Open Democracy: "The appointment of the notoriously repressive judge Saeed Mortazavi to the United Nations's new Human Rights Council is an international scandal":

Mortazavi was the presiding judge of the infamous Court 1410 and hailed as the "butcher of the press" for his vicious rulings against journalists and freethinkers. He is credited with the closure of more than 100 publications and the harassment and imprisonment of many writers, activists, lawyers and bloggers in recent years. Shirin Ebadi, the lawyer and Nobel laureate, has even accused Mortazavi of being present in 2003 when Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was tortured and killed.

Last Monday, he apparently served as Iran's witness to the inauguration of the new UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. As I understand from Iranian sources, Montazeri recently played a role in urging friends and family of internationally renowned philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo not to make a big international fuss about Jahanbegloo's May arrest, suggesting if it was handled quietly he would be quickly released. But in jail he remains.

Posted by Laura at June 23, 2006 08:26 PM