TEHRAN, Aug. 31 (Mehr News Agency) -- In a decree issued on Sunday, new Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani appointed Saeed Mortazavi as deputy national prosecutor general.

Saeed Mortazavi, shown in June 2006, organized the ongoing televised court proceedings, derided as "show trials," against protesters, political activists and journalists swept up in the recent unrest over the disputed June 12 presidential election. He gained international notoriety after the 2003 prison death of Iranian Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi and its subsequent coverup. The Canadian government accused him of actively supervising her physical abuse before her death. A 2003 report by the Iranian parliament accused him of doctoring testimony in trying to cover up the circumstances behind the photojournalist's death. (read LA Times story)

Mortazavi had held the position of the Islamic Revolutionary Court prosecutor and Tehran prosecutor general since May 2003 till August 29 when he was replaced with Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi.

The judiciary chief also appointed Qolam Hossein Esmaeili as the director of the State Prisons Organization (SPO), replacing Ali-Akbar Yasaqi.

Qolam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, the former inelegance minister, also replaced Qorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, the national prosecutor general, on August 28.

Related Story:

IRAN: Tehran prosecutor 'promoted' into obscurity?

The naming of the notorious Tehran prosecutor to a new post as deputy prosecutor-general gives him a fancy title and protection from future legal action, but 
strips him of his power to pursue his hardline political agenda, said two Iranian lawyers. - Los Angeles Times

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