Tehran’s Chief Prosecutor Replaced

TEHRAN —  The man responsible for the trial and execution of thousands of people since Iran’s 1979 revolution has been replaced as prosecutor general of Tehran, a spokesman for the Judicial Council said Monday.

Assadollah Lazverdi, who recently acknowledged that many called him the “Butcher of Tehran,” held the post for about four years and operated from the notorious Evin Prison in north Tehran.

Lazverdi’s replacement, by a religious judge from Mashhad, follows recent controversy over his policy of refusing to release prisoners until, in effect, they are converted into Muslim fundamentalists.

Lazverdi will remain in the judiciary but has not yet accepted a new post, the judicial spokesman told a reporter.

The small, bearded former carpenter played a key role in the Iranian revolution, seeking out those who proved slow in accepting the new Islamic order.

He spent 14 years in jails under the regime of the late Shah of Iran and once said he had marks on his back from the lashings he endured.

As prosecutor general, he ran the execution program in a ruthless manner, executing counterrevolutionaries in batches at night at the grim Evin Prison.

At the same time, he was affable to journalists and once showed them around a rehabilitation center for Evin inmates. Making his rounds, he would greet prisoners and shake their hands.