Mortazavi: A Retired Judge Was Assigned to Confirm My Conviction

Saeed Mortazavi, former prosecutor of Tehran, on Saturday, November 24, reacted to the news of the confirmation of his conviction, accusing the judiciary officials of having assigned a retired judge to confirm his conviction "against the law" and "the customs of the Supreme Court of the country." The first deputy of the judiciary of Iran announced on Saturday the confirmation of the judicial ruling against Saeed Mortazavi by the Supreme Court. According to this ruling, Saeed Mortazavi has been permanently dismissed from holding judicial positions and banned from holding government jobs for five years. On Saturday, November 24, Saeed Mortazavi told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA): "The legislator has explicitly stated that after referring a case to the branches of the Supreme Court, it cannot be taken from the referring branch and referred to another branch, given that Branch 9 of the Supreme Court has had this case for about two years for reconsideration, and the judges of the branch have conducted the necessary inquiries and obtained explanations from the plaintiffs and the convicted judges and announced the conclusion of their proceedings, contrary to the mandatory rules of procedure, this case was taken from Branch 9 and referred to Branch 38 of the Supreme Court." The case against Saeed Mortazavi, which was examined in Branch 76 of the Tehran Criminal Court for participating in the illegal detention of three victims from the Kahrizak detention center, had resulted in a ruling for his permanent dismissal from judicial services and a five-year ban from government and administrative services. This ruling had been pending confirmation or rejection in Branch 9 of the Supreme Court for two years. However, in recent weeks, this case was referred to Branch 38 of the Supreme Court. Despite the fact that Iranian judicial and political officials have confirmed the deaths of at least three detainees in Kahrizak due to mistreatment by officials during detention, political activists in Iran claim that the number of deaths in this detention center was more than three. On Saturday, Saeed Mortazavi stated that "Branch 38 of the Supreme Court issued a ruling confirming the initial verdict within a few days," adding: "To my knowledge, the new branch judge was also not involved in confirming this conviction; rather, a retired judge was assigned to confirm my conviction, which is also against the law and the customs of the Supreme Court, and for this reason, I will formally submit my objection to the competent authorities." The former prosecutor of Tehran added: "Taking this case from Branch 9 and referring it to Branch 38 and assigning a retired judge in this regard, which is against the law and Sharia, is only due to interference and removing the case from the legal path of proceedings and confirming the conviction. Otherwise, there is no justification for taking the case after two years of proceedings in Branch 9 and obtaining results from this branch and referring it to Branch 38 so that this branch, within a few days during which it had no opportunity to review the case, would confirm my conviction." Mohsen Rouh-al-Amini, Mohammad Kamrani, and Amir Javadi Far were three young men who lost their lives due to torture in the Kahrizak detention center following the protests in 2009 against the results of that year's presidential election. Saeed Mortazavi is named as the main accused in the case regarding the deaths of these three young men in the Kahrizak detention center. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, after dismissing Saeed Mortazavi from the judiciary, initially appointed him as the head of the Anti-Smuggling Goods and Currency Organization and then as the head of the Social Security Organization. Mortazavi's appointment as the head of the Social Security Organization led to protests from members of parliament. However, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not accept Mortazavi's dismissal. This issue led the parliament to consider the impeachment of Abdolreza Sheikh-al-Islami, the Minister of Labor in Ahmadinejad's government, and on February 4, 2013, the parliament voted "no confidence" against him. Payman Haj Mahmoud Attar, a lawyer, stated in early August that Saeed Mortazavi has ten open cases in the Government Employees Prosecutor's Office. He, who is one of the plaintiffs against Mortazavi regarding the case of Abbas Palizdar and the "violations" of the Social Security Organization, had requested that the cases against Mr. Mortazavi, some of which date back about five years, be addressed.