BREAKING NEWS

Former Tehran prosecutor general sentenced to 135 lashes

Former Tehran prosecutor general Saeed Mortazavi, whose role in curbing dissent has been condemned by human rights groups for years, has been sentenced to 135 lashes on charges related to a corruption trial, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.
Mortazavi was convicted of "seizing and wasting public funds" while head of the Social Security Organization, an Iranian NGO that provides insurance for the elderly, unemployed and others, in 2012 and 2013, according to state TV's website.
The sentence marked a dramatic reversal of fortune for a man who once personified the heavy hand of the Islamic Republic's hardline judiciary. In 2010, Human Rights Watch described Mortazavi as a "serial human rights abuser".