The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), reported that Ebrahim Raisi, the regime’s new president, took office this week. While almost all of Iran’s high-ranking officials have a history of human rights violations, Raisi’s engineered June 18 “election” was a particularly egregious example of such authorities being rewarded for a history of human rights violations.
Western democracies tested with Raisi inauguration
The international community, notably Western democracies that pride themselves on common humanitarian ideals, will be sorely tested with his inauguration.
Amnesty International statement
Amnesty International issued a statement on June 19 denouncing the Iranian regime’s decision to promote Raisi to the presidency after he had served two years as the head of the judiciary, claiming it added to the country’s already record on human rights.
“The fact that Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for crimes against humanity such as murder, enforced disappearance, and torture serves as a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran,” said Agnès Callamard, the organization’s Secretary-General.
The uprising in November 2019
The systemic torture carried out by the judiciary under Raisi’s leadership in the aftermath of a nationwide uprising in November 2019 is undoubtedly one of the crimes in question.
However, their crimes only add to a legacy he established more than 30 years ago as Tehran’s deputy public prosecutor when he played a key role in the massacre of political detainees in the summer of 1988.
Human rights organizations have urged Western countries
Raisi was one of the first people appointed to the “death commissions” that proliferated across the country in response to a religious decree issued by then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini proclaiming that all political prisoners affiliated with the Mojahedin-e-Khalq, MEK, were “waging war on God” and should be, therefore, executed.
Regrettably, the international community has enabled such methods by ignoring the regime’s “impunity,” which was harshly criticized by Amnesty International in June and has been similarly criticized by the MEK and other groups with a keen understanding of the regime’s crimes against humanity on numerous occasions. For years, these organizations have urged Western countries and the United Nations to establish a formal commission of inquiry into the 1988 massacre or to take any other measure that displays a genuine desire to hold those responsible accountable.
Enrique Mora attended Raisi’s inauguration
Enrique Mora, a senior European Union official, has been attended Raisi’s inauguration on August 5. “It is crucial to engage diplomatically with the new administration and pass directly important messages,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, stated in this regard.
While several human rights organizations have called for Raisi’s accountability, the EU’s stance on his president and attendance in his inauguration is a shame.
Former US Congressman Robert Torricelli, speaking at the Free Iran World Summit on July 12, expressed his displeasure with Raisi’s attendance at the event.
“If the UN decides Raisi belongs to the UN, the UN does not belong in New York,” he remarked. “We must not host terrorists, despots, and mass murderers.” It’s a sentiment that holds true in both Vienna and Geneva, where the United Nations has offices.
If Raisi is allowed to represent the people whose families he has murdered, the international governing body will be defamed throughout the world.
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