TEHRAN — An Iranian judge accused of corruption and taking more than $500,000 in bribes has been arrested in Romania, Iran’s Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaeili announced on Saturday.

Following the Judiciary’s legal measure, Gholamreza Mansouri was arrested in Romania and was handed to Interpol, Esmaeili said.

“Mr. Mansouri had announced that ‘I will return to Iran and attend the [court’s] session’, but after conducting investigations we realized that this announcement is not serious and is more like a show,” he stated, according to ISNA.

He explained that Mansouri cannot be transferred to Iran at the moment due to the coronavirus circumstances, but “this will happen in the following days.”

Mansouri is among several judges who were accused of corruption during the high-profile trial of a former senior Judiciary official that opened in Tehran on June 7.

In a video posted online on June 8, Mansouri didn’t give details about his whereabouts, but he said he would return to Iran as soon as travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic are eased.

“I have full trust in the Islamic republic, Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], and the judicial system,” Mansouri said in the video.

On Thursday, June 11, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed an official complaint with German federal judicial authorities demanding Mansouri’s arrest for suppressing and jailing dozens of Iranian journalists.

MH/PA