Pair of senior Iranian jurists killed in brazen courthouse attack

A shocking scene unfolded in Tehran over the weekend that left two prominent figures dead and another injured.

As Reuters reports, a pair of Iranian Supreme Court judges were shot to death inside the court building, with one of their bodyguards also sustaining injuries in the attack.

Bloody scene unfolds in Tehran

In the wake of the violent episode, it was revealed that those killed were Shi'ite Muslim clerics Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh, both of whom were said to be involved in the handling of terrorism and espionage matters at the court.

Sources indicated that the killer opened fire on the jurists inside the court building, going on to kill himself in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

A formal motive was not made public, though Asghar Jahangir, a spokesperson for the courts, informed state media that the judge's involvement in “national security cases” could have played a role.

Jahangir noted, “In the past year, the judiciary has undertaken extensive efforts to identify spies and terrorist groups, a move that has sparked anger and resentment among the enemies.”

The cases overseen by the judges were said to involved people linked to Israel as well as to American-supported opposition, and Razini, for his part, had previously been targeted for assassination back in 1998.

Premeditated killing suspected

As the BBC reported, the media office of the judiciary indicated that the attack is believed to have been a premeditated assassination plot which was, unfortunately for the jurists, a successful one.

It did not appear that the gunman had been personally involved in any cases at the court, though possible links to people who were entangled in controversies there remain uncertain.

The jurists who lost their lives had both sat on the court for long tenures which likely included the confirmation of death sentences imposed on defendants.

Razini, at age 71, was among the most senior jurists in all of Iran.

At age 68, Moghiseh was characterized by a record that included sanctions imposed by the United States, Canada, and the European Union regarding allegations of human rights abuses, making for a complicated background that will surely be the subject of much analysis as the investigation into the killings progresses.