Iranian judge accused of jailing journalists indicted for bribery

The US government news organization Radio Farda reported that Mansouri “issued arrest warrants for 20 journalists in a single day on February 8, 2013."

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Iranian journalist Ali Moallem, the publisher of Donya-ye Tasvir Monthly, faces the judge at a press court in Tehran October 16, 2005. Iran's hardline judiciary put the publishers of three magazines on trial on Sunday as it tried to clear a backlog of cases related to a heavy media crackdown over th (photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian journalist Ali Moallem, the publisher of Donya-ye Tasvir Monthly, faces the judge at a press court in Tehran October 16, 2005. Iran's hardline judiciary put the publishers of three magazines on trial on Sunday as it tried to clear a backlog of cases related to a heavy media crackdown over th
(photo credit: REUTERS)
State-controlled Iranian press reported on Monday that judge Gholamreza Mansouri, who has incarcerated 20 journalists, is reportedly in Hanover, Germany, and is now facing a massive bribery corruption charge in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The anti-Western news agency Young Journalists Club (YJC) wrote that "Gholamreza Mansouri is a judge, who received a bribe of 500,000 euros, has now fled the country," adding that he "is said to be hospitalized in Professor [Majid] Samii's hospital in Germany.”
The US government news organization Radio Farda reported that Mansouri “issued arrest warrants for 20 journalists in a single day on February 8, 2013. On his orders, security forces raided offices of various newspapers to arrest the accused including at least two chief editors.”
The physician, Majid Samii, faced intense criticism in 2018 for providing medical care to the late Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi at his International Neuroscience Institute. Shahroudi was responsible for the execution of adolescents while overseeing the country’s brutal justice system for a decade. He is a considered by human rights activists to be a mass murderer.
Mansouri said in a video on Monday that he sent a lawyer to address the corruption charge against him. He added that he was recently informed about the allegation of bribery and he will return to Iran when the borders reopen.
The alleged fugitive judge Mansouri worked in the court of Lavasan, a wealthy town in Shemiranat County, Tehran Province, where he was accused of accepting a bribe of 500,000 euros ($564,855).
Radio Farda listed statements from journalists imprisoned by Mansouri. Pouria Alami wrote in a tweet that Mansouri sentenced him to solitary confinement on charges of "collaboration with MI6."
MI6 is the foreign intelligence service of the government of Britain. Iran's opaque justice system frequently manufactures espionage charges against journalists, as well as political and human rights activists.
Radio Farda wrote that “Reyhaneh Tabatabai, a reporter for the reformist Sharq newspaper at the time, has also named him as the prosecutor who ordered her arrest in 2013.”
The outlet noted that “Behnam Gholipour, a journalist now living outside Iran, in a tweet has called for appealing to international courts to put Mansouri on trial for gross violations of human rights.”

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Germany's government previously issued a visa to Mansouri in 2018 for treatment in Hanover. The visa was only valid for 90 to 180 days, according to a statement then by the Lower Saxony government, where Hanover is located.
Also in 2018, Iranian dissidents accused the private International Neuroscience Institute of hosting Mansouri for medical treatment. The director of the INI denied that Mansouri was present at the time.
When The Jerusalem Post asked the German Foreign Ministry about Gholamreza Mansouri, a spokesman said the "ministry does not comment on individual visa cases."
The German-Iranian dissident Nila Behzadi told the Post: "Does Europe really believe in human rights?
"This is not the first time that criminals of the Mullah regime have been given a medical 'emergency' visa and are in a doctor's clinic with connections to the regime in Hanover. How can people who have committed atrocities in Iran and who have received proven amounts of kickbacks stay here in Germany unchallenged?"
She added: "Don't human rights violations apply in the case of the Mullah regime? Do not let these criminals and murderers live in this country with impunity. Do not allow murderers and criminals to enter Germany without being challenged."


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