News

The head of Iran's judiciary has fired the prosecutor involved in the recent mass trial of opposition activists, Iranian state media has reported.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported the firing of Saeed Mortazavi on Saturday, but there was no immediate explanation for the move.

Mortazavi led the prosecution of more than 100 opposition activists charged with seeking to topple the ruling system through a "velvet revolution".

Reformists dubbed him the "butcher of the press" and "torturer of Tehran" because he was behind the closure of many newspapers and the imprisonment of dozens of journalists and political activists over the past decade.