The former head of Iran’s revolutionary courts, reputed to have sent hundreds of people to the gallows, has died. Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali died aged 76 after battling health problems. He became known as the “hanging judge” for the number of people he sentenced to death in the first months after the 1979 Islamic revolution. He was seen on television poking with a stick the burnt corpses of US soldiers who were killed trying to rescue 52 hostages from the US embassy in Tehran. Ayatollah Khalkhali became lead prosecutor and judge of the revolutionary courts shortly after the US-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi was deposed in 1979. He ordered the execution of many of the Shah’s military officers, secret police leaders and civilian officers. Dozens of left-wingers and Kurds who rebelled against the Islamic revolution were also put to death on his orders – many being hanged from construction cranes. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.