Mohammad-Javad Larijani, former MP, is one of those Iranian politicians, who partly because of being a son of a high-ranking cleric, has always been in the administration, even though on the surface he is only an academician. His rule, in many instances, has been to theorize what the Islamic Republic does. This is how he “theorized” stoning and in particular the stoning of Jafar Kiani.

Interviewer: Dr, let me start with an explicit question. Recently, a stoning was carried out in Takistan, despite the head of the Judiciary’s opposition. What happened?

Larijani: In the of name Allah, the compassionate, the merciful. Stoning does exist in our law and it is based on Islamic Sharia. While it exists, it will be practiced. On top of that, it is not against any of our international commitments. We have signed four important international treaties on human rights, none of which is against stoning. Westerners oppose stoning based on their interpretation of these treaties. For example, they call it torture, and not punishment. Or, they question the relevance of the punishment to the committed offense. Or, they say the sentence involves humiliation. These are all impressions. So, one important fact is that stoning does exist in the Iranian law and is unquestionably based on Sharia. So, it not something which could change based on expediency. However, when it comes to its practice, stoning can be proven very hardly and is practiced very rarely. Stoning is not a revenge, it is a preventive action. So, proving that it has happened, or its practice have very specific conditions.

Interviewer: But Mr Shahroudi [the head of Judiciary] has explicitly opposed to this.

Larijani: His opposition is obviously not to the sentence itself, because it is based on Islam. He is very concerned about how this sentence is carried out. This concern, however, is not because Westerners are very cautious about this, it is because the sentence itself involves very specific concerns, like other major prosecutions.

Interviewer: So, he and you, both, were agreed that the sentence should have been carried out and your concerns were only on the way it was to be done.

Larijani: This is not about he and I, this sentence is a part of the law in this country and is a part of the Islamic Sharia. This is one very true very strong sentence.

By the way, this gentleman is the head of the human rights committee in the Judiciary.