Mohammed Sadeq Givi Khalkhali (27 July 1926 – 26 November 2003) was an Shia cleric who is said to have “brought to his job as Chief Justice of the revolutionary courts a relish for summary execution” that earned him a reputation as homeland’s “hanging judge”. A farmer’s son from Iranian Azeri origins was born in Givi, Azerbaijani S.S.R., U.S.S.R. (now in Azerbaijan Republic).