The hardliner Prosecutor General for Tehran, Saeed Mortazavi, has been dismissed from his position by the new new judiciary chief, Sadegh Larijani. Mortazavi was a staunch hardliner who is close to Ahmadinejad and who helped to orchastrate the show trials that are currently going on. His removal along with his relacement being relatively moderate could be a sign that Larijani is trying to clean up the image of the Justice system.
Mortazavi's removal seems to be part of a strategy in which Khamenei and his allies (such as Larijani) are trying to reconcile with the opposition and soften the image of the regime. Although these hardliners might have been in on and approved the crimes that have already taken place, they still want to present the image that they are trying to make things better.
The problem appears to be that Ahmadinejad has the opposite strategy of trying to crush the opposition at all costs regardless of negative image of the regime that follows. Thus we see a struggle for the positions within the government that Khamenei and Ahmadinejad want to control with both trying to appoint loyalists to key positions.
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