This week, a cleric announced his plan to overthrow the Islamic Republic in a mosque, in front of a camera—and nothing happened to him.

Mohammad-Baqer Kharazi is not opposed to the system; he is even more “insider” than the insiders. His father was a member of the Assembly of Experts, his uncle spent years as foreign minister, and his sister is married into Khamenei’s family. He himself says he’s been friends with the new leader for forty years; a leader who has had neither a picture of him nor a voice for five months, and whose entire rule consists of a few PDF files.

His plan? Two hundred and fifty thousand “believers,” each one of them seventeen people, to surround ministries and turn the Islamic Republic into a more religious Islamic government.

In this same country, people were executed, dragged into prison, and gave their lives for a slogan in the street.

So why is he free? Either no one is left to stop him, or someone wants him to speak.