On June 18, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei chose his preferred candidate for the presidency, Ebrahim Raisi. He has held senior roles in the oppressive apparatus of the regime. Most importantly, during the 1988 massacre, while being a key member of the “Death Commissions.”
Death Commissions
Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian regime’s then-Supreme Leader, issued a religious decree, known as a fatwa, in 1988, ordering the mass execution of all political detainees. In less than a year, more than 70 cities organized “Death Commissions” and carried out his infamous fatwa.
Over 30,000 political prisoners, largely members and supporters of the main opposition party, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), were executed in just a few months.
“Death Commissions” contains 86 members
The “Death Commissions” were composed primarily of a judge, members from the Intelligence Ministry, and a prosecutor. The local or provincial prison chief was one of the substitute members on some of these “Death Commissions.”
The MEK’s most recent list of “Death Commissions” contains 86 members who are divided into 35 commissions throughout Iran. There are commissioners in 12 provinces, nine provincial capitals, and 13 municipalities in western Iran, as well as officials of urgent trials. Iran was divided into 24 provinces at the time of the killings. As a result, half of the commissions in half of the provinces at the time are included in the most recent list.
Raisi was a member of the 1988 Death Commission
At the age of 28, Raisi was a member of the 1988 Death Commission, which played a key role in the slaughter. Survivors of the killings have said that they witnessed Ebrahim Raisi working on the execution cases in the prison’s corridors and torture chambers while he was dressed casually, without religious clothing.
Khomeini chose Raisi to be part of a two-member delegation alongside the Nayyeri on January 1, 1989, after being convinced of his harshness as Tehran’s Deputy Prosecutor. To increase repression, the two were tasked with giving death sentences and ordering limb amputations “regardless of the administrative difficulties.”
Below is a fragment of Khomeini’s order:
“His excellency, Hojjat al-Eslam Mr. Nayyeri,
Since I have received numerous reports of the weakness of the judiciary, and the honorable and committed people of Iran expect a more serious approach to various issues, Your Excellency and Hojatoleslam Raisi will be given a judicial mission to investigate the reports from the cities of Semnan, Sirjan, Islamabad, and Doroud, and to carry out what is God’s command in these cases, regardless of the administrative difficulties. May peace be with you.
January 1, 1981, Ruhollah Khomeini”
Raisi has a long history of human rights abuses
Raisi has a long history of human rights abuses, as evidenced by the facts cited above. His role in the 1988 massacre, as well as his ruthlessness, prompted Khamenei to choose him as the regime’s new president.
The world community must not remain silent. Raise does not speak on behalf of the Iranian people. He is a representative of Iran’s murderous dictatorship and should be held accountable for his crimes.
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