Warden

In 1979, with the onset of the Iranian Revolution, Lajevardi was appointed as the chief prosecutor of Tehran on Mohammad Beheshti's recommendation. Lajevardi was given the extra post of warden in June 1981 after the first post-revolutionary warden of Evin, Mohammad Kachouyi, was assassinated. According to Ervand Abrahamian, Lajevardi "liked to be addressed as Hajj Aqa, and boasted he was so proud of Evin that he had brought his family to live there." He was temporarily removed from his post in 1984,^{[citation needed]} but continued to live at Evin with his family to avoid assassination.^[8]

Ladjevardi maintained that the Islamic Republic had converted prisons into 'rehabilitation centers' and 'ideological schools', where inmates studied Islam, learned the errors of their ways, and did penance before returning to society.^[9][10] As the chief warden at Evin, the main political prison in Tehran, Ladjevardi "boasted that more than 95 percent of his 'guests' eventually oblige him with his sought-after videotaped 'interview'"—i.e., a confession of their political errors and praise of the Islamic Republic and the prison staff.^[11]

Lajevardi was also known as "the butcher of Evin Prison" with dreadful, religiously fanatic, and thuggish narcissist mannerisms.^[12] The number of executions under his supervision is estimated to be roughly around 2500 according to one account. In her memoir, Iran Awakening, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi states that an estimated 4000-5000 members and supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MKO) were executed during a three-month period in 1988 immediately following the failed "Mersad" rebellion, which was launched upon the end of the Iran–Iraq War by MKO fighters based in Iraq.^[13] According to Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri, Lajevardi's close relations with some of the prisoned members of Furqan group made them "repent".^[14]