mess for the Islamic Republic as foreign screams about Iranian injustices cause officials to turn in several directions at the same time, tripping over themselves and bumping into other officials as they try to figure out what to do.
The mess is largely caused by a conflict between hardline ideologues in the Judiciary who believe in clamping down harshly on wayward citizens, and others more moderate who believe the law needs to be wielded more lightly if it is to earn respect from the public.
Foreign criticism also prompts conflicting reactions, with hardliners spurred to demand even harsher action in anger at foreign interference, while others see that the criticism comes not just from 
the West but from many Muslims who view Iranian justice not only as zany but as painting Islam in the worst light before the rest of the world.
Every few years, some case flares up and draws much attention in the outside world.
A decade ago, spying charges against 10 Shiraz Jews offended the world. Officials of the Khatami Administration told visitors the Jews were the victims of a political battle between rival revolutionary groups in Shiraz. But the trial went forward and the Jews were sentenced to long terms. Once the noise level dropped, Tehran officials saw that the Jews were freed long before their sentences expired.
Most recently, the stoning sentence issued to Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani caused a worldwide uproar. For years, the record of the case showed she was convicted only of adultery with her husband’s killer. But after the wrath of the world descended on the Iranian Judiciary, officials said she wasn’t to be stoned for adultery but hanged for her husband’s murder. The factual shuffle did not impress the world.
Now, officials are trying the same thing with Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani of Rasht. With the outside world incensed that he might be hanged for apostasy, officials are changing their tune. The deputy governor general of Gilan province has now said Nadarkhani isn’t facing the death penalty for apostasy but for assorted other crimes such as supporting Zionism and running a house of prostitution, crimes never mentioned before now.
The Ashtiani stoning case has simply been put on the back burner. She sits in prison in Tabriz. There is no court action. It appears the Judiciary is trying to solve its problem by taking no action. Ashtiani isn’t being executed; she isn’t being freed. The loud uproar from the West has subsided since there have been no developments to react to. But the Judiciary seems to understand that there will be hell to pay if she actually is executed, whether by stoning or the rope.
That may be the route the Nadarkhani apostasy case takes. Nadarkhani was given three opportunities to recant last month. Failing to do so would allow the judges to sentence him to death for apostasy. Nadarkhani did not recant. But three weeks have now passed and the judges have still issued no sentence in the case. The case may just remain in that limbo forever, with Nadarkhani, like Ashtiani, left to rot in jail.
The Judiciary has also faced angry foreigners over the years over its treatment of Baha’is, its resort to public floggings and its love of public hangings. The Judiciary in Tehran got very fearful several years ago when a young woman who had been blinded by a spurned lover demanded her rights under Iran’s qasas or eye-for-an-eye law—i.e., the right to blind her attacker.
The Judiciary saw major problems not only from abroad but within Iran in that case. The judges dallied and delayed for years until they were finally able to convince the woman to give up her eye-for-an-eye demand a few months ago.