Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 15
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Former Iranian prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was banned for life from holding any judicial post over involvement in 2009 Kahrizak prison incidents. Iran's Supreme Court also has banned Mortazavi from holding governmental jobs for five years, Iran's Mehr news agency reported Dec. 14.
Mortazavi was the key figure behind the Kahrizak prison incidents. A parliamentary report issued on January 10, 2010 found Mortazavi, who was the Tehran prosecutor general at the time, responsible for sending 147 inmates, charged with involvement in the political unrest after the presidential election of June 2009, to Tehran's substandard Kahrizak detention center on July 9, 2009.
In 2011, Tehran's Court dismissed Mortazavi after a series of tragic incidents in the prison. Mohsen Ruholamini, Amir Javadifar and Mohammad Kamrani were the three of the prisoners reported to have died from torture at Kahrizak prison.
Earlier Iranian media outlets quoted the country's police chief, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam as saying that he was against transferring political prisoners to Kahrizak prison. Ahmadi Moghaddam claimed that "former Revolutionary Court Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi insisted that the arrested protesters be transferred to Kahrizak".
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling from last year that found Mortazavi and two deputies guilty of filing false reports and issuing unlawful arrest orders against protesters, who were then transferred to Kahrizak prison.
Umid Niayesh is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh
Edited by CN