Mohammad Yazdi

Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi was a senior hardline cleric who served as Chief Justice of Iran from 1989 to 1999, appointed by Ali Khamenei. He was elected to the Assembly of Experts for the Constitution in 1979, representing Kermanshah Province. A member of the Islamic Republican Party, he later served multiple terms on the Guardian Council and in the Assembly of Experts, briefly chairing the latter from 2015 to 2016. As head of the Judiciary during the 1990s, he oversaw a period of political repression including crackdowns on the press and reformist activists. He was known as one of the most conservative figures in the clerical establishment.