Hard-Liners Axed From Iran Judiciary
Iran’s new chief judge has replaced key hard-liners in the judiciary, paving the way for a more moderate body, newspapers reported Saturday.
The head of Tehran’s judiciary, Ali Razini; the top judiciary advisor, Assadollah Badamchian; and Reza Zavarei, head of documents and real estate registration, were among the nine people replaced, according to the Hamshahri newspaper.
The paper, monitored in Dubai, said the reshuffle by the new chief judge, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, was an attempt to reform the hard-line judiciary.
New judiciary appointments are expected to boost the position of moderates allied with President Mohammad Khatami. Khatami has been battling hard-line clerics opposed to his social and political reforms since he came to office in 1997.
Razini, who was behind last year’s trial of Tehran’s popular reformist mayor, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, was appointed to the less influential position of Supreme Court deputy.
Moderate cleric Hadi Marvi was appointed first deputy to Hashemi.
Hashemi replaced hard-liner Ayatollah Mohammed Yazdi earlier this month.
Yazdi’s dismissal as chief judge was a key demand of students in last month’s week of protests, the worst unrest witnessed by Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
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