The Tabnak website, which is linked to the security forces, reported Sunday that Mortazavi has been charged with “complicity in murder,” “violations of citizen rights” and “dishonoring Iran’s security forces.”
According to Tabnak, the former Tehran prosecutor will stand trial soon.
Another news outlet reported Monday that Abdol-Hossain Ruh-ol-Amini, the father of one of the detainees killed under torture at the Kahrizak Detention Center, confirmed that Mortazavi had been indicted.
Mortazavi was removed from his post as Tehran prosecutor after the deaths at Kahrizak Prison hit the media. He was, however, immediately appointed by the president to lead the Task Force on Drug Trafficking.
In 2009, a group of protesters who had demonstrated against the election results were taken to Kahrizak. At least three of these detainees were killed under torture: Amir Javadifar, Mohsen Ruh-ol-Amini and Mohammad Kamrani.
Mortazavi announced that the three had died from meningitis. But when the elder Ruh-ol-Amini picked up his son’s body, he found teeth missing and other signs of torture. Ruh-ol-Amini, an active conservative close to Mohsen Rezai, the secretary of the Expediency Council, raised a ruckus.
The Kahrizak Detention Centre was shut down by order of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi, and Mortazavi removed from his judicial post.
Mortazavi is also the prime suspect in the 2003 death of Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian photojournalist arrested outside Evin Prison for taking photos who died days later.