An attacker committed suicide after shooting dead senior judges inside the Supreme Court building in the capital Tehran.
Two senior Iranian judges were killed in a shooting at the Supreme Court in the capital Tehran, judicial authorities and state media said.
According to a statement from the Judicial Media Center, the “assassination” was carried out by an armed person who opened fire and then committed suicide early Saturday morning.
The victims were identified as Islamic scholars Ali Rajini and Mohammad Moghise, both of whom held positions in Hujat al-Islam and each presided over different branches of the court.
“(They) were actively involved in the fight against crimes against national security, espionage and terrorism,” the statement added, calling the slain judges “brave and experienced.” Ta.
Justice Department spokesman Asghar Jahangir told Iranian state television that “an individual with a handgun entered the chambers of two judges” and shot them dead. The assailant said he committed suicide.
The identity and motive of the assailant are not known at this time.
A statement from the Judicial Media Center said: “Preliminary investigation revealed that the perpetrator had never filed a case before the Supreme Court and was not one of the visitors of the Supreme Court.”
The bodyguard of one of the judges was also injured in the attack on Saturday, the first working day of the Iranian calendar, according to the state-run Tehran Times.
State media reported that a number of people working at the court building where the attack took place were detained. The judiciary’s media center cautioned against speculation. Judicial authorities have not confirmed any arrests.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said this “terrorist and despicable” act must be swiftly pursued by security forces and law enforcement agencies.
Rajini, 71, was also the victim of an assassination attempt in 1998 while serving as Tehran’s attorney general. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who was then president, visited him in the hospital.
Moghise, 68, was sanctioned by the United States in 2019 for “overseeing countless unfair trials in which charges were unsubstantiated and evidence was ignored,” according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Iran’s attorney general, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, said in a statement that the judges were killed in a “definitive” verdict against “terrorists whose hands were dyed with the pure blood of the Iranian people.”
“They have always been the object of hatred and malice from their enemies,” he says.
Although attacks on judges are rare, Iran has seen a number of shootings of celebrities in recent years.