Khamenei leads funeral prayers for two senior judges killed in Tehran
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday led the funeral prayers for two high-profile Supreme Court judges killed by an assailant the previous day.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday led the funeral prayers for two high-profile Supreme Court judges killed by an assailant the previous day.
"They were rewarded by God through their martyrdom at the hands of the enemies of God," Khamenei told the families of the two judges after leading their funeral prayers.
Judges Mohammad Moghiseh and Ali Razini had decades-long histories of handing down death sentences and lengthy prison terms to dissidents in numerous cases.
The cases handled by the two judges, both of the clerics, involved political dissidents, activists, followers of the Baha’i faith, dissident clerics, and those accused of security-related "crimes."
However, Khamenei said after his prayers that "Razini and Moghiseh accomplished great deeds throughout their lives, which made them deserving of this reward from God.”
On Saturday, a 31-year-old janitor entered the first floor of the Branch 39 of Iran's Supreme Court, pulled a firearm from under his clothing, and opened fire on Ali Razini, Mohammad Moghiseh, and a security officer, the Iranian government's newspaper Iran reported.
"After targeting the three individuals, he left the courtroom with the same weapon, fled to the third floor, and then committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart," the report added.
Iran's former justice minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi told the state TV the assailant was looking for a third judge on the third floor, but the judge was not in the building at the time.
Based on investigations, the janitor's presence in the courtroom until his departure from the room took only 13 seconds, the newspaper's report said.
It did not specify the type of weapon used in the rare deadly shooting but mentioned that six shots were fired in rapid succession. Other reports in local media mentioned that a semi-automatic handgun was used.
The Iran newspaper also noted that investigations revealed the young janitor had no prior disputes with the judges, but his motive remains unclear.
In his interview with the state TV, Pourmohammadi said the janitor mentioned the MEK exiled opposition group, indicating that it was a targeted, preplanned attempt to seek revenge against the judges who were allegedly involved in the mass executions of prisoners, mainly MEK supporters, in the 1980s.
The Islamic government has identified the attacker as a janitor, but this has raised questions about how a janitor could have obtained a firearm, smuggled it into a heavily guarded court building, and demonstrated the skill and speed required to carry out such a precise attack.
