The Challenging Path to Summoning Lieutenant General "Ahmad Vahidi," Especially "If a Criminal Charge Is Considered" to the Prosecutor's Office, Unless with the Will and Consent of Ayatollah Khamenei

According to Article 34 of the Constitution, "the right to seek justice is an inviolable right of every individual." Under this principle, no office is above the law and is not distinguished from other people. Even according to the latest part of Article 107, the Supreme Leader is stated to be equal before the law with other individuals in the country. (Previously, I wrote a separate note on Abd Medya regarding this part of Article 107 and its conflict with Article 57 of the Constitutional Amendment of 1989.)

However, currently, if someone intends to file a criminal complaint against "Ahmad Vahidi" under any pretext, and even assuming that the investigator from the government's employee prosecutor's office, in accordance with Article 307 of the Criminal Procedure Code, or the investigator from the Tehran Military Prosecutor's Office, in accordance with Article 597 of the Criminal Procedure Code, is the competent authority to address potential charges and complaints against him, conducts preliminary investigations, and determines the charge or charges against "Ahmad Vahidi," and seeks courageously to summon him according to Article 168 of the Criminal Procedure Code, can they do so?

Answer: No

Why?

Because "Ahmad Vahidi":

1. Is the deputy commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces in FARAJA.
2. Holds the military rank of Lieutenant General.

The method of summoning and apprehending commanders and officials of the armed forces, according to Note 1 of Article 615 of the Criminal Procedure Code, is based on directives approved by the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. These directives impose many restrictions on summoning and investigating commanders of the armed forces, who are of a rank much lower than the deputy commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, let alone the deputy commander-in-chief himself.

Therefore, the investigator from the government's employee prosecutor's office must, either directly or through the Special Office of the Head of the Judiciary or the Minister of Justice, and the investigator from the Tehran Military Prosecutor's Office must, through the Special Investigation Office of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces, seek to summon "Ahmad Vahidi" through the Head of the Military Office of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces.

Assuming all the above steps are followed, "Sardar Mohammad Shirazi," the Head of the Military Office of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, upon receiving the report and the request from the competent investigator to address the charges, proceeds to prepare a workflow for Ayatollah Khamenei as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

Here, if Ayatollah Khamenei grants permission to summon "Ahmad Vahidi" in the margin of this workflow, the investigator proceeds to summon him and continues the investigation.

However, if the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic does not grant permission (there have been other cases for other commanders of the armed forces where Ayatollah Khamenei did not grant permission), the investigator proceeds to send the complaint or complaints received against him to seek a response.

If, based on the responses received from "Ahmad Vahidi," the investigator is convinced, a stay order or suspension of prosecution is issued. Otherwise, since the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces has not granted permission to summon his current deputy, and even if there is consideration of the charge, a stay order or suspension of prosecution is issued. Of course, this order can be appealed by the complainant or potential complainants in the Special Criminal Court 2 for government employees or the Tehran Military Court.