On June 19, Raisi was selected as President in the aftermath of a nationwide boycott of Iran’s sham elections. Who is Raisi, and what does his presidency mean for Iran and the world?
Dubbed butcher of 88, Raisi was one of four members of the death commission for Evin and Gohardasht prisons near Tehran during the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.
Geoffrey Robertson:
Late in July 1988 as the war with Iraq was ending, prisons in Iran that were crammed with opponents suddenly went into lockdown. All family visits were canceled, television and radios switched off. Prisoners were kept in their. The only permitted visitation was from a delegation, turbaned and bearded, a religious judge, a public prosecutor, and an intelligence chief. Before them were paraded briefly and individually, almost every prisoner, and there were thousands of them who were being jailed for adherence to the MEK.
The delegation had but one question for these young men and women, and although they didn’t know it, on their answer their life would depend.
Those who by their answer evinced any continuing affiliation with the MEK were blindfolded and ordered to join a conga line that led straight to the gallows. They were hung from cranes 4 at a time, or in groups of 6, from ropes hanging from the front of the stage of the assembly hall, some were taken to army barracks at night and then shot by firing squad. Their bodies were doused with disinfectant, packed in refrigerator trucks and buried at night in mass graves.
Months later their families, desperate for information about their children and partners, would be handed a plastic bag with their few possessions they would be refused any information about the location of the graves, and ordered never to mourn them in public. By mid-august 1988 thousands of prisoners had been killed in this manner by the state, without trial, without appeal and utterly without mercy.
Montazeri to Raisi, Pour-Mohammadi, Nayyeri and Eshraqi (Senior Members of 1988 Massacre Death Commission):
“The greatest crime committed under the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed by you. Your names will in the future be etched in the annals of history as criminals.”
From the onset, Raisi has served as interrogator, Prosecutor, and Prosecutor General; serving as Justice Minister since March 2019. On his watch over 500 have been executed and 1500 killed at point-blank on the streets in November 2019.
And now, he believes he should be “lauded and encouraged” for his brutality. It is now on the international community to take a stance.
The people of Iran have voiced their historic ‘No’ to the entirety of this regime. Will you stand with the Iranian people?
- Recognize the 1988 Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners as a crime against humanity
- End impunity & prosecute perpetrators
- Don’t negotiate with the henchmen of the Iranian people
#ProsecuteRaisiNOW
