Judge stabbed to death in southern Iran, assailants at large, state media says

Ehsum Bagheri, previously a revolutionary court prosecutor, killed on way to work in Shiraz four months after assassination of two justices linked to 1980s ‘death commissions’

By Agencies 27 May 2025, 11:15 am

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This undated photo is said by Iranian media to show Ehsum Bagheri, a judge in the Islamic Republic who was reportedly stabbed to death in the southern city of Shiraz, May 27, 2025. Above him is a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

A judge was stabbed to death on his way to work in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz on Tuesday morning, state media reported.

A report by the official IRNA news agency called the killing a “terrorist act,” adding that two unidentified assailants are still at large. It identified the judge as Ehsum Bagheri, 38, who worked for the city’s judicial department.

Bagheri in the past worked as a prosecutor in the revolutionary court, which deals with security and drug smuggling cases.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iran has witnessed other killings of judges in the past.

In January, a man fatally shot two prominent hardline judges in Iran’s capital Tehran, Mohammad Mogheiseh and Ali Razini, both of whom allegedly took part in the mass execution of dissidents in 1980s. Razini’s involvement in the 1988 executions had likely made him a target in the past, including an assassination attempt in 1999.