A federal judge in Florida has refused to halt a civil lawsuit against Parviz Sabeti, accused of being the senior Savak official (the Shah of Iran's feared secret police) who directed the torture of thousands of political prisoners before the 1979 revolution. Judge Gregory Presnell rejected Sabeti's bid for summary judgment on statute-of-limitations grounds, allowing three Iranian-American former prisoners to pursue claims under the Torture Victim Protection Act; Sabeti denies involvement and says he opposed torture. The ruling, issued under seal, matters as it tests whether alleged perpetrators can be held accountable decades later, amid renewed scrutiny of Iran's opposition in the US during the current war.