Iranian state media reported on Monday that President Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-liner who was considered a potential successor to the country’s aging supreme leader, died in a helicopter crash.
Iranian state-run media reported on Monday the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other government officials in a helicopter crash.
The crash occurred under foggy conditions in a mountainous region in the northwest of the country, near the border with Azerbaijan. Raisi had just participated in a dam inauguration ceremony with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The state-run media did not provide an immediate cause for the crash.
Bad weather hampered rescuers’ efforts to locate the downed helicopter.
Raisi, the son of a cleric from Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, began attending seminary school at 15 and participated in protests against the Western-backed Shah of Iran, who was overthrown in the 1979 revolution that established the theocratic regime led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Before becoming president in 2021, the ultraconservative Raisi served as the head of the judiciary.
A year after taking office, he initiated a crackdown on women’s dress codes. This led to the arrest of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, whose headscarf did not adequately cover her hair as required by the country’s “hijab and chastity” law. Amini’s death in custody ignited nationwide protests, resulting in hundreds of deaths according to human rights groups, and was regarded as one of the most significant challenges to the Islamic regime since the 1979 revolution.
Following the subsidence of these protests, the regime has recently commenced another stringent enforcement of women’s dress codes. Amnesty International has condemned this as a “war on women.”
Raisi’s involvement in the brutal repression of protests was not his first accusation of ruthlessly crushing dissent. Rights groups allege that as a young prosecutor in 1988, he was part of “death committees” that ordered the execution of political prisoners.
Raisi participated on the panel in Tehran that rights groups claim ordered the execution of hundreds of opponents of the Islamic regime. Amnesty International estimates that approximately 5,000 people were executed nationwide.
“Described as a key figure within a regime known for its harsh treatment of dissenters, Raisi has faced accusations of overseeing a system that incarcerates, tortures, and executes individuals who dare to oppose state policies,” Hadi Ghaemi, director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), based in New York, conveyed to Reuters.
Raisi’s bid for presidency in 2016 was marred by a leaked tape implicating him in the 1988 killings. Subsequently, he lost the election the following year to Hassan Rouhani, perceived as a comparatively moderate candidate.
Upon his appointment as head of the judiciary in 2019, the United States levied sanctions against Raisi for his involvement in human rights abuses, including the executions of the 1980s.
Being groomed under the country’s supreme leader, Raisi was considered a potential successor to the highest office, alongside Mojtaba, the son of Ayatollah Khamenei.
Regarding the recent crash on Sunday, while the exact cause remains unknown, Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggested that within Iran’s deeply suspicious political landscape, many are likely to doubt that Raisi’s demise was accidental.
Read More: Dissident filmmaker flees Iran after jail sentence
Disclaimer:
This content is AI-generated using IFTTT AI Content Creator. While we strive for accuracy, it’s a tool for rapid updates. We’re committed to filtering information, not reproducing or endorsing misinformation. – Jomotoday for more information visit privacy policy
Leave a Comment