Khuzestan Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces:

The Oral History of Holy Defense

Narrated by Hojjatul-Islam Mohammad Niazi

Mahya Hafezi
Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

2023-9-11

Khuzestan Judicial Organization of Armed Forces: The Oral History of Holy Defense Narrated by Hojjatul-Islam Mohammad Niazi, was published by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Center for Documents and Research of Holy Defense, with attempt of Yahya Niazi in 2022. The design of the cover represents the collection[1] of oral history of the holy defense done at this center. This center has used a single graphic design (in different color) for the cover design of the collection of holy defense oral history, which helps the audience to find and choose these works.

Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces is the result of 10 interview sessions with Mohammad Niazi, which narrated his birth to the end of the Holy Defense, and a brief reference to his term of service in the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces and the General Inspection Organization. The book is divided into chapters based on the number of interview sessions. With the index at the end of the book, researchers can use the names of operations, persons and places mentioned in the content.

Interviews with Hojjatul-Islam Niazi were conducted in 10 sessions with an average time of 2 hours from December 29, 20416 to August 11, 20176 in Qom and Tehran. The preparation steps of this work include the researcher's preliminary studies, review of related documents, holding interview sessions, transcription, typesetting, proofreading, editing, disambiguation, photo and documents arrangement, and page layout.

Mohammad Sadegh Darvishi, senior law expert attended in some sessions to help the researcher. After the end of the main interviews, many times a telephone or face-to-face conversation has been conducted with the narrator in order to complete the content and to remove the ambiguities.

The result of these interviews and conversations was about 650 pages, but after editing and deleting, the current volume has been published in 240 pages. Of course, the entire text has been filed in the center's oral history archive.

It should be noted that the title of each interview has a footnote which referred to the exact date and location of the interview. Also, color photos with relevant explanations are included in the content.

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Hojjatul-Islam Mohammad Niazi served in the judicial organization of the armed forces for about 18 years. During the imposed war, he took measures to reduce judicial crimes and prevent them in Kermanshah and Khuzestan. He was born in a religious family in Qom, and through his father he got acquainted with Imam Khomeini's movement. He accompanied the people during the height of the revolutionary struggles. After the victory of the Islamic revolution, he continued his studies in Qom. In 1982, he was employed in the judicial organization, as Imam's emphasis on the entry of seminarians into the judiciary to compensate for the lack of judicial personnel. In 1986, he was the head of the judicial organization of Khuzestan province. In the last two years of the war, he was in charge of the special court of war crimes. After accepting Resolution 598, he returned to Qom again. Then he became the prosecutor of Tehran, and served in the National Inspection Organization until 2008.

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The first chapter entitled "From Birth to the victory of the Revolution" has covered the narrator's birth in 1958 in Qom, his 6th grade education, his entry into the seminary of Ayatollah Golpayegani, and continuing his education up to the 4th grade of seminary. Then, the revolutionary activities of the narrator in 197, and the injury of him and his brother during the days leading up to the revolution, has been dealt with. This chapter ends with the narrator's memories of the demonstrations at Qom's Chaharmardan street.

The second chapter includes "Preaching Activities in Kelardasht after the Victory of the Revolution". Mohammad Niazi, who was injured in demonstrations, went to Shiraz after being discharged from the hospital, and he was in Shiraz when Imam Khomeini arrived in Iran. Then, he returned to Qom and continued his studies. Niazi kept his studies from 1978 to 1980, and went to other cities to preach in the summers. He was at Qom in the onset of the war. Then, he was sent to Kelardasht. He was active in Jihad Construction and helping the front. The last memories of this chapter tell the returning to Qom, getting married, and being happy about the liberation of Khorramshahr.

The third chapter has entitled "Criminal Courtroom 2 of Kermanshah". Referring to Imam Khomeini's speech about the lack of judicial personnel, the narrator has told his memoirs about the entering the judicial system. In 1982, he received his judicial notice from Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabili and became the head of the Criminal Courtroom 2 of Kermanshah. In criminal courtroom 1, serious crimes are dealt with, and in criminal courtroom 2, lighter crimes. Shortly after, he was appointed as the presidency of the judiciary.

In the fourth chapter, there are memories about "the presidency of the Kermanshah Judiciary and Army Revolutionary Court". The narrator had been the Islamic Judge of the Revolutionary Court at the same time, and assumed these two responsibilities up to July 1985. Simultaneously, on behalf of the seminary, he went to Khuzestan and the headquarters of the 92nd Armored Division of the army for a 20-day preaching period.

In the fifth chapter, "President of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces", the narrator has told his memories about the formation of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces and the attractiveness of responsibility in the southern fronts; Then, he has dealt with some cases of judicial offices and issuing judgments, etc.

In the sixth chapter, "Activity in the judicial organization of the Khuzestan Armed Forces", and explanations about the handling of important cases, compliance with the military hierarchy in the judicial organization, how to summon the offending commanders due to war considerations, and the regulation of maintaining the dignity of the commanders have been narrated.

In the seventh chapter, "Actions of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces at the Karbala 4 Operation" have been mentioned. One of the possible crimes committed in the Karbala 4 operation was a failure to protect information, which led to the leak of the operation and high losses of the internal forces. Khuzestan judicial organization announced its readiness to handle this case; but the issue was related to the whole system, and it was not possible to prosecute the commanders for an unproven issue, and this was not done.

The title of the eighth chapter is "Establishment of a War Special Court", and the rules about the army and the military court before the victory of the revolution and after that have been explained. Also, the stages of military proceedings, the absence of a field court during the war, the judicial treatment of the offender, the political and modern view on the issue of punishment for commanders, special and general judicial polices have been stated.

The ninth chapter has narrated the "Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces of Khuzestan at the end of the war", the limits of the powers of the judicial organization in violations related to withdrawals, the critical situation of the last months of the war, the necessity of forming a war special court, and leaving Khuzestan after the adoption of Resolution 598.

The tenth and final chapter included judicial activities after the war was over. Leaving Khuzestan and accepting responsibility in Qom, responsibility in the military prosecutor's office in Tehran, the presidency of the judicial organization of the armed forces, and the investigation of the parliament on the activities of the general inspection organization are the topics of Hojjatul-Islam Mohammad Niazi's memoirs in the final interview.