Two Iranian Supreme Court judges shot dead in rare Tehran attack

Two Iranian Supreme Court judges shot dead in rare Tehran attack

Washington Post-Jan18th2025

In a rare shooting in downtown Tehran, two prominent judges from the country’s Supreme Court have been killed and another wounded, according to Iranian state media reports. Little information was released about the attacker, but at least one of the judges killed was known to handle death penalty cases for activists and opposition members.

Violent attacks like this shooting are uncommon in Iran, a country where the arms of state security maintain tight control of society. Footage from outside the Supreme Court building on Saturday showed security forces filling the street and yellow police tape cordoning off the area.

“At 10 a.m. this morning an individual entered the room of the judges of judiciary with a pistol and targeted the superior judges,” said Asghar Jahangir, the spokesman for Iran’s judiciary. Jahangir read from a written statement during a state television broadcast Saturday.

Little information was released about the attacker, who shot himself before he could be apprehended, according to the state media reports. One report stated that the attacker was not connected to any of the cases being heard at the court Saturday.

The two judges killed were identified as Mohammad Moghiseh and Ali Razini, both men who have served in Iran’s judicial system for decades. The judiciary spokesman identified the judges as “brave and experienced” men who “had crucial responsibilities in the jurisdiction investigating security cases.”

The judiciary said both men had previously been targeted due to their work in the justice system. The judges had “been targeted by the enemies of Islam and the Islamic Republic because of their precious services in sensitive cases,” Jahangir said. Razini had been targeted in an attack in 1999, according to Jahangir, after which he was visited in the hospital by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.