Ex-Prosecutor Mortazavi Finally Arrested in Northern Iran

Iranian media reported on Sunday that the Law Enforcement arrested the notorious judge in a villa in Mazandaran province, northern Iran.

Mortazavi has been sentenced to two years in prison for complicity in the death of Mohsen Ruholamini, a prisoner in Kahrizak detention centre, following the 2009 post-election unrest in Iran.

The arrest came after several weeks of controversy over the Judiciary’s failure to catch him. Judiciary Spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei had earlier noted that a court verdict called for imprisoning Mortazavi for two years, but unfortunately his whereabouts was not known.

Following the remarks, activists printed wanted posters and decorated the city’s walls with them to find the former prosecutor. The reformist daily newspaper Ghanoon wrote last Monday that undoubtedly, the poster initiative was not to find him; it was rather a way to express the public demand for the arrest of Mortazavi in a sarcastic way.

“Perhaps the city-wide posters show people’s dissatisfaction with the judicial situation in Mortazavi’s case. The massive reaction to Saeed Mortazavi’s absence is a stern warning to the authorities because people have understood that sometimes some ones escape justice because of their former position.”

Ghanoon also warned that if the national warning is not heard, one cannot expect to have a democratic and, of course, Islamic society.