Many videos and stories have surfaced showing Iranians in Iran as well as across the world celebrating President Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter accident, even as hundreds gathered in the main squares of major cities such as Tehran and Mashhad to pray for him.
The notorious conservative preacher gained the nickname “The Butcher of Tehran” for his suspected involvement in the 1988 mass killings. He placed severe restrictions on society. Hundreds of people gathered in Tehran and Mashhad after the helicopter crash to offer prayers and hope for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s recovery.
Sadly, their aspirations were short-lived when Raisi’s death was reported by news outlets, who highlighted the many, particularly young people, heartbroken expressions.
Following the helicopter crash, a country-wide five-day official mourning period was announced by Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
“This bitter tragedy took place while he was serving the people. The entire period that this great, self-sacrificing man held various responsibilities, both during his presidency and before that, he was totally dedicated to serving the people and Islam nonstop,” Khamenei posted on his official X account.
Ebrahim Raisi: The Butcher of Tehran
Raisi, whose black turban revealed his ancestry, was born in Mashhad on December 14, 1960, into a family descended from the Prophet Muhammad of Islam.
He studied at the seminary in the holy city of Qom after his father passed away when he was five years old, and he eventually became a prominent Shiite cleric known as the ayatollah.
As part of the 1979 revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s theocratic administration to power, Raisi took part in demonstrations against the Shah, who was supported by the West.
In 2016, Khamenei appointed Raisi, a former attorney general of Iran, to lead the Imam Reza charitable foundation, which is in charge of managing a network of Iranian companies and endowments. Since Khamenei hailed Raisi as a “trustworthy person with high-profile experience” after his appointment, many have surmised that Raisi may be primed to become Iran’s third supreme leader, where actual power resides.
In 2017, Raisi lost her presidential campaign against Hassan Rouhani, a more moderate candidate. He emerged as the front-runner in 2021 after other respectable contenders were eliminated by a tribunal chaired by the supreme leader.
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In the most low-turnout election in Iranian history, as millions of voters either invalidate or refrain from casting ballots, Raisi emerged victorious with 62% of the vote.
Human Rights Watch labeled the vote as a “sham”.
Raisi was unable to shake his contentious reputation as the “Butcher of Tehran” even after winning the election.
A leaked audio recording from Raisi’s 2016 presidential campaign had a cleric talking about Raisi’s role in the 1988 mass killing of up to 5,000 political prisoners.
In response to inquiries concerning his involvement in the alleged “death commissions,” Raisi said he was honored to have served as a prosecutor and protected people’s safety and well-being in addition to human rights.
The year 2019 saw the US impose penalties on Raisi due to his involvement in the executions in the 1980s and other human rights crimes.
Iran adopts anti-West stance under Ebrahim Raisi
This cleric-turned-politician launched an unprecedented attack on Israel and adopted a harsh posture in nuclear talks with Western countries.
There were even hints that he would succeed the current supreme leader of Iran, the post of actual authority. The 2021 presidential election was won by the conservative candidate under strict control.
In order to impose constraints on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing economically crippling sanctions, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement at the start of his presidency. Trump’s 2018 decision, which increased Washington-Tehran tensions, bolstered Raisi’s hardline side while undermining his opponents who were reformists.
Raisi’s administration adopted a harsh position in talks with Western officials, even though they expressed a desire to restore the nuclear accord, while Iran continued to enrich uranium to levels close to weapons-grade. However, the talks have stopped.
Asserting Iran’s right to its claims, Raisi told the UN in September 2021 that sanctions were the US’s new tactic of waging war on other countries and that the policy of “maximum oppression” remained in effect.
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Tensions with the West increased as a result of these remarks as well as Iran’s sale of Shahed attack drones to Russia in support of its fight in Ukraine. The Israel-Hamas war broke out in 2023, and it was purportedly Tehran’s idea to mastermind the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel on October 7th, 2023. Israel was also attacked by groups in Lebanon with Iranian support.
A senior Iranian commander was killed in April of last year after a suspected Israeli airstrike struck an Iranian consulate in Syria. When Iran launched a massive attack against Israel consisting of missiles and swarms of drones attacked in retaliation, Raisi was in charge.
Ebrahim Raisi imposed crackdown Iran’s domestic dissent
Iran experienced widespread demonstrations at home in 2022 in response to Mahsa Amini’s death while in police detention.
Amini’s relatives, activists, and observers reported she was brutally abused by the police after she was imprisoned for allegedly disobeying Iran’s required headscarf rule; however, the authorities claimed Amini passed away from a heart attack.
The months of widespread unrest that followed presented a serious threat to Iran’s leaders, prompting a harsh response by the government that left over 500 people dead and approximately 22,000 others in custody.
Amnesty International referred to the regime’s subsequent crackdown on women’s dress codes as a “war on women.”
Ebrahim Raisi imposed Sharia law in Iran
In a 2014 interview, Raisi discussed a planned segregation in Tehran Municipality and expressed her strong support for sex segregation and the notion that women may perform better in a totally distinct and appropriate atmosphere.
Raisi also supported the banning of Western culture, the rewriting of the Internet, and the Islamization of colleges.
He voiced the notion that the public will profit if the government performs effectively and saw economic sanctions as an opportunity.
Raisi suggested advisory patrols for police enforcement, especially for managers. Additionally, he supported the practice of amputating the hands of thieves, which is based on a rigorous interpretation of Sharia law. He claimed that such punishments were a source of pride and would persist in the future. Raisi was one of nine Iranian officials whom the US Department of State sanctioned in November 2019 over claims that they had violated human rights. Executive Order 13876 imposed sanctions on him by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control. He was charged with crimes against humanity by UN special rapporteurs and international human rights organizations.
In the event that Raisi attended the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Scotland, a formal request was made to have him arrested for crimes against humanity.
Why did people in Iran celebrated Ebrahim Raisi’s death?
Videos of joyous fireworks, including one from Amini’s hometown of Saqqez, were making the rounds on social media not long before Raisi’s death was officially confirmed by state media.
Posts reminding the world of Raisi’s harsh presidency and his repression of political dissidents were posted by Iranians inside and outside the nation.
Social media users are celebrating Raisi’s passing, including Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American writer and women’s rights campaigner in New York City.
The daughters of 62-year-old anti-regime demonstrator Minoo Majidi are shown in another video toasting to the news of the helicopter crash.
Majidi was shot 167 times by security forces, according to her daughter Roya Piraei, who earlier told the BBC that Majidi was one of the hundreds of people slain during protests against Amini’s passing.
