Sadegh Khalkhali

Sadegh Khalkhali was an Iranian Shia cleric who served as the first chief judge of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts after the 1979 revolution. Appointed by Ruhollah Khomeini, he presided over summary trials and executions of former regime officials, political prisoners, and alleged drug traffickers, earning him the epithet "the Hanging Judge."

In the weeks following the revolution, Khalkhali oversaw the rapid trial and execution of senior figures from the Pahlavi era, including former Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda, SAVAK chief Nasser Moghadam, and Jewish-Iranian businessman Habibollah Elghanian. Many of these trials lasted only minutes and denied defendants legal representation.

In August 1979, he was dispatched to Kurdistan to suppress autonomy movements, where he held summary courts and ordered the execution of political prisoners affiliated with the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and Komala. In 1980, he was appointed head of the Anti-Narcotics Revolutionary Courts, where he sentenced hundreds more to death before being removed from this role amid criticism.

Khalkhali served as a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (1980–1984) representing Tehran, and as a member of the Assembly of Experts (1982–1990). He published his memoirs in 2000, which were briefly banned. He died on 26 November 2003 in Tehran.