Tehran Prosecutor: Necessary Orders Given to Law Enforcement to Arrest Saeed Mortazavi

Following increasing criticism of the judiciary regarding the lack of information about Saeed Mortazavi and the non-implementation of his two-year prison sentence, the Tehran prosecutor announced that 'necessary orders have been given to law enforcement for the execution of the arrest warrant.' According to the news agency Mizan, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, on Tuesday, April 17, referred to the 'lack of access to an individual who has been sentenced to two years in prison in relation to the Kahrizak case' and stated: 'Necessary orders have been given for the execution of the sentence to law enforcement, and those responsible for following up on the matter have been emphasized that the issued sentence must be executed.' Although the two-year prison sentence for Saeed Mortazavi was issued in December of last year and the arrest warrant was sent to the execution of sentences in March, this sentence has not yet been executed. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the deputy and spokesperson of the Iranian judiciary, stated last week in Mashhad in response to the Khorasan newspaper regarding Saeed Mortazavi: 'His arrest warrant has been issued, but unfortunately, they have not caught him yet; I do not know how it is.' Mohseni Ejei's remarks faced a wave of reactions and sparked numerous discussions on social media. However, the Etemad Online website reported on Tuesday that in a phone interview, Homa Fallah, Saeed Mortazavi's wife, stated that her husband is in Tehran. In another news, Fatemeh Saidi, a member of parliament, told the ILNA news agency that she has raised separate questions regarding 'the reason for the failure to arrest Saeed Mortazavi' from the two ministers of justice and interior, who are expected to appear in the commission. The case against Saeed Mortazavi regarding the killing of at least five people in the Kahrizak detention center took years, and the sentences issued for him changed between the court and the Supreme Court. Ultimately, the Iranian judiciary acquitted Saeed Mortazavi of most charges, recognizing him guilty of 'aiding in the murder of Mohsen Rouh-al-Amini' and sentenced him to two years in prison.