The attacker commits suicide after shooting senior judges in the center of the Iranian capital.
Two senior judges of Iran’s Supreme Court were killed in a shootout at the court building in central Tehran, according to the judiciary and state media.
The “assassination” was carried out by a gunman, who committed suicide after opening fire early Saturday, according to a statement from the judiciary’s press center.
The victims were identified as Hojjat al-Islam Razini and Hojjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Moqisseh, each of whom presided over different branches of the court.
“(They) were actively involved in combating crimes against national security, espionage and terrorism,” the statement added, calling the murdered judges “brave and experienced.”
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told Iranian state television that “a person armed with a gun entered the room” of the two judges and shot them.
The identity of the attacker and his motives were not immediately clear.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the perpetrator had never filed a complaint with the Supreme Court and was not one of its visitors,” said the statement from the media center of the judiciary.
According to the state-run Tehran Times newspaper, a bodyguard was also injured in the attack on Saturday, the first working day of the week in the Iranian calendar.
Iranian media reported that an investigation was underway to identify and arrest other suspects who may have been involved in the attack.
In 1998, Razini, 71, was also the subject of an assassination attempt while serving as head of Tehran’s judiciary.
Moqisseh, 68, was sanctioned in 2019 by the United States for “overseeing countless unfair trials, in which accusations were unfounded and evidence was ignored,” according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Although attacks targeting judges are rare, Iran has seen a number of shootings targeting high-profile figures in recent years.
