In countries where the judicial system is not independent of the institution of power, the naked and unadorned spirit of the power system can be seen in its system of adjudication, its interpretation of justice, the boundaries it sets around citizens’ and human rights, and the forms and severity of punishment.

This is the one place where power cannot hide its truth behind any colouring of politics. This is where power stands before the eyes of citizens with all that it is and all that it is not. It is exactly what it is. Not one word less and not one word more.

Everything it does and does not do, everything it treats lightly or confronts with severity, the places where it closes its eyes to what it should see and where it reaches toward what it should not touch—all of these are simply a full-length mirror of the system of power and its methods.

Free Toomaj Salehi.