In a rare attack targeting the judiciary, two prominent hard-line judges, Mohammad Mogheiseh and Ali Razini, were fatally shot in Iran’s capital. Razini’s involvement in the 1988 mass executions of dissidents likely made him a target in the past. Both judges served on Iran’s Supreme Court and were attacked by a gunman armed with a handgun at the Palace of Justice in Tehran. The attacker killed himself after the shooting. Investigations are ongoing to identify the perpetrators of the attack.
The Iranian Supreme Court, unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, has multiple branches spread across the country and is the highest court in Iran. Both judges have been under scrutiny, with Mogheiseh being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2019 for his involvement in unfair trials and sentencing journalists to lengthy prison terms.
The 1988 executions in Iran followed a surprise attack by the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, leading to the formation of “death commissions” that resulted in the execution of thousands of people. While Mogheiseh never addressed the accusations of his involvement in these commissions, Razini defended their actions as fair and lawful in a 2017 interview.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the judges, which comes at a time when Iran is facing economic turmoil and challenges in the Middle East. The killings highlight the ongoing tensions and instability within Iran’s judiciary system.
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