PARIS, France, Jan 14, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Iran's judiciary chief vowed fast-track trials for suspects arrested over a wave of protests which the authorities have dismissed as "riots", state television said Wednesday.

"If a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly," Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on a visit to a prison holding protest detainees, in comments broadcast by state television.

Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held "in public" and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases. Rights groups say thousands have been arrested and fear the judiciary will make extensive use of capital punishment.