I know it’s not done to speak ill of the dead so I’ll let you make your own minds up about this recently-deceased “Judge”
For overseas readers who can’t access the Times the following might give a flavour of the quality of justice in Iran.
With Islamic militants still ruling Iran, the true number of his victims has not been investigated but it is estimated to be at least 8,000 campaigners for the rights of ethnic minorities, leftist dissenters and officers of the overthrown monarchy. He sent them before firing squads normally after trials of only a few minutes, with Khalkhali acting as both prosecutor and judge.
In the Kurdish city of Kermanshah, a 12-year-old boy was shot after a summary trial for selling pamphlets by the Democratic Party of Kurdistan. On another occasion, when it was shown that a 14-year boy he had executed had been innocent of the charges, Khalkhali shrugged his shoulders and said: “Oh, well. So I’ve sent him to Heaven.” Indeed, to the end of his life, he never showed any remorse for his acts. On the contrary, on many occasions he told reporters that he had killed too few people and that given the chance again he would have killed many more.
One day Iran will be free of people like this.