Court (as of 2018) is Ebrahim Raisi, who was appointed by the supreme leader in 2012. The court and the law Unique characteristics and freedoms of court The clerical courts were not legalized or integrated into the official justice system, and remain under the direct jurisdiction of the Supreme Leader, and not, as all other courts in Iran, under the judiciary (i.e. the Judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran). This gives the clerical courts unique features that often limit the rights of the accused under the courts' jurisdiction. The judiciary has no authority to monitor, oversee or interfere in the affairs of the SCC. Whatever other laws may apply to legal proceedings and prison conditions elsewhere in the country do not apply to the SCC. Whereas the judges of other courts are appointed by the Head of the Judiciary, the judges and prosecutors of the SCC are directly appointed by the Supreme Leader. It operates on a budget independent from the judiciary and not approved by the Iranian Parliament or Majles, as all budgets should be according to the constitution, but by the Expediency Discernment Council, a council appointed by and only answerable to the Supreme Leader; The Supreme Court, being part of the judiciary, has no jurisdiction to review cases of the SCC. Instead, appeals are heard by another chamber of the clerical court; All court proceedings are closed to the public; the personnel of the SCC are not subject to any oversight such as the Judges Disciplinary Court, but subservient to the office of the Leader only; The defense counsel in a trial must be chosen from designated clergy, so that the accused cannot freely choose their defense council, (article 35 of the constitution grants the accused the right to choose his or her own counsel of defense); Frequently the accused are not promptly informed of the charges against them. (Article 32 of the Constitution of Iran states the defendant must be properly arraigned and the charges against him must be conveyed clearly and in writing); The SCC de facto takes a different approach than the judiciary with regard to the sources of law recognized, for example considering "penal codes and the SCC ordinance as secondary in line to contemporary fatāwā", (this is in contradiction to Article 167 of the constitution, which says Islamic sources are secondary to any codified law); The court runs its own