President appoints official tied to 2022 crackdown as Tehran governor

Iran’s President has tapped as governor of Tehran a senior official tied to a deadly nationwide crackdown on protests in 2022, in the latest selection of a hardliner with a controversial past to a senior post.

The appointment on Sunday of Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian was confirmed in a cabinet meeting led by Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate.

Motamedian, who previously served in key positions in the ministry of intelligence, has been accused of overseeing mass arrests and authorizing the use of lethal force during the 2022 uprising in West Azerbaijan province.

The unrest was sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the so-called morality police enforcing Iran's mandatory hijab law.

“Motamedian played a critical role in suppressing protests in Urmia, Mahabad, and other cities, where dozens of protesters were killed,” according to Justice for Iran, a human rights organization.

Born in Kermanshah in 1970, Motamedian has held various positions in the Iranian government over the past two decades, including roles as governor of South Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan. In October 2021, he was the first senior Iranian official to meet with Taliban leaders in Afghanistan following their return to power.

Motamedian’s tenure as governor of West Azerbaijan saw the deaths of at least 56 protesters in the province, part of a broader crackdown by the Iranian government that resulted in more than 550 protesters being killed nationwide, according to human rights groups including the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization.

Motamedian’s appointment comes in the context of President Pezeshkian’s broader governance approach, which has seen other controversial figures placed in key provincial positions.

Earlier this month Pezeshkian named Hossein Ali Amiri, a former judiciary official known for persecuting Jewish and Baha’i communities as governor of Fars Province. Amiri oversaw the 1999 arrest of 13 Jewish citizens in Shiraz for espionage on behalf of Israel - a charge frequently used against religious minorities in Iran.

Pezeshkian has faced criticism over his cabinet picks, particularly for naming as interior minister Eskandar Momeni, who has an extensive military and law enforcement background and played a role in suppressing popular protests in 2017, 2019, and 2022.