When the court condemned the leader of the country!

There are some fascinating issues in the history of the judiciary. One of them concerns the late Kasravi.

Ahmad Kasravi was the President of the Courts of First Instance in the district court...
There was a dispute between the villagers of the Ovin neighborhood and Reza Shah Pahlavi...

Since some of the lands and villages there were endowed to Imam Reza and according to the endowment deed, the Shah and the leader of the country are the trustees of these endowments...
Because he is the most powerful authority and to prevent misuse...
So the Shah was the trustee there.

The villagers from these villages came to the judiciary to complain...
They came to complain that these lands are their property and not an endowment...
And the Shah is taking their property under the pretext of it being an endowment...

The villagers wanted a lawyer, but no one dared to accept the case against the Shah....

At that time, Kasravi was handling legal matters for the judiciary, and he accepted the case and went to the trial, which had its own details...

He went and pursued the case with great courage. Before this, he had been a judge, the President of the Court of First Instance....

A similar case arose between ordinary people and the Shah...

Kasravi himself investigated and found that the Shah was guilty, and the villagers were right...

One day, when he was about to deliver the verdict, after the trial had concluded...
The late Ali Akbar Davar called Kasravi and invited him for a coffee...

Kasravi immediately suspected that Davar might want to advise him regarding the Shah...

He said, "Yes, I will come."
At that moment, he wanted the case files and delivered his verdict, condemning the Shah...
The case was processed and registered, and the actions were irreversible...

He completed all the formalities, signed, and issued the notification, and then went to Davar's office...

Davar came out to the door to greet him with respect and sat down, speaking very submissively amidst meaningless conversation. He said:

"By the way, is there a case between His Majesty and the villagers?"
He replied, "Yes."
Davar said, "Please be careful not to make any mistakes."
He wanted to make a recommendation about the Shah...
Kasravi responded, "Yes."
Kasravi spoke very coldly and harshly!!
He was very cold and kept his eyes closed, speaking in a very strange manner, may God rest his soul...

He said, "Yes, all cases are handled with care, and I have given the verdict...

Suddenly, Davar said, "You have given the verdict?"
Kasravi said, "Yes."
Davar asked, "When?"
Kasravi replied, "Just now, before your call, I gave the verdict, and now I have come to see you."
Davar asked, "What is your verdict?"
Kasravi said, "The Shah is condemned because he has no right."

Davar stood up and said, "Mr. Kasravi, our father..."
I don’t know what was said between them, but it is clear that Davar was upset and said:
"Our father is being treated unfairly...
Reza Shah is making a mockery of the judiciary...
Can’t you change it?"
Kasravi said, "No."
Davar asked, "How can it not be changed?"
Kasravi replied, "Because it is registered, and it is recorded. It has been numbered. I have issued the notification, and nothing can be done about it."

Davar was disheartened, and Kasravi left and then issued the notification.
He was immediately placed on waiting status.

Davar then interpreted a law regarding the non-dismissal of judges in the parliament to mean that the Minister of Justice could make changes.
It was said that the minister could not change the position of a sitting judge but could change their location.

They wanted to give the minister more flexibility.
He was either transferred or placed on waiting status, and you know the formula that from this date you are on waiting status.
It is said that Kasravi wrote underneath: "I am on waiting status for my service. I am not on waiting status." He submitted it and left.
Later, he was imprisoned...
He was detained for a while, then practiced law, and was eventually killed by the Fadaian-e Islam...

This is one of the historical matters in the judiciary.

(From Asadollah Mabashri's conversation (1288-1369) with the Iranian Oral History Project at Harvard University, edited by Habib Lajvardi)