Iran’s hard-line judicial chief Mohseni Ejei gets second term: What to know
The veteran judicial official, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union, has been accused of overseeing widespread human rights violations for decades. His reappointment by Mojtaba Khamenei signals continuity in Iran's hardline judicial policies and crackdown on dissent.
Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, was tapped for another five-year term on Sunday, continuing to lead the judicial body that has played a central role in prosecuting dissent and implementing harsh security policies.
What happened: In a decree announced on Sunday, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei reappointed Mohseni Ejei to head the Iranian judiciary, praising his “valuable and sincere efforts” during his previous term.
Khamenei said Mohseni Ejei's new term should be guided by directives issued by himself and his predecessor, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to further improve and strengthen the country’s judicial body.
Background: Mohseni Ejei, a senior cleric, held multiple positions within Iran’s judicial and security institutions before assuming leadership of the judiciary for the first time in 2021, appointed by the late Khamenei.
He was born in the town of Ezhiyeh in Iran’s central Isfahan province in 1956. He studied theology at the Haqqani School in the Shiite holy city of Qom, a prominent Islamic seminary that has produced some of Iran's most conservative and hard-line political and judicial elites. He also received a master’s degree in international law from the Haqqani School.
Throughout the 1980s, he held several positions within the Ministry of Intelligence. From 1995 to 1997, Mohseni Ejei served as the prosecutor of the Special Clerical Court of Tehran, a judicial body established by former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to prosecute clerics accused of political dissent. In 1998, he became the court's chief prosecutor.
In 2005, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed Mohseni Ejei as minister of intelligence. He remained in this position until his dismissal in 2009 over internal disputes.
He became first deputy chief justice in 2014 and served in this position until 2021.
Why it matters: Following the Feb. 28 killing of the senior Khamenei in joint US-Israeli strikes, Mohseni Ejei was appointed a member of the temporary Leadership Council established on March 1 to take over the late supreme leader’s responsibilities. In addition to Ejei, the council was made up of President Masoud Pezeshkian and Guardian Council member Alireza Arafi, and served until Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s son, was chosen as Iran’s new supreme leader on March 8.
During his decades in senior security and judicial posts, Mohseni Ejei built a reputation as one of the country's most severe officials.
Rights groups have accused him of overseeing widespread human rights violations throughout the years, including arbitrary arrests, politically motivated prosecutions, forced confessions and unfair trials of journalists, lawyers, activists and protesters.
In 2004, the long-serving judicial official became notorious for biting the shoulder of a journalist during a meeting.
Iran saw a spike in executions during his tenure as judicial chief. In a report released in May, Amnesty International found that Iran carried out at least 2,159 documented executions in 2025.
His reappointment aligns with the Iranian judiciary’s efforts to contain dissent as Iranian authorities widen a crackdown on individuals accused of having links to Israel and the United States.
Hundreds of people have been executed following anti-regime protests earlier this year and the recent war with the US and Israel. So far in 2026, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights has documented the execution of at least 373 people.
Mohseni Ejei has repeatedly called for death sentences for individuals accused of spying for Israel and the US.
In a series of messages posted on X on June 28, Khamenei ordered the judiciary to pursue domestic and international legal action over alleged war crimes perpetrated by the US and Israel against Iran during the recent war.
Speaking at a ceremony in Tehran presenting a book on the life of Iran’s new supreme leader, Mohseni Ejei vowed to punish US and Israeli leaders for the killing of Khamenei and said the US and Israel must pay for their crimes against the Iranian nation.
“We will decisively pursue, try and punish them, and we will exact retribution from them. We will also compel them to compensate for the damages inflicted on the Iranian nation,” he said.
Know more: Mohseni Ejei was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2010. He was accused of serious human rights abuses over his alleged role in the crackdown on the 2009 protests, which left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned, many of whom were allegedly forced to make false confessions on television through torture, blackmail and threats to their families.
The European Union followed suit in 2011, placing Mohseni Ejei on its sanctions list over his involvement in the 2009 crackdown.
