(U6) TEHRAN, IRAN (FILE - MAY 15, 1979) (REUTERS)


1.
AYATOLLAH SADEQ KHALKHALI ARRIVES FOR MASSED DEMONSTRATION WITH PALESTINIAN SUPPORTERS
0.05

2.
SCU: BANNER DRAPED OVER FRONT OF ROSTRUM
0.08

3.
AYATOLLAH KHALKHALI CLIMBING ONTO ROSTRUM FLANKED BY SUPPORTERS CARRYING GUNS
0.14

4.
WOMAN CARRYING HEAVY AUTOMATIC RIFLE LISTENING AS AYATOLLAH SPEAKS
0.17

5.
ARMED WOMAN SPEAKING INTO WALKIE-TALKIE
0.22

6.
ZOOM IN/CU: MAN WITH LARGE MACHINE GUN DRAPPED IN PALESTINIAN FLAG (2 SHOTS)
0.30

7.
ARMED MAN LISTENING AS AYATOLLAH KHALKHALI BACKED BY POSTER OF AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI DELIVERS SPEECH (2 SHOTS)
0.43

8.
CROWDS BEARING POSTERS OF AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI LISTENING TO SPEECH / MOSLEM WOMEN LISTENING (2 SHOTS)
0.57

9.
MV/WS: AYATOLLAH KHALKHALI CONTINUES SPEECH AS CROWD LISTENS AND CHANTS SUPPORT (2 SHOTS)
1.23


(U6) TEHRAN, IRAN (FILE - 23 DECEMBER 1979) (REUTERS)


10.
AYATOLLAH SADEQ KHALKHILI SPEAKING TO REPORTERS
2.31


(U6) TEHRAN, IRAN (FILE - OCTOBER 27, 28 AND 29, 1980) (REUTERS)


11.
INTERIOR OF IRANIAN MAJLIS (PARLIAMENT) DURING SESSION IN TEHRAN, MEMBERS SHOUTING (2 SHOTS)
2.46

12.
AYATOLLAH SADEQ KHALKHALI ARGUING WITH MEMBERS, LOSING HIS TURBAN, WAVING HIS FIST
3.10

13.
KHALKHALI LEAVING ROSTRUM, TURNING AND WAVING HIS FIST AT SPEAKER
3.30







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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The former head of Iran's Revolutionary Courts
dubbed "the hanging judge" has died.


The former head of Iran's Revolutionary Courts,
dubbed "the hanging judge" for sending hundreds to the
gallows in the first months after the 1979 Islamic
revolution, has died, a relative said on Thursday.

Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali, who in recent years had
expressed his support for the political reform movement led
by President Mohammad Khatami, died on Wednesday aged 76
after battling a series of health problems.

The relative, who asked not to be named, told Reuters
that Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali had Parkinson's disease,
heart and brain problems and had been very ill for the last
eight months.

Khalkhali became notorious in the West after he
appeared on television poking with a stick the burnt
corpses of U.S. soldiers killed in an unsuccessful mission
to rescue 52 hostages held at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

As head of the Revolutionary Courts he ordered the
execution of many of the deposed shah's top military
officers, secret police (SAVAK) leaders, civilian officials
and scores of Kurds caught up in an uprising in Iran's
Kurdish-majority regions.

Concerned by Khalkhali's harsh punishments the founder
of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
dismissed him in 1980.

Khalkhali, who was unrepentant about his rulings, spent
much of the past decade out of the public gaze in the holy
city of Qom in central Iran.

Following Khatami's 1997 landslide election win
Khalkhali pronounced himself an advocate of reforms but he
was viewed with distrust by Khatami's allies.