Iran prosecutor gets two years for being 'accessory to murder' of protesters

Saeed Mortazavi, a former judge and prosecutor in Iran, has been sentenced to two years in prison for the deaths at a notorious detention facility during the 2009 postelection protests. An appellate court in Tehran upheld the sentence for Mortazavi for “accessory to murder” in the death of Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a conservative politician who was on the campaign staff for 2009 conservative presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei. Protesters said the balloting, which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected to a second term, was rigged.

Mortazavi, called the “butcher of Tehran” for the large number of newspapers he shut down as Tehran prosecutor, became notorious for sending the 2009 election protesters to Kahrizak prison, where a number of them were beaten and killed. When the story broke that some of those who had protested in support of Green Movement presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi had been taken to Kahrizak and had died under mysterious circumstances, it caused a major crisis within the Islamic Republic and led to official investigations.

After the Kahrizak scandal, Ahmadinejad appointed Mortazavi to head Iran’s social welfare organization. But Mortazavi’s legal battles persisted. He was disbarred and banned from holding government positions for five years. He was also sentenced to 135 lashes for corruption that occurred during his stint heading the social welfare organization, though it is doubtful that sentence was ever carried out.

Many on Iranian social media criticized the light sentence for the deaths of the protesters, comparing it with the much harsher sentences journalists and activists received for supporting the protests. One of the most startling comparisons is that of Zia Navabi, who was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison and later had his sentence reduced to 10 years, under the charges of “disturbing public order.”