC interview with Mohammad Javad Larijani:

We have been able to convince the legal structure that the lady (Sarah Shourd) was definitely out of this process. She was not even capable of doing such a thing. So we prepared the ground of her release on bail.

So, this took a lot of labour because we should convince them that there doesn’t seem any sign that she was even capable to do that.

Question:  Is there any evidence at all against these two boys, these two young men, that they are spies?

MJL: Well the evidence – if you’re asking that from the Intelligence or prosecutor – they say they have evidence

MJL: Well, in my view, if it is settled before the trial, it is a very easier way. If it goes on the trial, then the trial course should go to the end and, at the end, we should sit down and see what will be the result.

Question: Do you think there’s any chance it would be settled before the trial?

MJL: Well, I think it is pretty much sure that I should say it right now, but I hope that we can facilitate this process with this perception… that let us assume that these people were innocent – they were really hikers – and then actually by bad chance they cross into the most volatile area of the border.

SOURCE:

Iranian official says U S hikers might not be spies, MSNBC news

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