The Killing of Two Notorious Judges of the Islamic Republic; The Assailant Identified as a 'Quiet Janitor' of the Judiciary

Following the killing of two notorious judges of the Islamic Republic, the website 'Incident 24' reported that Mohammad Mogheiseh and Ali Razini were shot while conversing in Razini's office, each hit by a bullet, and a bodyguard was also injured in the abdomen. According to Asghar Jahangir, spokesman for the judiciary of the Islamic Republic, the assailant was armed with a handgun. 'Incident 24' quoted an 'informed source' who identified the assailant as a 'calm and quiet' man and a janitor of Branch 39, who had been working as a 'contract employee' at the Supreme Court for 'about seven to eight years' and had 'no restrictions on entering or exiting the branch.' The report stated that the killing of Mogheiseh and Razini occurred around 10:40 AM on Saturday, January 29, on the ground floor of Branch 39 of the Supreme Court. This informed source further claimed that the assailant 'shot himself in the heart' after the shooting. Meanwhile, Asghar Jahangir announced the 'identification, summoning, or arrest' of individuals related to the killings of Ali Razini and Mohammad Mogheiseh, two well-known governmental judges. In a televised interview, Jahangir did not specify the number or identity of those arrested but stated that 'investigations' had begun. Mohammad Kazem Mohammadi Azad, the Attorney General of the Islamic Republic, ordered a swift investigation into the case to identify and apprehend what he termed the 'backers' of the judges' killings. Mohammad Mogheiseh and Ali Razini, two notorious judges of the Islamic Republic of Iran, had issued numerous death sentences and long prison terms for government opponents during their judicial careers. Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, stated that Mogheiseh and Razini have committed crimes against humanity since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution. The U.S. Treasury Department had sanctioned Mohammad Mogheiseh for his role in punishing the people of Iran and dual nationals. Mogheiseh was transferred from the Revolutionary Court to the Supreme Court in November 2020. He was known for issuing death sentences, imprisonment, and lashes against journalists, lawyers, political activists, and ethnic and religious minorities. In his role as a judge in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, he handled many cases, including those of Baha'i leaders, protesters of the 'Green Movement,' and members of the National Front, and according to the 'Atlas of Iranian Prisons,' he sentenced defendants to 1,653 years in prison across 335 cases. Due to his rulings and role in suppressing critics and opponents of the Islamic Republic, he was also placed on the EU sanctions list in 2011. The second individual killed in front of the Tehran Judiciary Palace was Ali Razini. Razini had held positions such as the Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran, head of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces, head of the Tehran Judiciary from 1994 to 1999, head of the Administrative Justice Court from 2004 to 2009, representative of Hamadan Province in the fourth Assembly of Experts, head of the Special Court for Clergy from 1987 to 2012, and legal advisor to the head of the judiciary. The Judiciary's information center announced that this was not the first attempt on Razini's life, as he was targeted by motorcyclists with a magnet bomb on his vehicle while leaving work in December 1998, resulting in injuries. Various sources indicated that Razini played a role in issuing death sentences during the eight-year war with Iraq and the 1988 massacre. In this regard, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani noted in his memoirs about the establishment of special courts: 'In the afternoon, Mr. Fallahian and Razini came. We discussed the wartime court and special inspections and current war affairs. Recently, the Imam issued a strong order to Mr. Razini for establishing a court and trying those responsible for the war.' Throughout his life, Razini openly took pride in the crimes he committed, stating, 'We had the courage to write down the reasons for every execution we carried out and signed it, and this is an honor for us.' Razini also mentioned regarding the 1980s massacre that 'the Imam said if an armed group rises against the regime, all its members are opponents; even those who are not in the military branch, and the regime began to deal with them.' Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, appointed a committee in the summer of 1988 to determine political prisoners who were 'warring and sentenced to death,' specifically mentioning Hossein Ali Niri and Morteza Eshraqi. Mostafa Pourmohammadi and Ebrahim Raisi were also members of this committee. The killing of governmental figures has a precedent. In a recent case, Abbasali Soleimani, a former representative of Ali Khamenei in Sistan and Baluchestan Province and a member of the Assembly of Experts, was shot dead by a bank guard after visiting a bank in Babolsar, Mazandaran Province.