Two prominent judges assassinated in terrorist attack in downtown Tehran

Two prominent judges assassinated in terrorist attack in downtown Tehran

Two high-profile Iranian judges have been assassinated in a terrorist attack at the Supreme Court building in downtown Tehran.

A statement issued by the Judiciary identified the judges as Ali Razini, head of Branch 39 of the Supreme Court, and Mohammad Moqiseh, head of Branch 53.

”A person armed with a handgun entered the room of the two veteran judges before noon Saturday and martyred them,” Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said, adding a bodyguard of the judges was injured in the attack. 

"The gunman immediately committed suicide while running away and we cannot talk about his motives at the moment," he said.

The judges worked on cases fighting crimes against national security, espionage and terrorism. 

"Martyrs Razini and Moqiseh were always the target of malice held by the enemies because of their brilliant records," Jahangir said.

"In the last one year, the Judiciary has taken extensive measures to identify spies and hypocritical groups, and this has led to the anger and resentment of the enemies," Jahangir said.

The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), with a long history of assassinations and terrorist bombings, is referred as hypocrites in Iran.  

"We hope to be able to quickly publish the results of the follow-ups to arrest those involved" in the terrorist act, Jahangir said.

According to the preliminary investigation, the attacker was not involved in any cases before the Supreme Court.

Over the past year, the Iranian judiciary has taken a series of measures to identify, persecute, arrest, and prosecute agents and elements affiliated with Israel, the US and terrorist groups.

Razini, 71, held several important positions in Iran’s judiciary and was previously targeted in a 1998 assassination attempt by assailants, who planted a magnetic bomb on his vehicle.

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