Two judges killed in shooting at Iran’s Supreme Court

Tehran, Two judges were killed in a shootout at the Supreme Court building in Tehran on Saturday.

“Three judges of the Supreme Court were targeted and two of them were killed,” said a statement released on the Mizan online website of the Judiciary. The attacker committed suicide after the incident, according to the statement.

The state news agency IRNA also reported that a judge was killed and another was wounded in the attack.

Mizan identified the two judges killed as Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghisheh. They were hearing cases “related to national security, espionage and crimes against terrorism.”

The reason for their killing was not immediately clear. Mizan did not provide further details about the attackers, but said they were not involved in any Supreme Court case. According to Mizan, the authorities have said that the investigation of the incident has been started.

According to the US Treasury Department, the 68-year-old senior judge Mogiseh was barred by the United States in 2019 for “overseeing numerous improper channels”. Iran has denied the charges.

According to Mizan, the 71-year-old Rajini had already held many important positions in the Iranian judiciary. Previously, in 1998, an attacker tried to assassinate him by placing a magnetic bomb on his vehicle.

Attacks targeting judges are rare in Iran. However, there have been many shootings targeting high-ranking people in the recent years.

Last October, a Shiite Muslim preacher was shot dead in the southern city of Kajerun while leading Friday prayers.

In April 2023, a powerful cleric named Abbas Ali Soleimani was shot dead at a bank in the northern province of Mazandaran.

In August 2005, two gunmen killed the famous Iranian judge Hassan Moghdas in the middle of a busy business district in Tehran. The two men convicted of his murder were publicly executed by hanging two years later. Agency