On January 18, 2025, two senior Iranian Supreme Court judges, Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh, were shot dead in a premeditated assassination inside the Supreme Court building in Tehran. The attacker also killed himself while fleeing, and a bodyguard was injured.
The motive is unclear, but both judges had long-standing roles in Iran’s judiciary and were associated with the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on political dissidents since the 1980s. Razini, aged 71, had previously survived a 1998 assassination attempt. Moghiseh, 68, had been sanctioned by the EU, US, and Canada for alleged human rights abuses. Authorities are investigating whether the assailant acted alone.