Dec 1, 2014

Outspoken conservative member of the Iranian Parliament Ali Motahari has once again stirred controversy by criticizing the near four-year house arrest of the 2009 Green Movement leaders and questioning the function of the body meant to supervise and elect Iran's supreme leader.

During a speech at Ferdowsi University in the city of Mashhad Nov. 26, Motahari said, “The prime responsibility of the Assembly of Experts is to supervise the performance of the supreme leader and his subsidiaries. Until now, they have not done this and will not do it. They get involved with any issue other than the job they are supposed to do.”

Motahari continued, “Have they ever discussed a subsidiary of the institution of the supreme leader? For instance, the Headquarters for Executing the Order of Imam [Setad] has been turned into an economic cartel — they build towers. Has this been investigated?”

Motahari said that the Assembly of Experts cannot limit itself to choosing the supreme leader but also has to “research and investigate” institutions that operate under him. Setad, which operates under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was originally established to manage the properties and assets of individuals connected to the monarchy who either left Iran after the revolution or whose property was confiscated. Today, Setad is a large government conglomerate with various holdings.

Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, a member of the Assembly of Experts, responded to Motahari’s criticism with the ambiguous claim that “The Assembly of Experts is not the supervisor of the supreme leader’s performance but is responsible for checking and verifying his leadership qualifications.”