Saeed Mortazavi

Saeed Mortazavi was the Press Court judge who became the primary instrument of the hardline judicial assault on the reformist press, earning the nickname 'Press Murderer' (ghattale matbooat). Beginning in April–May 2000, following Khamenei's 'enemy bases' speech, Mortazavi issued an order closing 16–21 reformist newspapers overnight — including Sobh-e Emroz, Mosharekat, and Ham-Mihan. By February 2004 he had personally overseen the closure or license revocation of approximately 90–120 publications. He was also the judge who closed Neshat in September 1999. Appointed Tehran Prosecutor-General in May 2003 — the first to hold that post since prosecutors were abolished in 1995 — Mortazavi was involved in the torture and death in custody of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi in 2003. He was a leading figure in the suppression of the 2009 Green Movement protests, signing arrest warrants for hundreds of reformist figures including Saeed Hajjarian. In 2018 he was himself imprisoned for his role in the deaths of three detainees at the Kahrizak detention centre during the 2009 crackdown.