Former
judge arrested on prostitution-related charges
Karaj,
Iran, Feb 8, IRNA -- The local judge of the Islamic Revolution's
Court in this central city is in temporary detention on certain
yet unpublicized charges, the head of Tehran's justice
administration, Abbasali Alizadeh said here Thursday.
Alizadeh
made the remark in a function to appoint a new judge for Karaj
Revolutionary Court. Hossein Razqandi, judge handling the case of
assassination bid on the leading pro-reform journalist Saeed
Hajjarian was appointed as the new judge.
The
daily Hambastegi also said Thursday that the unseated judge of the
court has been arrested in connection with a prostitution ring
involving under-age females.
It
said that several other senior officials had also been arrested in
a case involving runaway young girls.
On
Tuesday, Alizadeh said that Iran has arrested members of a gang
that smuggled teen-age girls to neighboring Persian Gulf Arab
states.
"This
organized team identified girls between 13 to 17 years of age and
smuggled them abroad through certain methods. Parents of about 90
percent of those girls were divorced or addicted. Some parents
even cooperated with the gang due to the financial benefits,"
Alizadeh said.
Last
December, Judiciary Head Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi said
more than three dozen Iranian judges and bailiffs were arrested as
part of a bribes and corruption probe into the nation's courts.
President
Mohammad Khatami moved earlier in 1999 to reform the nation's
courts which, like certain other government institutions, have
been grappling with a rise in misappropriation of public monies.
::irna
09/02/2001 21:07