Tehran, August 15: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday appointed the brother of parliament speaker and former chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani as new chief of Iran’s judiciary.
Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani will on Monday be sworn in to succeed Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi as judiciary head for a 10-year term, official sources said.
The 49-year-old Larijani spent eight years as as member of the constitutional watchdog Guardian Council, which is also on charge of the election process.
It was not clear whether Larijani, who was born in Najaf in southern Iraq, would adopt a more liberal course as judiciary chief but he has been known more as a scholar rather than an executive official.
Larijani has been author of eight books dealing with theological and philosophical aspect of Shiite Islam which is practiced by the majority of the 70 million Iranians.
—–Agencies