Mohammad Jafar Montazeri

As President of the Administrative Court of Justice, after filing a complaint by a number of Baha'i students deprived of education at the Administrative Court of Justice, he dismissed the complaints and voted to bar Baha'is from studying at the universities.

"Branch 1 of the Court of Administrative Justice Voted for the Baha'is ban from academic education", HRANA News Agency, 2014 https://www.hra-news.org/2015/hranews/a-15

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, as the Attorney General, played a key role in detaining and prosecuting protesters and overseeing provincial prosecutors during the November 2019 nationwide protest. He also had a key role in preventing the independent and effective investigation into the death of hundreds of protesters in compliance with the state’s positive and procedural obligations. 

In contrary to his duties under Articles 290 and 291, Montazeri failed to investigate the operation of law enforcement and other security forces during the crackdown on 2019 protests. He is also responsible for failure to investigate the cause of injuries and allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees of November 2019 protests. 

On 23 November 2019, Montazeri visited the Fashafooye Prison where hundreds of detained protesters were kept. Montazeri told the press that ‘all detainees expressed satisfaction with the condition of their detention’.  This was said while in the photos published from his visit several prisoners with severe injuries (broken arms and legs) can be seen. This is while the NAJA commander of Tehran had stated that “not even one protester was injured during the protests in Tehran’. 

Montazeri is also responsible for authorization of mass detention of dissidents, students, activists and journalists after the crackdown in November 2019. Under his supervision, provincial prosecutors across the country authorised the mass arrest of thousands of citizens on the charges of participating in protests 

On 19 Dec 2019, Montazeri accused the protesters of being led by ‘America, Saudi Arabia and Israel’.

Montazeri: ‘all detainees expressed satisfaction with the condition of their detention’, Radio Farda, 23 Nov 2019

Attorney General: Recent Riots were Certainly led from outside the Country, Tasnim, 19 Dec 2019

Shoot to Kill; Preliminary Findings of Justice for Iran’s Investigation into the November 2019 Protests, Justice for Iran, February 2020

"Iran: Details released of 304 deaths during protests six months after security forces' killing spree", Amnesty International, 20 May 2020

As Attorney General, he was responsible for detaining and torturing environmental activists. Montazeri is also responsible for the suspicious death of Kavous Seydamami, an environmental activist in prison, and secrecy.

Attorney General: Environmental Activists Infiltrated U.S and Israel, Iran International, 29 Nov 2018 https://iranintl.com/en/iran/attorney-general-environmental-activists-infiltrated-us-and-israel

"Strong protest of human rights organizations against the rulings of environmental activists", Deutsche Welle, February 19, 2020

https://www.dw.com/fa-ir/%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B6-%D8%B4%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%AD%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%81%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%AD%DB%8C%D8%B7-%D8%B2%DB%8C%D8%B3%D8%AA/a-52429694

" IRIB interviewed  the Attorney General to justify the unusual death of prisoners", Radio Zamaneh, 2018 https://www.radiozamaneh.com/385640

"Airport officials prevented the departure of Kavous Seyed Emami's wife", Radio Zamaneh, 2018

https://www.radiozamaneh.com/385220

"Kavous Seydamami's wife's lawyer: my client is not allowed to leave the country for " security " reason not" judicial "", Iran Human Rights Campaign, 2018

https://persian.iranhumanrights.org/1397/01/kavous-seyedemami-attorney-we-want-to-see-his-interrogation-videos/

As Attorney General, he is responsible for the detention, torture, and unfair trial of Gonabadi dervishes, a religious minority belonging to Sufism in Iran, and the issuance of long prison sentences for them, as well as the execution of Mohammad Salas. Mohammad Salas, a Gonabadi dervishes, was executed on charges of deliberately running over Basij and law enforcement forces in the so-called Seventh Golestan incident, based on his forced confessions that he repeatedly stated that was obtained under torture.

"Continuation of Temporary Detention of Imprisoned Dervishes and Uncertainty about the Basis of Their Charges", Iran Human Rights Campaign, 2017 https://justice4iran.org/persian/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%AA-%D9%85%D9%88%D9%82%D8%AA-%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%B4-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C-%D9%88-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%AE%D8%B5-%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A2%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7-%E2%80%93-%DA%A9%D9%85%D9%BE%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86.pdf

"Issuance of 114 years in prison for 34 imprisoned dervishes", Deutsche Welle, 2017

https://justice4iran.org/persian/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/daravish.pdf

"The Attorney General attributed the dervishes' protests to foreign states", Radio Zamaneh, 2017

https://justice4iran.org/persian/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86-%DA%A9%D9%84-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%B4-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC-%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%AA-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF-_-%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%88-%D8%B2%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87.pdf

"Mohammad Salas: I was tortured to death", Iran Human Rights Campaign, May 15, 2016

https://persian.iranhumanrights.org/1397/02/i-was-tortured-and-beaten-to-death/

As the Attorney General,  by concealing and preventing an independent investigation he was responsible for the death of Mohammad Raji, a Gonabadi dervishe, in detention and due to the severity of his injuries. Gonabadi dervishes are a religious minority in Iran and belong to Sufism.

Iranian Dervish Dies After Arrest, Daughter Says, Radio Free Europe, 5 March 2018 https://www.rferl.org/a/iranian-derviush-raji-dies-arrest/29079802.html

As Attorney General, he was responsible for issuing heavy sentences for participants in the 2017-2018 nationwide protests and failure two investigate the use of deadly force against  protesters and covering up the deaths of at least two  protesters in prison, Sina Ghanbari and Vahid Heydari in prison.

 "Prosecutor Insists on Suicide and Addiction of Dead Prisoners", Iran Human Rights Campaign, 2017 https://persian.iranhumanrights.org/1396/10/sina-ghanbari-vahid-heydari-death/

"MP Alireza Rahimi's account of Sina Ghanbari's death in prison", Jamaran News Agency, 2017 https://www.jamaran.ir/fa/tiny/news-854349

"Vahid Heydari dies in Arak Detention Center:" He was arrested and beaten and killed and now they are tarnishing his reputation ", Human Rights Campaign, 2017 https://persian.iranhumanrights.org/1396/10/valid-heidari-prison-death-iran-protests/

"Attorney General: Recent events show that the freedom of cyberspace is harmful to us", Radio Zamaneh, 2017 https://www.radiozamaneh.com/374847

"Attorney General's claim:" We "identified" the "main plotters" of the protests ", Radio Farda, 2017 https://www.radiofarda.com/a/montazeri-says-michael-dandrea-behind-iran-unrest/28954988.html

As Attorney General, he warned against associating with the Baha'i community because of their religious beliefs and threatened legal consequences for associating with Baha'is  in order to socially and economically isolate them.  

"Attorney General's Warning: Communication with Baha'is Has Legal Consequences," VOA, 2016 https://ir.voanews.com/a/iran-human-rights-justice/3362577.html

As Attorney General and a legal member of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, he is involved in controlling, filtering and censoring the Internet and harassing and prosecuting cyberspace users, preventing free access to information and restricting freedom of expression.

"Attorney General: 16 to 20 thousand telegram channels are filtered every week and it is not enough", Radio Zamaneh, 2016 https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f9-iran-filtering-telegram-channals/28376031.html

As Attorney General, he has been responsible for detaining and harassing women protesting against the compulsory hijab and issuing heavy prison sentences for them.

"IRIB  interviewed the Attorney General to justify the unusual death of prisoners", Radio Zamaneh, 2017 https://www.radiozamaneh.com/385640

"Attorney General: removing a headscarf is more out of ignorance and deception", BBC Farsi, 2017

https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-42884981