TEHRAN, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday appointed senior principlist cleric Ebrahim Reisi as the Chief of Iran's Judiciary.
Reisi replaced the conservative cleric Sadeq Amoli Larijani who served as the head of the judicial system of Iran since August 2009.
Reisi was the main conservative, alternative term for principlist politician, rival of the incumbent President Hassan Rouhani in Iran's 2017 presidential elections.
Reisi, appointed by Khamenei, was the custodian and chairman of the Shrine of Shiite Imam Reza in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad since March 2016.
He previously served positions in Iran's Judiciary, as the Attorney General from 2014 to 2016, and Deputy Chief Justice from 2004 to 2014 for ten years.
He was also Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran in 1980s and 1990s. Presently, he is also a member of Assembly of Experts from South Khorasan Province, being elected for the first time in 2006 election.
