Appointment of 'Dismissed' Head of Prisons Organization as Head of Special Inspection Office and Citizens' Rights

The official news agency of the judiciary, Mizan, reported the issuance of a new appointment for Mohammad Mahdi Haj Mohammadi as the head of the 'Special Inspection Office and Citizens' Rights' of the judiciary. Haj Mohammadi served as the head of the Prisons Organization in Iran for a year and a half during Ebrahim Raisi's presidency over the judiciary, but he was dismissed from this position following incidents including the release of videos from surveillance cameras in several prisons in Iran. Changes and relocations of managers in various institutions, including the judiciary, are not unusual, but Haj Mohammadi's dismissal from the Prisons Organization occurred amidst numerous allegations regarding the poor conditions of prisoners and mistreatment of them. In August 2021, a hacker group calling itself 'Justice Ali' sent videos to the media claiming to have obtained them by hacking various prison cameras in Iran. The footage depicted mistreatment of prisoners, beatings, and torture, leading to widespread backlash. After the videos were released, Haj Mohammadi, the then head of the Prisons Organization, apologized in a Twitter post, calling the treatment of prisoners at Evin Prison 'unacceptable' and promised to address the issue. He also claimed that two officers seen beating prisoners in the video had been dismissed 'months before the videos were released.' Haj Mohammadi was appointed as the head of the Prisons Organization in late June 2020 by Ebrahim Raisi, who was then the head of the judiciary. During the introduction ceremony of Mohammad Mahdi Haj Mohammadi, the current head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, who was then Raisi's first deputy, urged him to open a 'new chapter' in the Islamic Republic's prison system and to seek 'reform' and 'repentance' of offenders instead of punishment. Haj Mohammadi modeled himself after Asadollah Lajevardi, the former head of Evin Prison and the revolutionary prosecutor of Tehran in the 1980s, who is cited as a key figure in the repression, torture, and execution of political opponents during the early years of the Islamic Republic's establishment and consolidation. A year and a half later, in November 2021, Gholamali Mohammadi was appointed as the head of the 'Prisons Organization and the Country's Security and Rehabilitation Measures' by Mohseni Ejei, who became the head of the judiciary after Raisi. After that, there was no news of Haj Mohammadi until yesterday, July 9, 2023, when the official news agency of the judiciary reported his new position. The news from Mizan indicated that Haj Mohammadi had previously held the position of 'deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court,' a position he will continue to hold despite his new appointment. One of the main responsibilities of the Special Inspection Office and Citizens' Rights of the judiciary is to oversee the implementation of the law 'Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Preservation of Citizens' Rights,' which has been in effect for nearly two decades, yet its implementation remains one of the judiciary's challenges. According to this law, the judiciary was obliged to publish its periodic reports for the public, but after two decades, only once in the mid-2000s was a report from the oversight committee on the implementation of this law made available to the public.