Constitution of Iran

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the supreme law of Iran. It was adopted by referendum on 2 and 3 December 1979, and went into force replacing the Constitution of 1906. It has been amended once, on 28 July 1989. The constitution was originally made up of 175 articles in 12 chapters, Main democratic procedures and rights are subordinate to the Guardian Council and the Supreme Leader, whose powers are spelled out in Chapter Eight (Articles 107–112).

History

Over the course of the year 1978 Iran was subject to worsening cycles of "provocation, repression, and polarization" in political unrest. It became more and more clear that the Pahlavi regime was likely to fall and that the leader of the revolution taking his regime down was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Work began on a constitution for the new Islamic state that would follow the revolution. A preliminary draft was (according to Asghar Schirazi) begun in Paris by one Hassan Habibi while Khomeini was still in exile there. An outline was presented to Khomeini in January 1979 and he brought it with him when he returned to Iran. After being reworked by two different commissions, it was published on 14 June 1979 by the provisional government of Mehdi Bazargan as the official preliminary draft of the constitution.

The preliminary draft differed from the final version of the constitution in a number of ways. It made no reference to velayat-e faqih, and did not "reserve any special posts for Islamic jurists" except on the guardian council where they made up a minority and were to be approved by the parliament from a list drawn up by the "highest religious authorities". in the draft, and publicly stated his approval of the draft "on more than one occasion", declaring at one point that it "must be approved quickly".

During a joint summit between the members of the provisional government and the Superieur Council of Revolution with the presence of Khomeini in Qom, it was decided that an Assembly for the Final Review of the Constitution was to be established for a final evaluation of the constitution of Iran.

Assembly of Experts

The assembly members were voted on in the summer of 1979. Out of the "72 delegates whose election was officially recognized, 55 were clerics", almost all of them following "the line of the Imam", i.e. Khomeini loyalists. (Other delegates were from different minorities of religions, scientists, Athletes.)

Schirazi writes that Khomeini then announced that the job of "determining whether or not" the constitution was "in conformity with Islamic requirements" was "exclusively reserved for revered jurists", to the surprise of those outside his network. Also at odds with previous statements was that instead of quickly approving the draft, the Assembly for the Final Review of the Constitution (dominated by Khomeini supporters) rewrote it, adding a Guardian Jurist (wali-e faqih) leader with powers over other branches of government, and significantly increasing the power of the Council of Guardians. (The offices of the President and the Prime Minister were retained for the executive branch of government from the French model.)

A different version of events comes from Shaul Bakhash, who writes that Khomeini and his supporters accepted the preliminary draft but were provoked by an "opposition determined to establish a secular state". This led "Khomeini to spur the Islamic groups to counterattack', telling his supporters that the determination of whether articles of the constitution meet Islamic criteria `lies within the exclusive jurisdiction of the leading Islamic jurists,` and non-jurists should not get involved.

"It quickly became clear to Khomeini and his lieutenants that there existed considerable support and no mass opposition to the doctrine and that the constitution could serve to institutionalize both the supremacy of the faqih and clerical rule." The idea that Khomeini "should be entrusted with supreme authority under the constitution" was brought up by provincial clerics in the Assembly and was quickly embraced by the Assembly.

1989 Amendments

On 24 April 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a decree convening an Assembly for Revising the Constitution. It made several changes in the constitution, in Articles 5, 107, 109, 111, eliminating the need for the Supreme Leader to be a Marja' chosen by popular acclaim. It made permanent the Expediency Discernment Council to work out disagreements between the Parliament and Council of Guardians, and eliminated the post of Prime Minister. The amendment concerning qualifications for the Supreme Leader is thought to have been introduced and approved because no marja' had given strong support for Khomeini's policies. The amendments were approved by the voting public on 28 July 1989 (in same election as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was elected to the first of two terms as President of Iran).

Islamic principles

Velayat-e Faqih

While liberal and leftist values are present in the constitution, overriding both are "the values, principles and institutions of an ideal Islamic society". One example is the section "Method of Governance in Islam" in the preamble, where it is stated

In case the term 'righteous' is ambiguous, a later section of the Preamble (Guardianship of the Jurist) states