Vicissitudes of Justice Discourse in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The Islamic revolution is considered a turning point in the history of Iran, incorporating new concepts in the discourse field of Iran. The political thought of the Shiite school underlying it, this revolution has pursued up to now a peculiar theory on justice based on Shiite teachings. This reality is quite evident in the thoughts of Imam Khomeini and the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamanei.However, the Shiite concept of justice – maintaining its originality – has found various readings based on the requirements of each government and as far as its application is concerned. During the reins of Mahdi Bazargan, a minimalist government was deemed as a necessary factor toward the application of justice. The government of Muhammad Ali Rajai undergoing the conditions of the war between Iraq and Iran interpreted justice so as to be in line with confronting the enemy and conducted a sort of equity in his policies.The government of Mir Hussein Musavi introduced social justice and concern for the down-trodden classes as the principal instances of Shiite justice. However, Hashimi Rafsinjani considered development as the principal factor necessary for administration of justice.Sayyid Muhammad Khatami contemplated justice in the light of a more significant concern, i.e. political development. Finally, in Ahmadi Nizhad government, the concept of justice found a revolutionary and religious redefinition based on the Islamic Law (Shariah).In spite of the development in the concept of Shiite justice in different governments, the preservation of the Shiite foundations of the concept of justice in the Islamic Republic of Iran suggests a theory par excellence in the field of the political thought of the Islamic Republic.