Two Supreme Court judges were shot dead in Tehran

Two senior Iranian judges have been shot dead inside the country’s Supreme Court, state media reported.

Judiciary news website Mizan reported that judges Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh were killed after a gunman entered the court in the capital Tehran on Saturday morning.

The assailants then allegedly killed themselves while fleeing the scene. A bodyguard was also reportedly injured in the attack.

The motive for the attack is unclear, but both judges are said to have played a role in the persecution and killing of opponents of the Islamic regime in the 1980s and 1990s.

In a statement to state news agency IRNA, the judiciary’s media office described the attack as premeditated murder.

He also said that according to initial findings, the attacker was not involved in any case pending before the apex court, and an investigation had been launched to identify and arrest other people who may have been involved in the attack.

Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told Iranian state television that the attacker entered the court with a gun before opening fire.

One of the judges, Razini, survived an assassination attempt in 1998.

The other, Mogise, was sanctioned by the US in 2019with the Treasury accusing him of “overseeing countless unfair trials in which allegations remained unsubstantiated and evidence was ignored”.

At the time, he was a judge in the Tehran Revolutionary Court. He was reportedly appointed to the supreme court in 2020.

Moghise was also among seven Iranian judges sanctioned by Canada in 2023. for what the country described as “their role in gross and systematic human rights violations.”