NCRI – A photo was finally released that shows the face of the notorious judge Mohammad Moghiseh, known as Naserian, for the first time. So far, no image of him had previously been published in a newspaper. In addition, the national television channels had never broadcasted any stories about him or the courts he presided over.
It’s noteworthy that his picture had not been released earlier. This insured that the political prisoners (mostly MEK members and supporters) from the 1980s, as well as their families, would not recognize him and his true identity would not be revealed.
Mohammad Moghiseh is the same judge who sentenced the Iranian-American journalist, Roksana Saberi, to 8 years of imprisonment.
He was the Head of Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court and a member of death commission in the massacre of the MEK political prisoners in 1988. According to survivors of the massacre of 1988, he was directly involved in the killing of political prisoners.
Mohammad Moghiseh was born in one of the villages of Sabzevar (northeastern Iran). He attended Seminary before Iran’s anti-monarchic revolution and he was not politically active at that time. As soon as Khomeini came to power, he was immediately employed in various government institutions.
He started working in the interrogation and torture branches of Evin Prison in 1981. In the same year, he was also appointed to interrogate and torture the suspects in Branch 3 of Evin Prison. In the winter of 1984, he started working as the prosecuting-attorney in Ghezel Hesar prison, alongside Hossein Shariatmadari. He became the prosecuting-attorney of Gohardasht Prison after the prisoners of Ghezel Hesar were transferred to this penitentiary.
Mohammad Moghiseh, known as Naserian in Gohardasht Prison, became the head of this penitentiary temporarily by a default mandate, while still maintaining his position as the prosecuting-attorney.
Concerning the massacre of the political prisoners, he believed that even one prisoner supporting MEK should not live. He was constantly trying to execute the prisoners as soon as possible. This criminal once stated to the prisoners of a ward that during the execution of prisoners, he was hanging them himself, so that they would die sooner and by doing so, he intended to execute the next set of prisoners just as quickly.
On August 6th 1988, the political prisoner, Naser Mansouri, was taken outside of the prison ward and even though his spinal cord was ruptured and he could not move at all, was lifted from the stretcher by Mohammad Moghiseh in order to be executed,. Additionally, another prisoner named Mohsen Mohammad Bagher, who was congenitally struck with paralysis in both legs, was executed in sheer brutality on August 9th, 1988.
Although he had no judicial experience or knowledge, Mohammad Moghiseh was assigned to be the Head of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran for his contribution in committing such crimes. Many political prisoners were sentenced to death penalty or life-long sentences by him.
In April 2011, the European Union banned Mohammad Moghiseh from entering the member states of the EU, since he took part in these violent acts against the human rights of the Iranian people.
