Saeed Mortazavi's Apology and Regret for the Kahrizak Events

Saeed Mortazavi, the former public and revolutionary prosecutor of Tehran, has expressed "regret" and "apology" regarding the events at Kahrizak prison in 2009. According to Tasnim News Agency, Mr. Mortazavi stated in a letter submitted to Branch 22 of the Tehran Court of Appeals on Sunday, September 11, that he had "no intention" in the Kahrizak events but expressed "regret" before God and his conscience for the occurrence of this horrific incident as the prosecutor at the time. The former prosecutor added that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, had a "just expectation" that "controlling unrest and neutralizing sedition, even in those emergency conditions, should be done without causing harm or any damage to dear citizens". Based on this, he wrote: "As the prosecutor at the time, I deeply express my sorrow and regret and apologize to the martyrs of this incident, including Javadi-Far, Rouh-al-Amini, and Kamrani, and I pray for their elevated ranks from God Almighty." Kahrizak detention center is essentially a facility on the outskirts of Tehran that has been used in recent years as one of the detention centers by Iran's security and law enforcement agencies for criminals and suspects. Saeed Mortazavi, who was the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Tehran during the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, sent dozens of detainees from those protests to Kahrizak. These detainees were tortured and mistreated at Kahrizak, and at least three of them, named Mohsen Rouh-al-Amini, Amir Javadi-Far, and Mohammad Kamrani, were killed. Mr. Mortazavi initially denied any torture or mistreatment of the Kahrizak detainees, but following the establishment of a court regarding this matter, he, Ali Akbar Heydari-Far, and Hassan Zar'eh Dehnoei (known as Judge Haddad) were sentenced to permanent dismissal from judicial services and five years of dismissal from government services. Saeed Mortazavi was also acquitted of charges of complicity in the murder of Mohsen Rouh-al-Amini and of false reporting in the Kahrizak case. Nonetheless, in his recent letter, the former public and revolutionary prosecutor wrote that "on my part, I sincerely apologize to the sacred presence of Imam Mahdi, who is the rightful owner of the revolution, the exalted spirit of the late Imam and the martyrs, the great leader of the Islamic Revolution, the noble nation, and the families of these dear ones, and I express my sorrow and regret and hope that this apology and consolation can be a balm for this wound and a healing for this grief." Saeed Mortazavi concluded his letter by expressing hope that "the bitterness of this incident and the enormous costs of this moral damage will remain in the memory of the relevant officials, and that we will not witness the repetition of such bitter events in our beloved Islamic Iran in the future."