The unidentified assailant subsequently killed himself outside a courthouse in Tehran, officials say
Two Iranian Supreme Court justices have been killed by an unknown assassin in Tehran, IRNA News reported on Saturday, citing the media center of the judiciary. The perpetrator reportedly committed suicide on the spot after an attempt was made to arrest him.
The two victims were identified as Hojjat al-Islam Razini and Hojjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Moqisseh, who each presided over a different branch of the court. The two judges were heavily involved in combatting crimes against national security, the statement by the judiciary read, describing them as “brave and experienced.”
The judiciary’s media center said that the attack was a “planned act,” adding that initial indications are that the assassin “did not have a case in the Supreme Court nor was he a client of the court’s branches.”“Immediately after the terrorist act, an attempt was made to arrest the gunman, who quickly committed suicide,” officials said, noting that an investigation is underway.
While Iranian officials stopped short of assigning the blame to any actor, they pointed out that “over the past year, extensive measures have been taken by the judiciary to identify, arrest, and prosecute agents and elements affiliated with the infamous Zionist regime and the US agents, spies, and terrorist groups.”
Razini was the target of an assassination attempt in 1998, when assailants on motorcycles attached a magnetic bomb to his vehicle, injuring the judge. Razini was presiding over the Tehran judiciary at the time.
The two judges were reportedly involved in an alleged purge of dissidents in 1988 at the end of the protracted Iran-Iraq war. At the time, the main target of the Iranian authorities was the so-called People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), which invaded the country with a 7,000-strong force backed by Iraq.
MEK, which espouses an ideological mix of Islamic principles and revolutionary Marxism, has been based in Albania for decades. Iranian officials claim the group’s fighters have killed more than 12,000 civilians since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
